Kate Westmoreland, MD

I have extensive experience living and working in sub-Saharan Africa through the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Global Health Fellowship in Botswana and the Fogarty Global Health Fellowship in Malawi. During both fellowships, I have gained skills in conducting clinical research in sub-Saharan Africa and have been highly productive with 13 published manuscripts (6 first author, 2 second author). During my Fogarty fellowship at UNC Project-Malawi under the primary mentorship of Dr. Satish Gopal, MD, MPH, I gained skills and expertise conducting clinical research in pediatric and adolescent Burkitt Lymphoma and Hodgkin Lymphoma. Additionally, I led the translation and validation of the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information Systems (PROMIS) instrument to measure health-related quality of life (HRQoL) with the mentorship of Bryce Reeve, PhD. Throughout my clinical work in sub-Saharan Africa, I was challenged by the lack of data to support standardized treatment approaches and optimal dosing for the most common chemotherapy agents. Therefore, I was competitively awarded the UNC-Duke Clinical Pharmacology T32 clinical fellowship which has given me a foundation of knowledge in clinical trial design and pharmacokinetics, with the additional mentorship of Dr. Daniel Gonzalez, PharmD, PhD. After my T32 fellowship in June 2019, I joined faculty at UNC as an Assistant Professor and returned to Malawi full time where I will be only the second pediatric hematology-oncology physician in the entire country. I was recently awarded a Fogarty K01 award and for the next 5 years, my research will focus on optimizing treatment outcomes of adolescent and young adult patients with Burkitt Lymphoma in Malawi through a Methotrexate dose escalation phase I clinical trial including methotrexate pharmacokinetics. This award will enable me to become a successful independent global health investigator and to develop an R01 application where I will lead future clinical trials to optimized chemotherapy dosing and improve survival and quality of life for children and adolescents with cancer in sub-Saharan Africa.