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The University of Illinois Cancer Center proudly announces that the 2025-2026 Richard B. Warnecke, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow is William Chadwick, DO, a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at UIC.

As the Warnecke Fellow, he will receive $15,000 to advance his training and continue on a research project, with a goal of developing a more accurate and equitable method to predict outcomes in uveal melanoma (UM), a rare but often fatal eye cancer in adults.

Named after the late Richard B. Warnecke, PhD, a longtime Cancer Center member and a national leader in cancer control research, the Warnecke Fellowship strives to meet an imperative need to train scientists engaged in cancer health disparities research that addresses cross-cutting issues across the cancer continuum from etiology and primary prevention to treatment and survivorship.

Under the mentorship of Cancer Center member Michael Heiferman, MD, MBA, Chadwick joined a project that studies disparities in access to uveal melanoma care. Many patients face delays in care, especially those in rural and underserved communities, because they struggle to access eye cancer specialists. Heiferman is an ocular oncologist at UI Health, the academic health system of UIC, where he is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences.

Chadwick’s Warnecke Fellowship project proposal builds on a recent team study, which identified how factors, such as a patient's location, insurance coverage, income level, and proximity to eye cancer centers, can influence timely access to care.

The project will collect data (clinical information, eye imaging data, and social factors that reflect access to care) from patients diagnosed with UM at UI Health between 2010 and 2025. Advanced computer models and artificial intelligence (AI) will combine the information to predict its role in a patient’s likelihood to develop metastatic disease.

“This new tool could help identify high-risk patients in rural and underserved areas, guide personalized follow-up plans, and ensure patients receive the right care based on both their medical and social risk factors. In the future, this model could be shared across institutions and embedded in clinical workflows to support more equitable cancer care nationwide,” Chadwick wrote.