Julia C. Schaum, MS, is the Co-Coordinator and Senior Tissue Acquisition Specialist for TDAAC.  She received a master’s degree in biology from James Madison University where she specialized in anatomy and biomechanics.  After receiving her degree, she worked as a Tissue Recovery Specialist for LifeNet, the nation’s largest nonprofit, full-service organ donation agency and tissue banking system.  In her current role as coordinator, her responsibilities include procuring solid tumor and hematopoietic samples, the accompanying patient consents and patient history questionnaires for both the tissue bank and various other specialized studies.  She provides data management for associated specimen data from the point of collection to processing.  She processes hematopoietic and solid tumor specimens in preparation for RNA, DNA, and Protein extraction as well as for various other protocols. Julie plays an important role as a link between TDAAC and the various research staff, physicians, and nurses affiliated with the project.  Julie maintains an important balance between researcher needs and physician and patient priorities.

Carrie Glassman serves as Co-Coordinator and Tissue Acquisition Specialist for TDAAC.  Her tissue acquisition responsibilities include obtaining human residual tissue samples, particularly solid tumor and hematopoietic samples, for the tissue bank and acquiring other specimens for specific protocols.  She also provides data management and obtains informed consent from patients for TDAAC and other studies.  As study coordinator, Ms. Glassman takes pride in establishing rapport with patients and physicians, as well as in serving as a liaison between TDAAC and these doctors and hospital staff to facilitate specimen and consent acquisition.  She previously worked as a Clinical Research Coordinator for the NIMH funded STAR*D, a national depression study, and site coordinator for the Human Genetics Initiative, a STAR*D ancillary study.  She is a graduate of the VCU Honors in Psychology Program and plans to pursue graduate studies.

Amy Ladd, PhD is a postdoctoral associate in the Department of Pathology, Division of Molecular Diagnostics.  Her graduate degree in Pathology is from the University of Maryland where she specialized in hematological stem cell biology and T cell reconstitution following immunosuppressive therapy.  Her primary responsibility to TDAAC has been the development of a cryopreservation protocol for banking  hematological specimens obtained from bone marrow aspirates and management of the of clinical data corresponding to these specimens in the TDAAC database.  Her current projects focus on the use of microarray gene expression analysis to evaluate differences between subtypes of hematological and solid tumor malignancies.

<< back