Intricate Interplay

Kimberly Leslie, MD, was awarded a four-year, $1.8 million grant from the Department of Defense (DOD) to further study high-risk uterine cancer. Her research has led her to study the differences between natural progesterone and synthetic progestins – hormones often used for birth control – and the influence of progesterone on a tumor suppressor protein called p53. The hormones, drugs and proteins, she’s learned, influence each other and the body’s cells in complex ways.