Our Research Partners
The Ocala Royal Dames partners with doctors at the Moffit Cancer Center in Tampa, FL and The University of Florida in Gainesville to fund ground breaking research in the quest for a cure. To learn details about the specific research projects, click here.
Dr. Alexandra Martin
Dr. Martin is a Cancer Researcher in the Clinical Science Department at Moffitt Cancer Center. She is investigating an innovative way of dosing PARP inhibitors, a common therapy for ovarian cancer in both treatment and maintenance settings.
Dr. John Mullinax
Dr. Mullinax is a surgical oncologist in the Sarcoma Department at Moffitt Cancer Center. His clinical practice focuses on caring for patients with soft tissue sarcoma located throughout the body, with a specific focus on retroperitoneal sarcoma, gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST), and adrenal neoplasms. A native Floridian, Dr. Mullinax completed his general surgery training at the University of South Florida. He is currently an Active Member in the Association for Academic Surgery and Society of Surgical Oncology. He is on the Executive Board and serves on the Commission on Cancer committee for the Florida Chapter of the American College of Surgeons.
Dr. Heiko Enderling
Dr. Enderling is an Associate Member in the Integrated Mathematical Oncology Department at Moffitt Cancer Center. His research integrates mathematical, biological, and clinical sciences to model, simulate, and predict treatment response for individual patients. Dr. Heiko Enderling was recently named Fellow and elected President-elect of the Society for Mathematical Biology.
Natalie L. Silver, MD, MS,
Dr. Silver is board-certified in otolaryngology, head and neck surgery. After completing her undergraduate training, she pursued a master’s degree in tumor biology at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and thereafter earned her medical degree from Georgetown University School of Medicine. She was a resident in otolaryngology, head and neck surgery at the University of Kentucky Department of Otolaryngology in Lexington. She then completed a research fellowship at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, studying the genomics and molecular biology of head and neck cancer. She completed her clinical fellowship at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in head and neck surgical oncology, and is certified by the American Head and Neck Society and Advanced Training Council.
Dr. Silver is an assistant professor in the University of Florida Department of Otolaryngology, Division of Head and Neck Surgical Oncology. She specializes in the surgical treatment of benign and malignant tumors, or cancers, of the head and neck. This includes tumors involving the oral cavity, larynx, oropharynx, salivary glands, skin and thyroid gland. Dr. Silver also has specialized training in the use of minimally invasive techniques, such as transoral robotic surgery, or TORS.
Prior to joining University of Florida Health, Dr. Silver was a research fellow at the MD Anderson Cancer Center, where she explored molecular therapeutics and genomic alterations to improve outcomes for patients with resistant head and neck cancer. At UF, she is the research leader for the Disease-Specific Group for head and neck cancer at the UF Health Cancer Center. She is responsible for organizing clinical trials and working in a multidisciplinary setting to find the best possible treatment for head and neck cancer patients. She is also a leader of translational research projects at UF, including the use of novel genomic testing to improve the outcomes and treatments in head and neck cancer patients.
Dr. Silver is a member of the UF Health Cancer Center, the American Head and Neck Society, the Florida Society of Otolaryngology and the American Academy of Otolaryngology- Head and Neck Surgery. She is also a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society.
Olga Guryanova, MD, PhD
The overarching research goal of the Guryanova Lab is to delineate the mechanisms of the cross-talk between epigenetics and chromatin organization, learning how these processes apply to the development of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), resistance to therapies, and clonal evolution. Ultimately, Dr. Guryanova would like to harness this mechanistic understanding to develop improved therapeutic approaches for leukemia.