Dr. Diana Azzam co-founded First Ascent Biomedical and serves as Scientific Advisor, bringing her expertise as a cancer researcher and pioneer in functional precision medicine (FPM). She holds a PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Miami and is an associate professor at Florida International University.
Dr. Azzam’s research tests live tumor cells from individual patients against hundreds of FDA-approved drugs to rapidly identify effective, personalized therapies for patients with advanced or therapy-resistant cancers who have exhausted standard treatment options. Partnering with hospitals including Nicklaus Children’s Hospital and Cleveland Clinic Florida, she leads clinical studies assessing FPM in both pediatric and adult cancer patients, with outcomes that include a child with relapsed leukemia who achieved remission through FPM-guided therapy.
Dr. Azzam is establishing Florida’s first dedicated cancer drug testing lab and working to expand FPM’s reach through multi-center clinical trials, with a focus on reducing health disparities in childhood cancer. Her research has been funded and recognized by the National Institutes of Health, among others.