Nancy Gillis Johnson, PharmD, PhD

Dr. Gillis is a molecular epidemiologist with a primary focus on hematologic malignancies and precision medicine.

Associations

• Malignant Hematology
• Cancer Epidemiology
• Cancer Epidemiology Program

Education & Training

Graduate:

• University of Florida, PharmD - Clinical Pharmacy
• University of North Carolina, PhD - Pharmaceutical Sciences/Oncology Pharmacogenetics

Fellowship:

• Moffitt Cancer Center - Molecular Epidemiology of Cancer

Dr. Gillis is a molecular epidemiologist with a background in pharmacogenomics and precision medicine. Her research focuses on the use of genetic biomarkers to predict risk, adverse events, and outcomes in the setting of cancer, with an emphasis on myeloid pre-leukemic conditions, such as clonal hematopoiesis (CH or CHIP), clonal cytopenias (CCUS), and myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). Her translational research program aims to inform interventions and management strategies that can be implemented in clinical settings to improve outcomes for patients affected by these conditions.   

• Arabzadeh M, Tang YH, Colin-Leitzinger C, Marzban S, Walgenbach D, Morganti S, Mahaganapathy V, Harper E, Teng M, Kresovich JK, Washington I, Parsons HA, Garber JE, West J, Ganesan S, Khiabanian H, Gillis N. Clonal Hematopoiesis Dynamics and Evolutionary Fitness During Cancer Treatment Impact Clinical Outcomes. medRxiv. 2025 Sep. Pubmedid: 40950448. Pmcid: PMC12424905.
• Liu X, Tang YH, Blachly J, Edge S, Jakubek YA, McCarter M, Naqash AR, Nepple KG, Osman A, Reilley MJ, Riedlinger G, Salhia B, Schneider BP, Shriver C, Churchman ML, Rounbehler RJ, Teer JK, Gillis N, Teng M. qcCHIP: an R package to identify clonal hematopoiesis variants using cohort-specific data characteristics. Bioinformatics. 2025 Sep.41(9). Pubmedid: 40973027. Pmcid: PMC12466928.
• Colin-Leitzinger C, Mekonnen YA, Narvaez-Bandera I, Rubio VY, Ercan D, Welsh EA, Darville LNF, Liu M, Ackerman HD, Avila-Pacheco J, Clish CB, Hicks K, Koomen JM, Gillis N, Fridley BL, Flores ER, Zeleznik OA, Stewart PA. A machine learning framework for classifying lipids in untargeted metabolomics using mass-to-charge ratios and retention times. Metabolomics. 2025 Oct.21(6):151. Pubmedid: 41109916. Pmcid: PMC12535499.
• Gravenmier C, Marzban S, Tang YH, Gillis N, Shah BD, Moscinski LC, Zhang L, West J. Cell state transitions drive the evolution of disease progression in B-lymphoblastic leukemia. Cancer Res Commun. 2025 Nov. Pubmedid: 41295979.
• Colin-Leitzinger C, Tang YH, Teng M, Gillis N. Peripheral blood somatic mosaicism and clonal hematopoiesis across ancestry backgrounds. medRxiv. 2025 Mar. Pubmedid: 40166537. Pmcid: PMC11957158.
• Gillis N, Dickey BL, Colin-Leitzinger C, Tang YH, Putney RM, Mesa TE, Yoder SJ, Suneja G, Spivak AM, Patel AB, Extermann M, Giuliano AR, Teng M, Kresovich J, Berglund A, Coghill AE. Clonal Hematopoiesis in Patients With Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Cancer. J Infect Dis. 2024 Sep.230(3):680-688. Pubmedid: 38657098.
• Williams LS, Williams KM, Gillis N, Bolton K, Damm F, Deuitch NT, Farhadfar N, Gergis U, Keel SB, Michelis FV, Panch SR, Porter CC, Sucheston-Campbell L, Tamari R, Stefanski HE, Godley LA, Lai C. Donor-Derived Malignancy and Transplantation Morbidity: Risks of Patient and Donor Genetics in Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation. Transplant Cell Ther. 2024 Mar.30(3):255-267. Pubmedid: 37913908. Pmcid: PMC10947964.
• Liu X, Gillis N, Jiang C, McCofie A, Shaw TI, Tan AC, Zhao B, Wan L, Duckett DR, Teng M. An Epigenomic fingerprint of human cancers by landscape interrogation of super enhancers at the constituent level. PLoS Comput Biol. 2024 Feb.20(2):e1011873. Pubmedid: 38335222. Pmcid: PMC10883583.
• Gillis N, Ebied A, Thompson ZJ, Pidala JA. Clinical impact of clonal hematopoiesis in hematopoietic cell transplantation: a review, meta-analysis, and call to action. Haematologica. 2024 Dec.109(12):3952-3964. Pubmedid: 38899345. Pmcid: PMC11609801.
• Berry DK, Gillis N, Padron E, Moore C, Barton LV, Gewandter KR, Haskins CG, Knepper TC. Interpretation of ambiguous TP53 test results: Mosaicism, clonal hematopoiesis, and variants of uncertain significance. J Genet Couns. 2024 Aug.33(4):916-926. Pubmedid: 37715966.
• Mammadova J, Colin-Leitzinger C, Nguyen D, Mhaskar R, Ganesan S, Tang YH, Teng M, Ismail-Khan R, Gillis N. Clonal Hematopoiesis as a Molecular Risk Factor for Doxorubicin-Induced Cardiotoxicity: A Proof-of-Concept Study. JCO Precis Oncol. 2023 Sep.7:e2300208. Pubmedid: 37738545. Pmcid: PMC10581654.
• Gillis N, Padron E, Wang T, Chen K, DeVos JD, Spellman SR, Lee SJ, Kitko CL, MacMillan ML, West J, Tang YH, Teng M, McNulty S, Druley TE, Pidala JA, Lazaryan A. Pilot Study of Donor-Engrafted Clonal Hematopoiesis Evolution and Clinical Outcomes in Allogeneic Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation Recipients Using a National Registry. Transplant Cell Ther. 2023 Oct.29(10):640.e1-640.e8. Pubmedid: 37517612. Pmcid: PMC10592088.
• Gorak E, Otterstatter M, Al Baghdadi T, Gillis N, Foran JM, Liu JJ, Bejar R, Gore SD, Kroft SH, Harrington AM, Saber W, Starczynowski DT, Rollison DE, Zhang L, Moscinski LC, Wilson SH, Thompson J, Borchert C, Sherman S, Hebert D, Walker ME, Padron E, DeZern A, Sekeres MA. Discordant pathologic diagnoses of myelodysplastic neoplasms and their implications for registries and therapies. Blood Adv. 2023 Oct.7(20):6120-6129. Pubmedid: 37552083. Pmcid: PMC10582385.
• Dickey BL, Putney RM, Suneja G, Kresovich JK, Spivak AM, Patel AB, Teng M, Extermann M, Giuliano AR, Gillis N, Berglund A, Coghill AE. Differences in epigenetic age by HIV status among patients with a non-AIDS defining cancer. Aids. 2023 Nov.37(13):2049-2057. Pubmedid: 37467055. Pmcid: PMC10538418.
• Gillis N, Etheridge AS, Patil SA, Hayes DN, Hayward MC, Auman JT, Parker JS, Innocenti F. Sequencing of genes of drug response in tumor DNA and implications for precision medicine in cancer patients. Pharmacogenomics J. 2023 Jul.23(4):73-81. Pubmedid: 36709390.
• DeZern AE, Goll JB, Lindsley RC, Bejar R, Wilson SH, Hebert D, Deeg HJ, Zhang L, Gore SD, Al Baghdadi T, Maciejewski JP, Liu JJ, Padron E, Komrokji RS, Saber W, Abel GA, Kroft SH, Harrington AM, Grimes T, Reed HHV, Fulton RS, DiFronzo NL, Gillis N, Sekeres MA, Walter MJ. Utility of targeted gene sequencing to differentiate myeloid malignancies from other cytopenic conditions. Blood Adv. 2023 Jul.7(14):3749-3759. Pubmedid: 36947201. Pmcid: PMC10368770.
• Abel GA, Hebert D, Lee C, Rollison DE, Gillis N, Komrokji RS, Foran JM, Liu JJ, Al Baghdadi T, Deeg HJ, Gore SD, Saber W, Wilson SH, Otterstatter M, Thompson J, Borchert C, Padron E, DeZern A, Cella D, Sekeres MA. Health-related quality of life and vulnerability among people with myelodysplastic syndromes: a US national study. Blood Adv. 2023 Jul.7(14):3506-3515. Pubmedid: 37146263. Pmcid: PMC10362255.
• Saini NY, Swoboda DM, Greenbaum U, Ma J, Patel RD, Devashish K, Das K, Tanner MR, Strati P, Nair R, Fayad L, Ahmed S, Lee HJ, Iyer SP, Steiner R, Jain N, Nastoupil L, Loghavi S, Tang G, Bassett RL, Jain P, Wang M, Westin JR, Green MR, Sallman DA, Padron E, Davila ML, Locke FL, Champlin RE, Garcia-Manero G, Shpall EJ, Kebriaei P, Flowers CR, Jain MD, Wang F, Futreal AP, Gillis N, Neelapu SS, Takahashi K. Clonal Hematopoiesis Is Associated with Increased Risk of Severe Neurotoxicity in Axicabtagene Ciloleucel Therapy of Large B-Cell Lymphoma. Blood Cancer Discov. 2022 Sep.3(5):385-393. Pubmedid: 35533245. Pmcid: PMC9445749.
• Peres LC, Colin-Leitzinger C, Teng M, Dutil J, Alugubelli RR, DeAvila G, Teer JK, Du D, Mo Q, Siegel EM, Hampton O, Alsina M, Brayer J, Blue B, Baz R, Siqueira Silva A, Nishihori T, Shain KH, Gillis N. Racial and ethnic differences in clonal hematopoiesis, tumor markers, and outcomes of patients with multiple myeloma. Blood Adv. 2022 Jun.6(12):3767-3778. Pubmedid: 35500227. Pmcid: PMC9631567.
• Braithwaite D, Anton S, Mohile S, DeGregori J, Gillis N, Zhou D, Bloodworth S, Pahor M, Licht J. Cancer and aging: A call to action. Aging Cancer. 2022 Jun.3(2):87-94. Pubmedid: 36188489. Pmcid: PMC9521708.
• Bolton KL, Ptashkin RN, Gao T, Braunstein L, Devlin SM, Kelly D, Patel M, Berthon A, Syed A, Yabe M, Coombs CC, Caltabellotta NM, Walsh M, Offit K, Stadler Z, Mandelker D, Schulman J, Patel A, Philip J, Bernard E, Gundem G, Ossa JEA, Levine M, Martinez JSM, Farnoud N, Glodzik D, Li S, Robson ME, Lee C, Pharoah PDP, Stopsack KH, Spitzer B, Mantha S, Fagin J, Boucai L, Gibson CJ, Ebert BL, Young AL, Druley T, Takahashi K, Gillis N, Ball M, Padron E, Hyman DM, Baselga J, Norton L, Gardos S, Klimek VM, Scher H, Bajorin D, Paraiso E, Benayed R, Arcila ME, Ladanyi M, Solit DB, Berger MF, Tallman M, Garcia-Closas M, Chatterjee N, Diaz LA, Levine RL, Morton LM, Zehir A, Papaemmanuil E. Cancer therapy shapes the fitness landscape of clonal hematopoiesis. Nat Genetics. 2020 Nov.52(11):1219-1226. Pubmedid: 33106634. Pmcid: PMC7891089.
• Bolton KL, Gillis NK, Coombs CC, Takahashi K, Zehir A, Bejar R, Garcia-Manero G, Futreal A, Jensen BC, Diaz LA, Gupta D, Mantha S, Klimek V, Papaemmanuil E, Levine R, Padron E. Managing Clonal Hematopoiesis in Patients With Solid Tumors. J Clin Oncol. 2019 Jan.37(1):7-11. Pubmedid: 30403571. Pmcid: PMC6354773.
• Vela CM, Van den Bergh M, Gillis NK, Ball M, Hussaini MO, Walko CM, Hicks JK, Perez L, Padron E, Komrokji RS. Somatic Sequencing Identifies Trametinib-Responsive Myelodysplastic Syndrome and Finds Acquired Clonal Hematopoiesis of Indeterminate Potential. JCO Precis Oncol. 2018 Nov.2. Pubmedid: 35135101. Pmcid: PMC9797240.
• Coombs CC, Gillis NK, Tan X, Berg JS, Ball MC, Balasis ME, Montgomery ND, Bolton K, Parker JS, Mesa TE, Yoder SJ, Hayward MC, Patel NM, Richards KL, Walko CM, Knepper TC, Soper JT, Weiss J, Grilley-Olson JE, Kim WY, Earp S, Levine R, Papaemmanuil E, Zehir A, Hayes DN, Padron E. Identification of Clonal Hematopoiesis Mutations in Solid Tumor Patients Undergoing Unpaired Next-Generation Sequencing Assays. Clin Cancer Res. 2018 Dec.24(23):5918-5924. Pubmedid: 29866652. Pmcid: PMC6812550.
• Vela CM, Knepper TC, Gillis NK, Walko CM, McLeod HL, Hicks JK. Quantitation of Targetable Somatic Mutations Among Patients Evaluated by a Personalized Medicine Clinical Service: Considerations for Off-Label Drug Use. Pharmacotherapy. 2017 Sep.37(9):1043-1051. Pubmedid: 28235141.
• Gillis NK, Hicks JK, Bell GC, Daly AJ, Kanetsky PA, McLeod HL. Incidence and Triggers of Stevens-Johnson Syndrome and Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis in a Large Cancer Patient Cohort. J Invest Dermatol. 2017 Sep.137(9):2021-2023. Pubmedid: 28549953.
• Gillis NK, Padron E. Chipping in on clonal hematopoiesis. Oncotarget. 2017 Oct.8(49):84637-84638. Pubmedid: 29156670. Pmcid: PMC5689560.
• Gillis NK, Ball M, Zhang Q, Ma Z, Zhao Y, Yoder SJ, Balasis ME, Mesa TE, Sallman DA, Lancet JE, Komrokji RS, List AF, McLeod HL, Alsina M, Baz R, Shain KH, Rollison DE, Padron E. Clonal haemopoiesis and therapy-related myeloid malignancies in elderly patients: a proof-of-concept, case-control study. Lancet Oncol. 2017 Jan.18(1):112-121. Pubmedid: 27927582. Pmcid: PMC7771361.
• Knepper TC, Bell GC, Hicks JK, Padron E, Teer JK, Vo TT, Gillis NK, Mason NT, McLeod HL, Walko CM. Key Lessons Learned from Moffitt's Molecular Tumor Board: The Clinical Genomics Action Committee Experience. Oncologist. 2017 Feb.22(2):144-151. Pubmedid: 28179575. Pmcid: PMC5330702.
• Gillis NK, Rotroff DM, Mesa TE, Yao J, Chen Z, Carulli MA, Yoder SJ, Walko CM, Teer JK, McLeod HL. Tumor exome sequencing and copy number alterations reveal potential predictors of intrinsic resistance to multi-targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Oncotarget. 2017 Dec.8(70):115114-115127. Pubmedid: 29383146. Pmcid: PMC5777758.
• Gillis NK, McLeod HL. The pharmacogenomics of drug resistance to protein kinase inhibitors. Drug Resist Updat. 2016 Sep.28:28-42. Pubmedid: 27620953. Pmcid: PMC5022787.
• Gillis NK, Patel JN, Innocenti F. Clinical implementation of germ line cancer pharmacogenetic variants during the next-generation sequencing era. Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2014 Mar.95(3):269-280. Pubmedid: 24136381. Pmcid: PMC4128332.
• Gillis NK, Innocenti F. Evidence required to demonstrate clinical utility of pharmacogenetic testing: the debate continues. Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2014 Dec.96(6):655-657. Pubmedid: 25399714.
• McDonough CW, Gillis NK, Alsultan A, Chang SW, Kawaguchi-Suzuki M, Lang JE, Shahin MH, Buford TW, El Rouby NM, Sá AC, Langaee TY, Gums JG, Chapman AB, Cooper-DeHoff RM, Turner ST, Gong Y, Johnson JA. Atenolol induced HDL-C change in the pharmacogenomic evaluation of antihypertensive responses (PEAR) study. PLoS One. 2013 Oct.8(10):e76984. Pubmedid: 24116192. Pmcid: PMC3792156.
• Gillis NK, Zhu HJ, Markowitz JS. An in vitro evaluation of guanfacine as a substrate for P-glycoprotein. Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat. 2011 Aug.7:501-505. Pubmedid: 21931492. Pmcid: PMC3173033.

• Title: HIV Genomic Aging Project in Oncology (HIV-GAP)
  Award Number: 5R01CA268973-04
  Sponsor: National Cancer Institute (NCI)
  Coghill, A. (PD/PI), Johnson, N. (PD/PI)
• Title: Evidence-based monitoring of clonal hematopoiesis in treatment for breast cancer
  Award Number: n/a
  Sponsor: Florida Breast Cancer Foundation
  Johnson, N. (PD/PI), West, J. (PD/PI)
• Title: Evolution and Clinical Impact of Clonal Hematopoiesis of Indeterminate Potential Breast Tumor Microenvironment
  Award Number: 7R01CA233662-05
  Sponsor: National Cancer Institute (NCI)
  Johnson, N. (PD/PI)
• Title: The National Myelodysplastic Syndromes Natural History Study (The National MDS Study)
  Award Number: HHSN2682014000031/P00008
  Sponsor: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
  Johnson, N. (PD/PI), Padron, E. (PD/PI)