Jordan T. Roach is an aspiring neurosurgeon-scientist with keen interests in pediatric neurosurgical oncology and the cellular and molecular features driving pediatric high-grade gliomas.
Roach earned his bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and cellular and molecular biology in 2016 from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. While there, he earned the Outstanding Graduate in the Biological Sciences award. He is currently pursuing his medical degree from the University of Tennessee College of Medicine in Memphis, Tennessee. Prior to pursuing doctoral studies in the biomedical sciences, Roach completed two appointments in the National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute funded Pediatric Oncology Education Program at St. Jude under the mentorship of Mark E. Hatley, MD, PhD, Molecular Oncology Division and Frederick A. Boop, MD, Pediatric Neurosurgery Division. He earned his master's degree from the St. Jude Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences in May 2021.
Roach currently conducts research in the laboratory of Suzanne J. Baker, PhD, Department of Developmental Neurobiology, Division of Brain Tumor Research. Through a collaborative research consortium comprised of investigators spanning St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and the Whitehead Institute of MIT, Roach intends to leverage the consortium’s combined expertise to investigate the effects of histone H3 mutations on the 3D nuclear architecture of pediatric high-grade gliomas.
“In the face of crisis, St. Jude remains a champion for childhood dreams,” he says. “As a budding physician-scientist heavily invested in caring for children, I can’t think of a better institution to launch my research career."
Hometown: Englewood, Tennessee
Publications
Hanna JA, Garcia MR, Lardennois A, Leavey PJ, Maglic D, Fagnan A, Go JC, Roach J, Wang YD, Finkelstein D, Hatley ME. PAX3-FOXO1 drives miR-486-5p and represses miR-221 contributing to pathogenesis of alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma. Oncogene, 37(15), 1991–2007, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41388-017-0081-3