Dr. Wael El-Rifai is a professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, as well as the associate director of basic science. He received his Ph.D. in cancer genetics at the University of Helsinki in 1996. He holds the position of the John and Judy Schulte Senior Endowed Chair in Cancer Research. He is an elected fellow of the American Association for Advances in Science. Dr. El-Rifai is the principal investigator of several National Cancer Institute grants, including a Research Program Project to study esophageal cancers. Dr. El-Rifai’s laboratory provides unique training experiences in diverse areas of cancer research that include molecular mechanisms of tumorigenesis, drug resistance, and targeted therapy.  His research utilizes functional and translational oncogenomic approaches in upper gastrointestinal carcinomas. Dr. El-Rifai's research investigates the roles of infection, inflammation, and oxidative stress in tumorigenesis for the development of therapeutic approaches that target molecular and redox vulnerabilities in cancer cells.