Q and A with Maria “Ken” Figueroa
Sylvester associate director of translational research considers herself “a bit of a matchmaker.”
Maria “Ken” Figueroa, M.D., knows a lot of people at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. As Sylvester’s associate director for translational research, she is responsible for connecting researchers across Sylvester and beyond to help bring scientific findings closer to the clinic.
Dr. Figueroa helps people forge collaborations and partnerships through informal interactions and more formal mechanisms, including site visits and meetings.
Dr. Figueroa is also a biochemistry and molecular biology professor, studying cancer and epigenetics —the system of gene regulation that generally operates through molecular modifications to DNA or associated molecules.
“I love my work,” said Dr. Figueroa, who joined Sylvester in 2016 after five years as a faculty member at the University of Michigan Medical School. She grew up in Argentina, where she received her medical degree from the Universidad del Salvador School of Medicine in Buenos Aires.
We recently interviewed Dr. Figueroa to learn more about her work and why it’s so essential. Her answers have been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Please tell us a little bit about your role as associate director of translational research.
A lot of people think of translational research as a linear process that goes, in the famous phrase, from the bench to bedside. But it’s more of a circular process that includes the lab, the patient, the community and legislation.
A skin cell is different from a lung cell, which is different from a heart cell. The reason for that is the epigenome. It’s the software of the cells that determines how they behave. Cancer both hijacks and corrupts that machinery.
—Dr. Maria “Ken” Figueroa
It’s my job to help facilitate that. A lot of that entails helping people develop new partnerships and connections. I’m a bit of a matchmaker.
What are some of the ways you help promote translational research at Sylvester?
Formal mechanisms include monthly meetings of our Translational Research Committee, where a scientist presents and we help identify partners. The committee includes the head of phase 1 clinical trials, the physician-in-chief, the office of commercialization and basic, clinical and translational research leaders.
We created a translational research head for every disease group studied at Sylvester. I initiated these meetings a year ago when I took on the associate director role. I also visit each of Sylvester’s research programs every year, where I start identifying the science and start making those connections personally. Other collaborations occur informally, more organically, and we also recruit people strategically to bring people together.
Tell us a little bit more about your research on epigenetics.
A skin cell is different from a lung cell, which is different from a heart cell. The reason for that is the epigenome. It’s the software of the cells that determines how they behave. Cancer both hijacks and corrupts that machinery.
My lab’s projects are divided into the more mechanistic, such as investigating how cancer initiates, and the more translational, where we ask if we can use the epigenome to classify, predict or treat cancers. For instance, we can stratify patients based on how they are going to respond to therapy, based on the epigenome, and we can develop biomarkers for that.
Are there particular projects in the lab that you could highlight?
We published a study about how aging corrupts the epigenome and how that may contribute to cancer. We have been looking at how to predict therapeutic outcomes in follow-up work to an earlier study — some of this research is part of large collaborative grants at Sylvester.
A lot of people think of translational research as a linear process that goes, in the famous phrase, from the bench to bedside. But it’s more of a circular process that includes the lab, the patient, the community and legislation.
—Dr. Maria “Ken” Figueroa
I also collaborate with other Sylvester investigators to understand how social stressors impact the epigenome. This translational project arose from a conversation with my collaborators, Sylvester researcher Dr. Erin Kobetz and former Sylvester researcher Dr. Neha Goel.
Tell us a little bit about what motivated you to conduct research in the U.S.
I always knew I wanted to go into research since I was in high school. I also wanted to do research from the point of view of someone who had seen patients and understood what the unmet needs were.
I had a very good rapport with my patients in Argentina and I still remember most of them. But in Argentina, we do not have a physician-scientist entity, and so I decided to come to the U.S. Even though I don’t see patients anymore, by doing translational research, I’m staying close to the patient.
Do you keep your connections to Argentina?
I recruit trainees from Argentina. I currently work with two and there is a third coming. I have colleagues that I’m very closely in touch with, and my family and friends are down there.
Why Sylvester? What led you to come here?
I’ve known Sylvester’s director, Dr. Stephen Nimer, my entire scientific career. We work in the same field and we worked across the street from each other in New York when I was a trainee. I was at Cornell and he was at Memorial Sloan Kettering. We used to have joint lab meetings and collaborations.
He’s a great leader and I was impressed with his vision for what he wanted to achieve at Sylvester, and I knew he would also be a great mentor for me as I grew as a leader.
What do you do in your spare time?
Time is the worst commodity for us, the most scarce one. But I like to spend time with my friends and my husband and family. When I can, I enjoy traveling. I go back to Argentina every year, but I try to balance that with some non-Argentina trips so that I can get to know a little bit of the world. I recently went to Budapest and I was blown away by that city. I found it gorgeous — the architecture, the people, the food. I also like to read at the end of the day.
What are you reading lately?
I recently read Patrick Radden Keefe’s book, “Empire of Pain,” all about the opioid epidemic. I’d recommend it. And I read his book, “Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland,” about the troubles in Ireland. I also like mysteries. I’m reading Sue Grafton’s “A, B, C” series with my mom. She was an English teacher and she likes to read. She’s way ahead of me.
What are the origins of your nickname, Ken?
Let’s just say my mother’s an original. My full name is Maria Eugenia. From the day I was born, she decided that the correct nickname should be Marikena or Mariken, which then got shortened to Ken or Kena. It’s not a nickname I have seen anywhere outside of my family.
Final thoughts?
I have a very open-door policy. So, if there’s something in translational research you want to discuss, or something we can help you with, let us know or send me an email.
Learn more about Sylvester’s epigenetics program at the 6th Biennial Miami Epigenetics and Cancer Symposium, which will take place at the Ritz Carlton, Coconut Grove, Fla., November 16 and 17.
Tags: biochemistry and molecular biology, cancer research, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Dr. Maria Figueroa, epigenetics, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, translational research