Distinguished scientist: Ashley Wysong, MD

This profile is part of a series to highlight the researchers who will be honored at a ceremony on March 9 for UNMC’s Scientist Laureate, Research Leadership, Distinguished Scientist, New Investigator and Community Service to Research Award recipients.

• Name: Ashley Wysong, MD
• Title: UNMC Department of Dermatology founding chair, professor and William W. Bruce Distinguished Chair of Dermatology
• Joined UNMC: 2018
• Hometown: Vail, Colorado

Please describe your research focus in three words or less: 

Skin cancer genes

Why is research important in the world today? 

Human curiosity and the desire to fearlessly innovate through research have the power to make major advances that impact all of humanity. It is the opportunity for individuals and small groups of people to do good beyond their immediate environment and spheres of influence and to solve the world’s biggest problems.

My research will make a difference because: 

We are utilizing precision medicine techniques to identify groups of genes that predict poor outcomes in individuals with skin cancer. Our group helped develop a prognostic gene expression profiling test that is utilized in squamous cell carcinoma patients, identified unique genetic signatures in skin cancer patients with different racial and ethnic backgrounds and is profiling genes and the tumor microenvironment of immunosuppressed patients with skin cancer. There are more than four times more skin cancers treated in the United States each year than all other forms of cancer combined, so the potential impact of research in this area is enormous.

The best advice I’ve ever received is: 

Don’t be afraid of life’s detours, it’s the unplanned journeys that will enrich your life. (Moving to Omaha to join the UNMC community has been the BEST “unplanned journey” of a lifetime.)

My favorite saying is: 

Do that which only you can do.

Three things you may not know about me are:

• I am married to a UNMC anesthesiology faculty member, Robert Lobato, MD.
• I ran collegiately and professionally for Nike prior to medical school.
• My husband and I are both sailboat captains and love to travel the world via land and sea.