Dr. Ricardo Parker

Ricardo Parker joined National University (NU) in 2012 as an associate professor and academic program director (APD) for the Bachelor of Science in Allied Health (BSAH) program in the Department of Health Services, School of Health Professions. To date, as a full professor, Ricardo continues to serve as program APD and is actively engaged in other school- and department-level leadership roles including serving on the School Advisory Council and Curriculum Committee, collaborating with administration and faculty colleagues on academic projects including serving as faculty mentor in the NU Nurse Managed Clinic and HRSA grant-funded NU Simulated Virtual Healthcare System Model project and has co-authored several peer-reviewed publications. He enjoys mentoring BSAH majors and other life-long learners performing their senior Capstone projects, and collaborating with national and community-based organizations by providing health and healthy lifestyle lectures. He also serves as advisor and director of cancer research at SageMedic, Corp – a cancer research company in Redwood City, California. Ricardo earned his BS degree in Biology at Shaw University (Raleigh, NC), his MS degree in Biology at Tennessee State University (Nashville, TN), and his PhD in Microbiology from Oregon State University (Corvallis, OR). He performed post-doctoral research fellowships at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland in the Laboratory of Tumor Immunology and Biology and in the Medicine Branch, Clinical Oncology Program. He also earned a Certificate of Clinical Trials in the Medical Device and Drug Development Program at the University of California, Irvine Extension (Orange, California). Ricardo's professional career in clinical cancer research and biotechnology extended over 14 years at Oncotech, Inc involving studying the molecular biology of cancer and drug resistance and development of clinical tools and functional assays to predict cancer patients’ tumor (non)response to anti-cancer agents and stratify treatment options toward precision therapy. He collaborated on national and international investigator-led cooperative group clinical trials and research studies, and presented at numerous international and national professional, academic, and community-based conferences. Ricardo also provided professional leadership, serving as manager of pediatric research and grants in the Department of Pediatrics at Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, CA. Altogether, his 36+ years of cancer research work, two patents, and over 120 peer-reviewed publications have contributed to the body of biomedical research knowledge in the fields of experimental therapeutics, cancer drug resistance and functional precision medicine. As a professional research scientist and health educator, Ricardo imparts on NU's adult learners an exceptional learning experience.

Memberships

• Council for Adult and Experiential Learning
• American Association for Cancer Research

Publications

• 90. Jahanvi Kumar, Chiara Maestri, Rajeshwar Nitiyanandan, Ivan Trus, Ricardo Parker, Brigitte Apfel. (April 07, 2024). Cell-cycle inhibition may influence differences in 2D vs 3D tumor sensitivity profiles. Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer.


• Barbara F. Piper, Phd, Ricardo Parker, Phd, Zemirah Lee, Mlis And Elena Todorova, Dnp. (October 10, 2018). Measuring the Mapping of Planetree Principles into Academic Curricula: A Pilot Study. 2018 Planetree Intl Conf on Person-Centered Care.


• Schiltz, P., Wright, E., Parker, J., Tolbert, D., Matthews, L. & Shamblee, L.. (July 01, 2017). A culturally competent, community driven, collaborative approach to health care education conferences addressing the health disparities of African Americans. American Association for Cancer Research.


• Ricardo Parker, Michael Myers, And Patric Schiltz. (May 18, 2015). In vitro drug response, biomarkers and clinical outcome in malignant glioma patients.. Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer.


• Mcneal, G. J., Finney, A., Kabore, T., Hernandez, K., Drummond, S., Esquivias, J., Smith, Et Al.. (n.d.). The Simulated Virtual Healthcare System Model (SVHSM) Interprofessional Education Project..


• Gloria J Mcneal, Phd, Arneta Finney, Phd(C), Ricardo Parker, Phd, And Angela Williams, Phd(C). (n.d.). Forming Community Engagement Partnerships to Improve Access to Care.. 2018 Planetree Intl Conf on Person-Centered Care.


• Ricardo Parker, Patric Schiltz, And Michael Myers.. (n.d.). In vitro drug response (IVDR) to chemotherapy (Chemo) and tumor-associated biomarker (BM) expression profiles in lung carcinoma (LC). Proceedings, Ann Mtg Am Assn for Cancer Res 2017.


• Chiara Maestri, Jahanvi Kumar, Rajeshwar Nitiyanandan, Ivan Trus, Ricardo Parker, Brigitte Apfel, C. (n.d.). 3D cell cultures exhibit increased drug resistance, particularly to taxanes. Meeting Abstract: 2024 ASCO Annual Meeting.


• Drs. Gloria Mcneal And Ricardo Parker. (n.d.). Confronting Institutional Racism in Healthcare. The National University Podcast.


• Dr. Ricardo Parker. (n.d.). Research, Medicine & Humanity. YouTube.

Presentations

• (2024-04-07). Cell-cycle inhibition may influence differences in 2D vs 3D tumor sensitivity profiles. Poster presentation. https://aacrjournals.org/cancerres/article/84/6_Supplement/512/739468/Abstract-512-Cell-cycle-inhibition-may-influence. San Diego, CA.
• (2023-05-23). Clinical Basis of Chemotherapy and Drug Resistance. Invited guest lecturer. https://www.svce.ac.in/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/bioevent20.pdf. Tamil Nadu 602117, India.
• (2019-07-13). Measuring theTelehealth Diabetes Screening Utility of a Wireless Handheld iAssay Blood Analyzer: A Cost Benefit Analysis.. 2019 Sigma's 30th International Nursing Research Congress.. Calgary, Canada..
• (2018-10-09). Interprofessional Education: Integrating Informatics and Simulation Content into SHHS Curricula: A Proposed Model.. 2018 Planetree International Conference on Person-Centered Care.. Boston, Massachusetts..
• (2018-10-09). Student-Centered Learning in Underserved Communities: An Interdisciplinary Collaborative Approach.. 2018 Planetree International Conference on Person-Centered Care.. Boston, Massachusetts..