Delisha Stewart

Dr. Delisha Stewart is an Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology at Howard University’s College of Medicine (joined November 2024). Previously, she held positions at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH), including Assistant Professor in the Department of Nutrition and researcher at the UNC-Nutrition Research Institute in Kannapolis, NC. Her work focuses on nutritional and metabolic influences on cancer progression, particularly in gynecological cancers like breast and endometrial cancers. She has received a NIH-NCI Re-Entry Grant to support her research and diversity efforts in biomedical sciences.

Education:

• B.S. in Biochemistry, University of Dayton
• Ph.D. in Biochemistry, University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB)

Research Interests: Dr. Stewart investigates how dietary patterns, obesity, inflammation, and metabolism drive cancer progression and treatment resistance. Her interdisciplinary approach now integrates microbiome analysis to explore interventions targeting treatment outcomes for aggressive breast cancers. Key areas include cancer microenvironment immunity, Notch signaling in osteosarcoma, and genomics-driven studies of breast cancer subtypes.

Awards & Grants:

• NIH-NCI Re-Entry Grant (diversity in biomedical sciences)

Advising & Labs: Her research at UNC included postdoctoral work on breast cancer immune crosstalk and metabolomics at RTI International. At Howard, she aims to expand her lab’s focus on microbiome-driven treatment strategies.