William P. Schiemann

William P. Schiemann, PhD, is the Goodman-Blum Professor in Cancer Research at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, where he serves as Vice Dean for Research and Innovation. He holds joint appointments in the Department of Biochemistry and the Molecular Oncology Program at the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Schiemann earned his BS in Premedicine from the University of Nevada-Reno (1990) and his PhD in Pharmacology from the University of Washington (1996).

His research focuses on molecular mechanisms driving breast cancer metastasis, recurrence, and dormancy. Key interests include TGFβ signaling, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, breast cancer stem cells, tumor heterogeneity, noncoding RNAs (especially lncRNA BORG), and epigenetic regulation of metastatic processes. The Schiemann Lab investigates how metastatic dormancy is initiated/maintained, molecular features of tumor heterogeneity, and genetic/epigenetic defects in mammary stem cell transformation.

Publication analysis reveals strong thematic focus on breast cancer metastasis mechanisms (80% of recent articles), particularly involving noncoding RNAs (33%), tumor microenvironment interactions (27%), and epigenetic regulation (20%). Over 60% of his work explores therapeutic targeting of metastatic processes, with increasing emphasis on nanotechnology applications in diagnosis and treatment since 2017.

Dr. Schiemann directs an active research laboratory investigating racial disparities in triple-negative breast cancer, MYC-MIZ1 signaling, SLX4IP telomere maintenance, and Pfkfb3/autophagy interplay in dormancy regulation. Current projects include nanoparticle development for precision therapy and imaging of metastatic breast cancer.