Dr. John Carpten organizes health seminars at his church, works with local cancer support groups, and leads national research programs. And that is just in his free time.

Carpten, who considers his job as a cancer researcher both a "passion" and a "responsibility," works to serve the community in as many capacities as possible.

As director of the Division of Integrated Cancer Genomics at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), Carpten has dedicated much of his award-winning work to studying diseases that disproportionately affect African Americans, including multiple myeloma and prostate cancer.

Recently, Carpten's research focus has shifted to finding similarities between multiple tumor types, a strategy he hopes will lead to the development of basic therapies that could treat many types of cancer.

Though varied, all of Carpten's efforts are driven by a singular goal: to affect patients, be it through disease prevention or treatment.

You moved from Tennessee to Ohio to Maryland, and then finally Arizona. What initially attracted you to Arizona, and what keeps you here?

I guess the most attractive thing about coming here was the opportunity to continue my interactions with Jeff Trent. I believe that he had a solid vision in terms of actually utilizing the human genome to help us better manage disease. Instead of just doing lab work and building a career based on publications, I wanted to take the opportunity to see the lab work move toward the clinic.

So you and Dr. Trent were colleagues in Maryland?

Yes. I started training with Jeff as a post-doctoral fellow in 1994, and then I was promoted to the tenure track as an independent investigator in 2000 at the Genome Institute within the Cancer Genetics branch. Then when Jeff started to realize his vision to lead TGen here in Arizona, he asked if I would come out and help him set the place up. So it was an opportunity for me to help Jeff after he'd helped me for so many years.

How did you come to specialize in prostate cancer research?

I wouldn't necessarily say that I specialize in prostate cancer research -- I think it's just a strong area of focus. I did spend a considerable amount of my post-doctoral fellowship attempting to discover genes or biomarkers for early diagnosis of prostate cancer and targets for possible therapies. However, what I've come to find is that genomic technology can be used across multiple tumor types, and in many cases there's not necessarily a specific tumor type, but more of a biological process. And we're now finding that there are certain biological processes and molecular pathways that are de-regulated in multiple tumor types. So now it's more interesting to me to look for these aberrant pathways across multiple tumor types because I believe you can affect more patients that way.

What personal characteristics have helped you as a researcher?

Interest. I'm interested in what I do, which makes it easy for me to love what I do. When I wake up in the morning and come in to work, I know what different projects are going on, and I know that one day we'll be able to say 'Eureka' and be able to actually affect a patient. So that's what drives me now. You know, I've got the patents, I've got the papers, and all of that is good, but the ultimate goal is to help a patient, even if it's just one patient.

You serve as director of TGen's Division of Integrated Cancer Genomics, project leader for the Multiple Myeloma Genomic Initiative, and you still manage to find time for different research projects. How do you balance these roles?

I've been blessed to have an outstanding research staff, which makes life a lot easier. My staff is led by Christiane Robbins, who performs most of the work associated with solid tumors, and Angela Baker, who does a lot of the work associated with myeloma and liquid tumors. I also have an awesome group of colleagues within the research division. They're outstanding investigators and really smart people. When you surround yourself with a lot of intelligent people and bring the collective brainpower together, you're much more likely to find the answers more quickly. And since I'm such an unorganized person, my assistant Gwendolyn Woods has been a godsend.

You have chosen to investigate diseases that disproportionately affect the African-American community. Do you think enough work is being done to remedy racial disparities in research?

No. I don't think that the budgets are high enough for that type of research. I also think in many instances, health disparities research is taken advantage of by people who really don't have any vested interest in trying to reduce the disparities. In many cases, the funding is high-jacked because people know they can get grants if they just include samples from a particular ethnic group in their studies. So I think there are a number of issues and problems associated with reducing health disparities.

How do you make sure that your work is actually reducing disparities?

I have a significant interest and responsibility for my work. I don't just do research; I help put on health fairs at my church and at men's retreats, and I work with several of the local prostate cancer foundations and support groups. So for me, it's not just trying to get money in the lab for research. It's a passion and a responsibility, and a much bigger picture.

What has been the highlight of your career so far?

To date, the highlight of my career has probably been my work initiating and participating in the African American Hereditary Prostate Cancer Study Network, because it was work that I started as a fellow. I helped manage a group of about 15 investigators across the country to try to identify families with hereditary prostate cancer. Because of the interactions with my colleagues and the possibility of being able to impact the community, that has probably been the highlight so far.

What are you most looking forward to in the future?

Since cancer is my area of interest, I'm really looking forward to the time when we start seeing the death rates from cancer significantly decrease because of work that we're doing here in Arizona. Work that, for instance, Dr. Dan Von Hoff and his colleagues are doing in Scottsdale trying to treat cancer patients individually, based on the molecular profile of their tumors. Instead of lumping all breast cancer patients together, they look at the tumors from each patient to find molecular markers. Many times, there is already a drug on the shelf not traditionally used for breast cancer that could be prescribed to treat that patient. This type of individualized therapy is most likely how cancer patients are going to be treated in the future. So I'm just looking forward to maturing these efforts and watching them grow.

What do you see for the future of biomedical research?

I'm really big on teamwork and collaboration. I believe that it's truly the only way that we will get there. In many cases, the state of biomedical research has forced many of us to take on the independent research state of mind, where you barricade yourself and your group in one little room, and everything is based on publications and grants. I think the National Institutes of Health has finally seen the light in initiating the new multiple investigator grant program, which allows multiple researchers to be principal investigators on the same grant. I think that's the future of research, and I'm excited to see that type of effort move forward.