Dr. Gray’s research focuses on the analysis of targeted therapies in patients with non-small lung cancer (NSCLC) and those at risk for lung cancer with hopes of optimizing the therapeutic benefit while minimizing the toxicity with the use of biomarker analysis to enhance the understanding of cancer biology and treatment.She was the principal investigator of a phase IIB randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study of enzastaurin (a protein kinase C inhibitor), investigating its efficacy in lung cancer prevention in former smokers. Through her continued work on this project, she was awarded an NIH Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) supplement grant (Research Supplements to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research). Additionally Dr. Gray is involved in analyzing histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors as a novel treatment approach in patients with lung cancer. One strategy to enhance the efficacy of the EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor, already demonstrated in vitro, is to combine erlotinib with inhibitors of other key oncogenic pathways such as HDAC inhibitors. Dr. Gray and colleagues also are exploring additional HDAC inhibitor combination strategies for clinical application.