Internal Resources

COM-T Faculty Spotlight

Baker surgery
Baker Oto pic

Meet Audrey Baker, MD!
Associate Professor
Department of Otolaryngology

UA COM-T Faculty since 2011

Dr. Baker highlights at University of Arizona: 

  • Started Head and Neck Cancer Surgery program at UAMC
  • Started Multidisciplinary H&N tumor board at UACC
  • Started H&N Disease Oriented Team for managing UACC Clinical Trials
  • Clinical practice focus - Adv Cutaneous H&N cancers, Melanoma, H&N reconstruction including microvascular free flaps.
  • Led development of safe protocol for COVID-19 tracheostomies.

Educator Scholar 

  • First Program Director, Otolaryngology Residency Program UofA, Tucson (2013-2022) - One of 2 otolaryngology residency programs in AZ, First otolaryngology residency graduate 2017, Expanded from 1 to 2 residents per year in 2020.
  • College of Medicine Societies Mentor (2022-present) - Developed standardized otolaryngology core curriculum for medical students, designed and led "Advanced head and neck lab" to teach head and neck exam to 2nd semester MS1 students.
  • Member of UA Faculty Senate (2024-2026)
  • Director, Pathways in Health and Medicine course (2025-)

When to contact Dr. Baker: 

  • Medical students interested in otolaryngology.
  • Need ENT content in curriculum. 

 

Rogers pic 1
Expansion rogers
Tem rogers

Meet Gregory Rogers, PhD!
Professor
Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine

We work on understanding how cells maintain integrity of their genomes

  1. How do cells build organelles? Use of Drosophila as a model of system to study centrosome assembly, the microtubule-organizing center of the cell.
  2. How does prostate cancer (PCa) start? Hypoxia and chromosomal instability (CIN) are drivers of primary PCa. We focus on a mechanism linking the two -specifically, hypoxia causes centrosome disassembly followed by CIN in dividing cancer cells. 

Key publications: 

  • Rogers, G.C. et al. Nature. 427, 364-370, 2004. Answered a 100+ year question - what are the forces that drive anaphase chromosome separation? This work is described in two different textbooks.
  • Rogers, G.C. et al. Journal of Cell Biology. 184, 225-239, 2009. Discovered the primary mechanism of how Polo-like kinase 4 (Plk4, the master-regulator of centrosome duplication) is controlled during the cell cycle. Ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis of Plk4 prevents rampant centrosome overduplication (amplification) observed in cancer cells. 

Patents: 

  • Diagnostic for Prostate Cancer treatment outcomes, filed 9/2025

Current funding: 

  • R35 MIRA For Established Investigators (PI) Renewed 6/1/2025.
  • Multi-R01 Rogers, Cress

Images: 

  • Image 1 (green, blue, red): Centrosomes (red) control mitotic spindle shape.
  • Image 2 (two purple, green and white): Centrioles are tiny 200 nm long
  • Image 3 (black and white): TEM