Michael C. Haffner, MD, PhD

Dr. Michael Haffner is a physician-scientist who specializes in genitourinary cancers. As a pathologist, he diagnoses patients’ tumors. As a research scientist, he studies the cellular changes that allow tumor cells, particularly prostate tumor cells, to metastasize, or spread through the body. Dr. Haffner focuses on the cytoskeleton, the protein network that gives cells their shape and size and is involved in nearly every cellular process, from division to movement. The shape and size of cancer cells often differs from normal cells and these changes may be due to changes in how cells build and organize their cytoskeletons. But how cytoskeletal changes may promote tumor progression, including metastasis, remain unclear. Through understanding the connection between the cytoskeleton and cancer, Dr. Haffner aims to identify new targets for future therapies designed to halt advanced prostate cancer.