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Norman Sharpless Named Director
of the National Cancer Institute
Norman “Ned” Sharpless, MD, has been appointed
director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) by Presi-
dent Donald Trump. He will succeed Douglas Lowy,
MD, who has served as acting director of NCI since
early 2015.
Dr. Sharpless has served as director of the
University of North Carolina (UNC) Lineberger
Comprehensive Cancer Center since January 2014
and is recognized internationally for his research on
the aging and malignant conversion of normal cells.
“Dr. Sharpless is a visionary leader and a truly
gifted scientist and clinician, and we strongly agree
he would be an excellent choice to
lead the NCI into the future,” said
UNC Chancellor Carol L. Folt, PhD.
Sources: The Washington Post, June 10, 2017; University
of North Carolina School of Medicine news release, June
10, 2017.
Norman “Ned”
Sharpless, MD
James Downing Receives 2017 Society of
Memorial Sloan Kettering Prize 2017 Pew-Stewart Scholars for Cancer
Research Announced
The Society of Memorial Sloan Kettering has presented James Downing, MD,
president and chief executive officer at the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
and the recipient of ASH’s 2017 E. Donnall Thomas Prize, with its annual
prize for 2017. The award recognizes individuals who have made exceptional
contributions to the field of pediatric oncology.
Dr. Downing’s research has had significant influence on
defining the genetics and genomics of pediatric cancers.
He also helped launch the Pediatric Cancer Genome Project,
which has sequenced the genomes of more than 800 pediat-
ric patients with rare and aggressive tumors. The Pew Charitable Trusts and the Alexander and Margaret Stewart Trust an-
nounced the five 2017 Pew-Stewart Scholars for Cancer Research. The program
acknowledges early-career sci entists making groundbreaking contributions to
cancer research. This year’s scholars are:
James Downing, MD
Source: St. Jude Children’s Hospital news release, May 18, 2017.
NCI Funds Research Studying the Expansion
of PET Imaging
The NCI will provide funding to researchers from Wayne State University
School of Medicine (WSU SOM) and the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer
Institute to study an expanded use of positron emission tomography (PET)
in cancer immunotherapy.
Wei-Zen Wei, PhD, the Herrick Chair of Cancer Research at the Karmanos
Cancer Institute and professor of oncology and immunology/microbiology at
WSU SOM, and Nerissa Viola-Villegas, PhD, Karmanos re-
searcher and assistant professor of oncology at WSU SOM,
received a two-year, $368,445 grant to study the use of PET
imaging for dendritic cells in tumors. They plan to develop
new imaging probes to detect these cells; if PET imaging
can successfully measure dendritic cells,
Wei-Zen Wei, PhD
it could be a useful tool to predict patient
outcomes with specific treatments.
“Assessing if cancer treatments are effective is often
invasive and difficult,” said Joseph Dunbar, PhD, director
of special operations in the Office of the Vice President for
Nerissa Viola-Villegas,
Research at WSU. “Drs. Wei and Viola-Villegas’s method
PhD
of using PET imaging will be a less invasive, strong
indicator of whether cancer treatments are effective.”
Source: Karmanos Cancer Institute press release, April 11, 2017.
• Daniel A. Bachovchin, PhD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
• Nadya Dimitrova, PhD, Yale University
• Charles Y. Lin, PhD, Baylor College of Medicine
• Robert K. McGinty, MD, PhD, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
• Sabrina L. Spencer, PhD, University of Colorado, Boulder
Each awardee will receive four years of flexible funding to invest in his or her
research. Topics of study include slowing or stopping the development of
cancer, destroying leukemia cells, and understanding how cancer cells evade
certain therapies.
“Innovation and creativity are necessary [for] solving some of the biggest
questions in cancer research,” said Peter M. Howley, MD, chair of the Pew-Stewart
national advisory committee. “The 2017 class of scholars is using cutting-edge
research to get us closer to reducing or eliminating the burden of cancer.”
Source: Pew Charitable Trusts press release, June 15, 2017.
Foundation Medicine Joins the NCI-MATCH Trial
The NCI and the ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group have announced a collab-
orative effort with Foundation Medicine, a genomics testing company, to enroll
more patients into phase II of NCI’s precision medicine clinical trial, NCI-MATCH.
The trial seeks to determine the effectiveness of genome-specific treat-
ment options in patients with solid tumors, lymphomas, or myelomas that
have progressed following all standard treatments or in patients with rare
cancers for which there is no standard treatment.
“We believe our collaboration will help the clinical sites participating in the trial
to identify a larger number of patients who may be eligible to enroll for treat-
ment,” said Vincent Miller, MD, chief medical officer at Foundation Medicine. ●
Source: Foundation Medicine press release, June 7, 2017.
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