Venkata Battula, Ph.D., serves as Assistant Director of Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Cancer Research Training and Education Coordination (CRTEC) program and is a Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at the VCU School of Medicine. He joined VCU Massey from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, where he was an Associate Professor in the Departments of Leukemia and Breast Medical Oncology within the Division of Cancer Medicine. He earned his Ph.D. in Human Cell Biology from Justus Liebig University in Giessen, Germany, and brings extensive expertise in translational cancer research.
Dr. Battula’s research focuses on understanding how cancer cells develop resistance to chemotherapy, radiation, and targeted therapies; identifying novel drug resistance mechanisms; and developing new combination therapies. His work has been instrumental in identifying GD2 as a novel marker in patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), an aggressive subtype with limited treatment options. GD2, expressed on cancer stem cells, is associated with tumor growth and poor clinical outcomes. Building on these findings, Dr. Battula recently secured funding from the U.S. Department of Defense to initiate a clinical trial targeting GD2 in TNBC.
In his role within CRTEC, Dr. Battula is committed to expanding graduate-level training opportunities and advancing programs that prepare the next generation of cancer researchers.