Contact: Crystal Drake, Office of Strategic Communications
Tuskegee University researcher, Dr. Fengyuan Huang began the year energized about new funding that will support research she has been passionate about for more than a decade – the increasingly provable link between obesity and cancer.
As lead principal investigator on the grant application, Dr. Huang garnered a place for Tuskegee University in the Breast Cancer Research Foundation of Alabama’s (BCRFA) continued commitment to advancing breast cancer research through a $1.2 million investment announced in December. Tuskegee’s work is one of 25 projects at nine institutions throughout the state that have now been funded.
“Tuskegee continues to solve the world’s most complicated problems – and the scourge of cancer, especially here in the under-researched and under-served Black Belt makes this work even more urgent and life-changing,” said Dr. Mark A. Brown, president and CEO. “Dr. Huang, Dr. Bedi and the entire team in our
Genomic Research Center are proving every day that Tuskegee is turning hope into science-based solutions.”
"Dr. Huang joined Tuskegee in 2024, after completing her Ph.D. and postdoctoral training at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, recruited by Dr. Deepa Bedi, director of the Center for Biomedical Science at Tuskegee and renowned breast cancer researcher.
“There are 13 cancer types that we already know are highly associated with obesity and, in the case of breast cancer, the subsequent subtypes of the disease make it even more complicated,” said Dr. Huang.
Dr. Huang made a compelling two-fold case for the award and the specialized expertise at the Genomic Research Center. Tuskegee will be able to provide focused insights from genetic mechanisms at work in these patients that help breast cancer grow. Clinically, those findings are likely to reveal more effective and personalized interventions for this high-risk patient population.
“Tuskegee, Dr. Bedi and the entire team have created an environment that is supportive and flexible, and that allows me to focus on what is a very important group of patients who are historically not tested, sampled or researched,” added Dr. Huang.
These grants represent a cumulative investment in breast cancer research from BCRFA to over $17 million. Founded in 1996, the Breast Cancer Research Foundation of Alabama is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to find a cure for breast cancer by funding promising breast cancer research in Alabama and raising community awareness and funding for that research.
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