Ren Xu, Ph.D., is the newly appointed division director of Translational Cancer Research for the Cancer Institute. He is also a professor in the College of Medicine’s Radiation Oncology Department. Prior to joining UAMS, he worked as a fully tenured professor of pharmacology for the University of Kentucky’s Markey Cancer Center and College of Medicine. Xu’s primary research focus is the study of microenvironmental cues and their modulation of breast cancer progression, with an overarching goal to identify novel strategies for inhibiting breast cancer metastasis and drug resistance. His recent work on this effort has focused on the biological function and regulation of ECM microenvironment during breast cancer progression, which has been continuously supported by multiple NCI R01 grants.

In addition to his research, Dr. Xu is deeply committed to mentorship. Several of his junior faculty mentees have successfully secured NIH R01 and foundation grants. Since 2021, Xu has served as the director of the Breast Cancer Translational Research Group at the University of Kentucky; and since 2019, he has also served as director of their Markey Research Seminar Advisory Committee, among other endeavors.