Sarah L. Kerns

Sarah L. Kerns, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the Medical College of Wisconsin. She holds a BS from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, PhD from Northwestern University, and MPH from Johns Hopkins. Her affiliations include former faculty positions at the University of Rochester and Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, with active roles in the International Radiogenomics Consortium (Co-Lead) and NCI steering committees.

Her research integrates radiogenomics, toxicity prediction modeling, and cancer survivorship, with emphases on:

• Genetic biomarkers for radiation-induced injury
• Cisplatin toxicity mechanisms in testicular cancer
• Inflammatory pathways in cancer-related symptoms
• Multi-ancestry genomic equity in risk assessment

Her publications focus on translating genomic discoveries into clinical tools for personalizing radiotherapy, with recent work on extracellular vesicle proteomics, epigenetic regulators of fibrosis, and polygenic risk scores. Research trends show strong emphasis on prostate cancer toxicity mechanisms, large-scale GWAS meta-analyses, and imaging-genomic correlations.

Awards include:

• NIH Clinical Loan Repayment Award (2017-2021)
• ASTRO Annual Meeting Award (2010)
• Predoctoral Fellowship, Chicago Baseball Cancer Charities (2004-2007)

She mentors junior faculty and leads NIH-funded projects on biobanking and omega-3 supplementation mechanisms. She directs collaborative initiatives at the Center for Cancer Discovery and oversees genomic components of national consortia like REQUITE.