Graduate College

WMU Graduate Standard - Tiantian Zhang

WMU Graduate Standard: Graduate Alumni Spotlight

WMU Biological Sciences Ph.D. Alum Tiantian Zhang Attains Post-Doctoral Position at Prestigious Cancer Research Lab—Carson Leftwich

Tiantian Zhang, Ph.D. 2017 from Dr. Karim Essani’s cohort in the Department of Biological Sciences, has attained a post-doctoral position with the City of Hope cancer research center in Los Angeles. Zhang started a post-doctoral appointment in the lab of Dr. Larry Kwak immediately upon receiving his degree from WMU. Kwak was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in 2010 and continues to do cutting edge research to develop vaccines for cancer treatment. His lab works on several different types of cancers, including asymptomatic lymphoma and triple-negative breast cancer. Each year more than 72,000 adults and children in the United States will be diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, the most common type of blood cancer. City of Hope enrolls more than 250 patients with lymphoma in clinical trials each year. WMU alumnus Tiantian Zhang works to develop a promising new vaccine therapy for these patients.

This is a photo of Dr. Tiantian Zhang as a graduate student in 2012. This photo was taken in late fall and Tiantian is dressed for the weather in layers, a whit t-shirt, red sweatshirt, and a winter snowflake patterned fleece jacket with fake fur accented lining. He is standing in front of Walwood hall where the W M U Graduate College is located. In the background are waist-height evergreen bushes in front of the red brickwork and green trimmed windows of Walwood hall.

Dr. Zhang as a graduate student in 2012

Zhang came to WMU in 2011 already having earned a medical degree from Wannan Medical College in Anhui Province, China. As an M.D. in Clinical Anesthesia, he was responsible for attending patients during surgery and procedures using local, intravenous, spinal and caudal anesthetics. He also provided life support and breathing management as well as monitored patients before and after anesthesia to counteract any adverse reactions. Many people might be satisfied with the career achievements of becoming an MD while winning “The Honor of Top Students” and China’s National Student Scholarship in 2007 and 2009, but Zhang’s research experience during this same period, at the Laboratory of Immunoregulation and Tolerance at the Chinese Academy of Biological Sciences, illuminated a path toward his current career as a cancer researcher.

In 2011 he began studying at WMU in the Biological Sciences Department in Dr. Karim Essani’s lab. Dr. Essani has been actively researching the molecular and immunological aspects of oncolytic viruses and colorectal cancer since the late 1970s and has supervised numerous doctoral students who have gone on to positions at prestigious institutions like City of Hope, rated by U.S. News and World Report as #21 in adult cancer centers in the United States. At City of Hope Dr. Tiantian Zhang participates in project planning and experiment design, generates, interprets and evaluates data and communicates the results to internal and external stakeholders.

Zhang’s work has led to numerous publications, presentations, and awards. In 2017 he was first author in several articles and papers published in Virus Genes; Medical Oncology; Open Virology Journal; and International Journal of Cancer Biology and Clinical Oncology, among other peer reviewed publications. He has presented at conferences around the world, receiving multiple Graduate College Graduate Research and Travel Grants. At the 34th Annual Kalamazoo Community Medical and Health Sciences Research Day in 2016 he received an award for “Best Clinical Research Presentation”, along with colleagues Yogesh Suryawanshi, Dennis Kordish, Helene Woyczesczyk, David Jeng and Karim Essani, for “Experimental Virotherapy of Human Melanoma Tumors in Nude Mice with 15L-knock-out Tanapoxvirus.” At that same event, he won, along with Kordish, Suryawanshi and Essani, first place poster award for “Tanapoxvirus Expressing Interleukin-2 Regresses Human Melanoma Tumors by a T-cell Independent Mechanism in Mice.” In 2015 he won the WMU 3MinuteThesis Best Presentation Award for his presentation “Genetically engineered tanapox virus expressing interleukin-2 is a potential therapy for melanoma” co-authored with Dennis Kordish and Karim Essani.

Zhang excelled at outreach to his fellow students as a member of the first Graduate Ambassador cohort in 2012-2013. As a student recruiter he informed prospective students about graduate program offerings at WMU as well as how to negotiate life as a graduate student. He represented the Graduate College at University Admissions events, HIGE and CELCIS orientations and social events sponsored by the Graduate Student Association. He brought new students to events and made new international students feel welcome. His friendly demeanor and enthusiastic, outgoing personality made him an instant favorite with any group.

In this photo Dr. Zhang is in the center of a group of five people who attended the 2016 W M U Three Minute Thesis event. Dr. Zhang is wearing a dark suit with a white button-up shirt. There are two women on his right and a woman and a man on his left. Most of them are dressed in business casual attire. In the background are other groups of graduate students chatting and socializing as the event has ended and everyone is enjoying the moment before returning to their busy schedules.

Dr. Zhang at the WMU 2016 3-Minute Thesis Event

Zhang returned to the Graduate Ambassadors for the 2013-14 academic year and recruited other notable Ambassadors from the department of Biological Sciences, including Yogesh Suryanwanshi, Mark Webster and Sarah Webster. Zhang hopes to return to Michigan when he gets a rare vacation to enjoy Western's beautiful campus.