UP FRONT
investigator in the Translational and Functional Genomics Branch and deputy scientific
director of the National Human Genome
Research Institute (NHGRI). Dr. Liu’s research
focuses on developing targeted treatments
for leukemia, using genetic tools to understand how leukemia cells propagate.
MD, who has assumed the role of executive
vice dean and chief scientific officer of Penn
Medicine. She is also the recipient of the 2015
Henry M. Stratton Medal for Basic Science
from the American Society of Hematology
for her seminal contributions in the area of
hematology research.
Source: University of Texas press release, October 7, 2015.
Source: University of Pennsylvania press release, October 21, 2015.
Winners of Samuel J. Heyman
Service to America Medals
Awarded
Roswell Park Cancer Institute’s
Kara Kelly Named Pediatric
Cancer Chief
The winners of the 2015 Samuel J. Heyman
Service to America Medals were recently announced, and include cancer and hematology
researchers:
Kara Kelly, MD, has been
appointed the new leader
of a joint program in
pediatric hematology/
oncology that represents
a partnership among
Women & Children’s
Kara Kelly, MD
Hospital of Buffalo
(WCHOB), Roswell Park
Cancer Institute (RPCI), and UBMD Pediatrics and the University at Buffalo (UB).
Dr. Kelly is currently professor of pediatrics
and associate director of the Division of
Pediatric Hematology/Oncology/Stem Cell
Transplantation at the Columbia University
College of Physicians and Surgeons. Her appointments as chair of pediatric oncology,
professor of oncology and the Waldemar
J. Kaminski Endowed Chair of Pediatrics at
RPCI, and medical director of the Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Service Line at
WCHOB will take effect on February 15,
2016. Dr. Kelly will also assume the responsibilities of division chief of hematology
and oncology at both UBMD Pediatrics and
the Department of Pediatrics in the Jacobs
School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
at the University at Buffalo, where she will
be appointed research professor.
Steven Rosenberg, MD,
PhD, chief of the Surgery
Branch, senior investigator, and head of the Tumor
Immunology Section at
the National Cancer Institute (NCI), received the
Steven Rosenberg,
Federal Employee of the
MD, PhD
Year award. Dr. Rosenberg
was recognized for his work in developing
life-saving treatments for cancer patients and
pioneering the use of immunotherapies in
cancer.
Jean Claude Zenklusen,
MS, PhD (director of the
Cancer Genome Atlas at
NCI), and Carolyn Hutter,
MD, PhD (Team Leader for
the NHGRI at the National
Institutes of Health [NIH]),
Jean Claude Zenklureceived the People’s Choice
sen, MS, PhD
Award. The Cancer Genome
Atlas Team was nominated
for mapping thousands
of gene sequences for 33
types of cancer and advancing precision medicine in
the diagnosis, treatment,
and prevention of cancer.
Source: Partnership for Public Service press
release, October 7, 2015.
Carolyn Hutter, MD,
PhD
Nancy Speck Appointed Chair of
Cell and Developmental Biology
at UPenn
Nancy A. Speck, PhD, has
been named chair of the
department of Cell and
Developmental Biology in
the Perelman School of
Medicine at the University
of Pennsylvania. Currently,
Nancy A. Speck, PhD
she is the associate director of UPenn’s Institute
for Regenerative Medicine, co-leader of the
Hematologic Malignancies Program at the
Abramson Cancer Center, and an investigator in the Abramson Family Cancer Research
Institute. Dr. Speck succeeds Jon Epstein,
ASHClinicalNews.org
blood cancer cells. As winner of the NYSCF–
Robertson Stem Cell Prize, Dr. Michor will
receive a $200,000 stipend to be used at her
discretion to further support her research.
Source: New York Stem Cell Foundation press release, October 28, 2015.
MD Anderson Cancer Center
Receives $22.2 Million in
Research Funding
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer
Center was awarded more than $22 million in
research grants from the Cancer Prevention
and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT).
MD Anderson received a combination
of $14.8 million in Individual Investigator
Awards for research, $6 million in recruitment
funding, and $1.4 million for evidence-based
cancer prevention services.
Several of the grants were awarded to
scientists who are researching blood cancers,
including projects such as:
• Visualizing T-cell trafficking
• An adaptive personalized clinical trial using a patient-derived xenograft strategy
to overcome ibrutinib resistance in cell
lymphoma
• Clinical safety and efficacy of third-party,
fucosylated cord blood-derived regular Tcells to prevent graft versus host disease
• A novel epigenetic reader as therapeutic target in MLL-translocated pediatric
leukemias
• Improving service delivery to cancer survivors in primary-care settings
Source: University of Texas press release, November 20, 2015.
Source: Roswell Park Cancer Institute press release, October 26, 2015.
Franziska Michor receives
NYSCF–Robertson Stem Cell
Prize
The New York Stem Cell
Foundation (NYSCF) announced that Franziska
Michor, PhD, is the 2015
recipient of the NYSCF–
Robertson Stem Cell
Prize for her work in pioFranziska Michor, PhD
neering new approaches
to study the growth,
spread, and treatment of cancer. Dr. Michor
is a professor of Computational Biology at
the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and in the
Department of Biostatistics at the Harvard
T.H. Chan School of Public Health, where
she leads a Physical Science-Oncology
Center aimed at using physical sciences to
address the challenges of cancer biology
– in particular, chronic myeloid leukemia.
Dr. Michor has used sophisticated mathematical models to trace the evolution and
development of drug resistance in these
Abramson Cancer Center
Receives American Cancer
Society Awards
The Abramson Cancer Center of th RV