Dr. Peggy Porter, a pathologist, is a member of the Human Biology Division at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. As head of the multi-institutional Breast Cancer Program centered at the Hutchinson Center, Dr. Porter leads a dynamic group of basic scientists, epidemiologists, surgeons, oncologists and pathologists dedicated to reducing the incidence and subsequent mortality of breast cancer. Projects by members of the program range from mapping mutations that contributes to cancer risk to evaluating lifestyle factors and potential interventions. Her lab focuses on identifying and understanding the molecular events associated with initiation and progression of breast cancer, particularly the role of abnormal cell cycle control. In collaboration with epidemiologists and basic science researchers at the Hutchinson Center, researchers in the Porter lab identified the loss of cell cycle inhibitor p27 as an important indicator of poor prognosis in breast cancer. With collaborators in Atlanta she found that specific abnormalities in expression of cell cycle regulatory proteins were more common in breast tumors of black women than of those in white women, which might contribute to the aggressive phenotype seen at a high frequency in black women. Ongoing microarray-based studies will further define the molecular characteristics of breast tumors in black and white women in that cohort. Her lab continues to integrate new technologies and apply them in large-scale studies to identify tumor markers of progression that can be used for detection, prognosis and prediction of response to therapy. She obtained her medical degree in 1987 from the University of New Mexico and completed her residency in Pathology at the University of Washington where she was a recipient of the American Cancer Society Clinical Oncology Fellowship. She joined the Hutchinson Center in 1993.