Yesim Gokmen-Polar, PhD

Biography

Yesim Gokmen-Polar, PhD, is an associate professor and serves as associate director of the Pathology Cancer Program in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine.

Dr. Gokmen-Polar is a member of the Discovery and Developmental Therapeutics Research Program at Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University.

Education

Dr. Gokmen-Polar received her PhD and MS from Bogazici University in Istanbul, Turkey. She completed her postdoctoral training at University of Tennesee in Memphis, Tennesee, and University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas.

Titles & Roles

• Associate Professor, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

  Emory University School of Medicine
• Associate Director, Pathology Cancer Program, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

  Emory University School of Medicine

Professional Memberships

Dr. Gokmen-Polar holds professional memberships with the American Association for Cancer Research, American Association of Clinical Oncology, and United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology.

Research

A molecular biologist, Dr. Gokmen-Polar's translational focus is in experimental cancer therapeutics. Her research focuses on the identification and characterization of novel druggable targets and development of novel treatment strategies in breast cancer and thymic cancer. Her laboratory uses experimental models as well as patient cohorts of breast and thymic cancer using high-throughput multi-omics tools to understand mechanisms of resistance and recurrence in breast and thymic cancer.

Publications

Dr. Gokmen-Polar has published numerous peer-reviewed articles in scientific journals including Cancer Research, Cancer Cell, and The Journal of Biological Chemistry. She is co-editor of the book, "Molecular Pathology of Breast Cancer." She is co-editor-in-chief of Cancer Treatment and Research Communications and serves on the editorial board of Clinical Breast Cancer.