Dr. Drake is a pediatric nephrologist at UT Southwestern Medical Center. Her research focuses on using genetically engineered mouse models to understand how disruptions in normal kidney development drive Wilms tumorigenesis. Given that the underlying mechanisms of how Wilms tumors originate from renal progenitor cells and can “hijack” developmental programs to result in this rare childhood cancer remain poorly understood, Dr. Drake’s work is aimed at better understanding how fundamental processes in development contribute to the biology of this rare kidney cancer.
Recent example of Dr. Drake’s work:
Michalopulos MG, Liu Y, Raju DR, Lafin JT, Ma Y, Gaur D, Khadka S, Xing C, McMahon AP, Carroll TJ, Drake KA. Defects in nephrogenesis result in an expansion of the Foxd1+ stromal progenitor population. Development. 2025 Dec 8; dev.204964. doi: 10.1242/dev.204964. Epub 2025 Dec 08. PMID: 41358813.
Posted: January 4, 2026