Draft:Ann Richmond, PhD

 Ann Richmond Ann Richmond (born 1946 as Judy Ann White) is an American cancer biologist. She is the Ingram Professor of Cancer Research at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center and Professor of Pharmacology and Dermatology at Vanderbilt University. '''

Early Life and Education Richmond was born and raised in Eudora, Arkansas, a small farming town in Southeast Arkansas. She earned her Bachelor’s degree at Northeast Louisiana University (Monroe) and her Master’s degree at Louisiana State. In 1979, she received her PhD with an emphasis on developmental biology from Emory University. Following this, she did postdoctoral work at Emory University School of Medicine, where she received an NCI F31 grant for her research.

Academic Career Upon completing her fellowship at Emory in 1983, she was appointed as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology at Emory University School of Medicine with a joint appointment in the Department of Anatomy. She served as Director of the Tumor Biology Section at the Winship Cancer Center from 1985-1989. In 1989 she moved to Vanderbilt University to join the Department of Cell Biology and later affiliated with the Department of Cancer Biology, where from 2000-2018, she served as Vice Chair of the Department of Cancer Biology, followed by serving as Director of the Program in Cancer Biology from 2018-2024. She served as Assistant Dean of Postdoctoral Affairs from 2005-2010 and as Associate Director of Education for the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center from 2004-2020. Richmond has received peer-reviewed funding from the NCI and the Department of Veterans Affairs for more than 40 years. She was named Research Career Scientist in the Department of Veterans Affairs in 1988 and Senior Research Career Scientist from 1999-2024. She served as co-PI on a U54 grant, Partners to Eliminate Cancer Disparities, from 2011 to 2021. She has over 200 peer-reviewed publications such as and has served on the editorial board for JBC, JLB, Pigment, Cell and Melanoma Research, Frontiers in Oncology, and Cancers. She has been a permanent member and an ad hoc member of numerous NIH and VA study sections. She serves on the External Advisory Board for the Markey Cancer Center and for the Markey T32 Cancer Biology grant.

Research Richmond’s research focused on mechanisms associated with inflammation and cancer growth. Her lab purified one of the first chemokines, initially known as melanoma growth stimulatory activity, and after determining the amino-terminal sequence, in collaboration with Rik Derynck at Genentech, she and her team cloned the gene for MGSA and determined that the gene that encodes an activity that stimulates melanoma tumor growth also recruits neutrophils into tumors and sites of inflammation. She and her team characterized the functionality and regulation of CXCR2, the chemokine receptor for MGSA, later named CXCL1. They demonstrated that CXCR2 plays a major role in angiogenesis, wound healing, tumor growth, inflammation, and recruitment of immunosuppressive myeloid cells into tumors. They also showed how phosphorylation of the serine and threonine residues in the C-terminal domain of the receptor plays a key role in the downregulation of signaling and receptor trafficking. Her team has shown how activation of the NF-κB transcriptional machinery is a major regulator of transcription of the CXC-chemokines and that inhibition of this pathway in tumor cells can inhibit tumor growth, while inhibition of this pathway in myeloid cells shifts the phenotype of macrophages in the tumor microenvironment to an immunosuppressive phenotype and enhances tumor growth. She also demonstrated that targeted deletion of CXCR2 in myeloid cells altered the tumor immune microenvironment and inhibited tumor growth. Additionally, targeted deletion of CXCR2 during melanocyte differentiation reprogrammed the transcriptional program of the tumor microenvironment and reduced tumor formation and tumor growth. Her team has shown how combining immune checkpoint inhibitors with therapies that target CXCR2, the PI3K/AKT pathway, or the RAS/RAF/PI3K results in much more successful inhibition of tumor growth. This work led to the development of new clinical trials combining CXCR/CXCR2 inhibitors or RAS/RAF/PI3K inhibitors with immune checkpoint inhibitors for the treatment of cancer. Richmond was named Ingram Professor of Cancer Research at Vanderbilt in 2005. She received the Charles Park Award for Research Revealing Insights into Physiology and Pathology in 2014, the William S. Middleton Award for Excellence in Biomedical Laboratory Research, the VA’s highest scientific award in biomedical research, in 2016, was named Fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2018,  received the Delores Shockley Partnership Award in 2018, and the Legacy Award from the Society for Leukocyte Biology in 2019. She has trained over 70 undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral fellows and has been a champion for advancing training in cancer research in disparate populations.

Personal life Richmond has two daughters, two stepdaughters, one stepson, and seven grandchildren. She is married to Darrell Smith, Ph.D.

References: 1.	https://lab.vanderbilt.edu/richmond-lab/ 2.	‪Ann Richmond‬ - ‪Google Scholar‬‬‬‬‬; https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C43&q=Ann+Richmond&btnG= 3.	https://www.vicc.org/member/ann-richmond 4.	Ann Richmond | The Office of Biomedical Research Education and Training | Vanderbilt University; https://news.vumc.org/reporter-archive/richmond-to-lead-postdoc-program-efforts/ 5.	Richmond steps down as associate director for Research Education for VICC | VUMC Reporter | Vanderbilt University; https://news.vumc.org/2020/07/16/richmond-steps-down-as-associate-director-for-research-education-for-vicc/ 6.	Study reveals new strategy for reducing tumor growth, metastasis | VUMC Reporter | Vanderbilt University;https://news.vumc.org/2023/06/29/study-identifies-key-regulator-of-melanoma-development/ 7.	Ann Richmond wins the 2016 William S. Middleton Award - The Cancer Letter; https://cancerletter.com/in-brief/20161014_6h/#:~:text=ANN%20RICHMOND%2C%20Vanderbilt%20University%20cancer%20researcher%2C%20has%20won,Service%20of%20the%20U.S.%20Department%20of%20Veterans%20Affairs. 8.	Richmond receives Legacy Award from Society for Leukocyte Biology | VUMC Reporter | Vanderbilt University; https://news.vumc.org/2019/12/12/richmond-receives-legacy-award-from-society-for-leukocyte-biology/ 9.	https://www.vumc.org/oor/school-medicine-faculty-awards; https://news.vumc.org/2014/05/29/faculty-meeting-highlights-vusm-achievements/