Keohavong, Phouthone
Phouthone Keohavong
Dr. Phouthone Keohavong is an Associate Professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health. He works in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health. He researches the cellular and molecular mechanisms that environmental carcinogens cause lung cancer. He also identifies markers to diagnose, determine prognoses, and treat lung cancer. Dr. Keohavong has garnered many professional achievements, including co-editing the book Molecular Toxicology Protocols with a colleague, Dr. Stephen Grant, and publishing many research articles. He has also served as a member of the Diversity Committee for the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public Health. He has also worked to attract more minorities to the health sciences through the Center for Minority Health, which evolved from the Diversity Committee.
“Don’t give up, because anyone can do it. The environment concerns everyone, especially minorities.” - Phouthone Keohavong, 2006.
Gao, W.M., Zhu, D., Keohavong, P. 2017. Sequence-dependent cleavage of mismatched DNA by Ban I restriction endonuclease. Journal of Molecular Recognition 30(10). doi: 10.1002/jmr.2638
Gao W., Join, J., Yin, J., Land, S., Gaither-Davis, A., Christie, N., Luketich, J. D., Siegfried, J. M. & Keahavong, P. (2017). KRAS and TP53 mutations in bronchoscopy samples from former lung cancer patients. Molecular Carcinogenesis, 56(2). doi: 10.1002/mc.22501
Gao, W., Lu, C., Chen, L. & Keohavong, P. (2015). Overexpression of CRM1: A Characteristic Feature in a Transformed Phenotype of Lung Carcinogenesis and a Molecular Target for Lung Cancer Adjuvant Therapy. Journal of Thoracic Oncology, 10(5). doi: 10.1097/JTO.0000000000000485
Shvedova, A. A., Yanamala, N., Kisin, E. K., Tkach, A. V., Murray, A. R., Hubbs, A., Chirila, M. M., Keohavong, P., Sycheva, L. P., Kagan, V. E. & Castranova, V. (2014). Long-term effects of carbon containing engineered nanomaterials and asbestos in the lung: one year postexposure comparisons. American Journal of Physiology, 306(2). doi: 10.1152/ajplung.00167.2013
Growing up in Laos as one of ten children, Phouthone Keohavong saw how devastating a lack of environmental understanding could be. “Laos is a multi-ethnic and relatively poor country that greatly needs improvement in environmental education,” he explains. “There are lots of environmental issues people aren’t aware of. People die of liver disease, lung, and other cancers from things in the environment they eat and are exposed to.” Dr. Keohavong wanted to change that by studying biology and environmental health.
Dr. Keohavong received his undergraduate and graduate education at Louis Pasteur University in Strasbourg, France. He completed a bachelor of science in biology in 1976, his master’s in biochemistry in 1980, and his doctorate in biochemistry and molecular biology in 1986. From 1986 to 1988, he held a postdoctoral research position on molecular toxicology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Following his postdoctoral work at MIT, Dr. Keohavong worked as a research scientist at MIT’s Center for Environmental Health Sciences from 188 to 1991. At MIT, he studied how environmental factors can alter human genetics. “We hypothesized that the environment can induce diseases in humans, including cancer, by causing gene alterations in cells,” Dr. Keohavong explains. “We hypothesized that any chemical in the environment that can cause such alterations in cellular DNA, whether directly or indirectly, has the potential to be a carcinogen. We tested the mutagenicity of environmental chemicals in order to understand their mechanism of action.”
In 1991, Dr. Keohavong became Assistant Professor at the University of Pittsburg’s Department of Environmental and Occupational Health. He taught courses in cellular and molecular toxicology and continues to build on his research on environment/genetic/epigenetic interactions relating to lung cancer. “I try to understand the origin and mechanisms leading to lung cancer and to develop biomarkers for early detection,” Dr. Keohavong says. He describes himself as “satisfied” with his job, which he has held since 1991.
In 2001, Dr. Keohavong became an Associate Professor. At the University of Pittsburg, Dr. Keohavong’s research tries to understand how specific cells respond to environmental factors and create tumors. One research project focuses specifically on tobacco smoke. He is now an Associate Professor Emeritus.
Dr. Keohavong is a member of the Environmental Mutagen Society, the American Association for Cancer Research, and the Society of Toxicology. He is also on the Editorial Board for the Balkan Journal of Medical Genetics and has been a manuscript reviewer for dozens of journals.
Dr. Keohavong overcame language and cultural barriers throughout his career. He has garnered several professional achievements, including co-editing the book Molecular Toxicology Protocols with a colleague, Dr. Stephen Grant, and publishing many research articles. He has also served as a member of the Diversity Committee for the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public Health. He has also worked to attract more minorities to the health sciences through the Center for Minority Health, which evolved from the Diversity Committee.
Dr. Keohavong credits his advisor at MIT and department chairperson at the University of Pittsburg for acting as a mentor as he began his academic career. Dr. Keohavong mentors several minority students. He worked with the Public Health Career Opportunity Program, which targeted minority students to do a guided research project, which they later presented to a scientific audience. He has served on doctoral committees for two minority students and master committees for other minority students. Dr. Keohavong says training and developing courses for students from “various backgrounds and initiatives” have been the highlight of his career. “It helps me to like what I’m doing, what I’m teaching,” he says. “I help people.”
Dr. Keohavong says the personal and professional challenges he faces have taught him a lot, and he is proud of his success. “Even at the worst moment of my life, I’m a fighter,” he says. “Surviving is a term I’m very proud of” (2016). He advises other minorities interested in the environmental field to do the same: “Don’t give up because anyone can do it. The environment concerns everyone, especially minorities” (2016).
Phouthone Keohavong. (n.d.). University of Pittsburg School of Public Health. https://www.sph.pitt.edu/directory/phouthone-keohavong
Interview conducted by Multicultural Environmental Leadership Development Initiative staff. 2016. University of Michigan – School of Natural Resources and Environment. Ann Arbor, MI.
Taylor, Dorceta (Ed.). 2006. The Paths We Thread: Profiles of the Careers of Minority Environmental Professionals: II. Minority Environmental Leadership Development Initiative, University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment.
Phouthone Keohavong [photo]. University of Pittsburg School of Public Health. n.d. Retrieved September 2023 from https://www.sph.pitt.edu/directory/phouthone-keohavong