The Society Pages
Large Single Hospital (Large Reach)
• Northwestern Memorial Hospital,
Chicago, IL
• The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD
Single Hospital (Small to Medium Reach)
Rodolphe Barrangou
Rodolphe Barrangou,
a researcher at North
Carolina State University,
and Philippe Horvath, a
DuPont Senior Scientist,
for establishing and characterizing the CRISPRCas bacterial immune
defense system
Said M. Sebti, PhD
with potential in cancer
research. Dr. Sebti’s total
funding will top $6 million.
Dr. Sebti will use the funds
to further his research on
novel drug therapies for
KRAS-mutated cancers.
Source: Moffitt Cancer Center press release, March 1, 2016.
• Harborview Medical Center, Seattle, WA
Penn Medicine Opens New
Center for Advanced Cellular
Therapeutics
• Hutchinson Regional Medical Center,
Hutchinson, KS
Honorable Mention for Unique Populations
and Interventions
• Michigan Hospital Medicine Safety Consortium, Ann Arbor, MI
• Sheppard Pratt Health System, Baltimore, MD
• Rotunda Hospital, Dublin, Ireland
Emmanuelle
Charpentier, PhD
Emmanuelle Charpentier, PhD, of Umea
University in Sweden, and Jennifer Doudna,
PhD, of University of California, Berkeley, for
publishing the description of new genome
editing technology dubbed CRISPR-Cas9
• University of Cincinnati Medical Center,
Cincinnati, OH
Source: CDC press release, March 31, 2016.
Richard Aplenc Receives
$1 Million Grant to Study
Immunotherapy in Pediatric
Leukemia
Richard Aplenc, MD, PhD,
an associate professor of pediatrics at the
Children’s Hospital of
Philadelphia, has received
a $1 million grant from the
Hyundai Hope on Wheels
Richard Aplenc, MD, PhD
organization to support
research in immunotherapy for the treatment of children with acute
myeloid leukemia (AML). The grant, which
will be administered over four years, will
enable Dr. Aplenc’s team to identify specific
proteins on the surface of AML cells that
could be the most appropriate targets for immune cells programmed to attack cancers.
Source: Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia press release, March 30, 2016.
CRISPR Scientists Named 2016
Canada Gairdner Award Winners
The Canada Gairdner Awards are presented annually to five biomedical scientists from around
the world whose significant contributions to
medicine have increased the understanding
of human biology and disease. More than 320
scientists have received Canada Gairdner International Awards since their inception in 1959,
and 82 of them have gone on to win the Nobel
Prize in physiology or medicine.
For only the second time in Gairdner’s
history, all five of the Canada Gairdner
International Awards are being given to one
topic: CRISPR-Cas technology. This year’s
award recipients are:
14
ASH Clinical News
Jennifer Doudna, PhD
Feng Zhang, PhD
Feng Zhang, PhD, of the
Broad Institute of Massachusetts Institute of
Technology and Harvard
University, for developing
a number of applications
for studying biology and
disease based on the
CRISPR-Cas technology
Source: Gairdner Foundation press release, March 23, 2016.
Susan Block Receives Palliative
Care Lifetime Achievement Award
Susan D. Block, MD, a
physician in the Department of Psychosocial
Oncology and Palliative
Care at Dana-Farber
Cancer Institute, received
the Lifetime Achievement
Susan D. Block, MD
Award from the American Academy of Hospice
and Palliative Medicine. Dr. Block is also
director of the Serious Illness Care Program
at Ariadne Labs and professor at Harvard
Medical School, where she established the
Center for Palliative Care. She was honored
for her career-long devotion to providing
both physical and psycho-emotional care to
patients and understanding the psychological struggles of cancer patients.
Source: Dana-Farber Cancer Institute press release, March 14, 2016.
Said Sebti Receives NCI
Outstanding Investigator Award
Said M. Sebti, PhD, chair of the Drug Discovery Department and co-leader of the Chemical
Biology and Molecular Medicine Program at
Moffitt Cancer Center, has been awarded an
Outstanding Investigator Award from the NCI.
The award provides grant funding over a seven-year term to encourage long-term projects
The University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of
Medicine, with support from
Novartis, has opened a new
research and development
facility for personalized cancer treatments, the NovartisBruce L. Levine, PhD
Penn Center for Advanced
Cellular Therapeutics (CACT).
The CACT will expand the university’s capacity for
conducting clinical trials and focus on advancing
chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy. Bruce L.
Levine, PhD, will act as director of the new center.
Source: Penn Medicine press release, February 16, 2016.
Suresh Ramalingam Named
Deputy Director of Winship
Cancer Institute
Suresh S. Ramalingam, MD,
has been named deputy
director of Winship Cancer
Institute of Emory University. He will also serve as
assistant dean for cancer
research in the Emory School
Suresh S,
of Medicine. Dr. Ramalingam
Ramalingam, MD
joined Winship and the
faculty of Emory School of
Medicine in 2007 and is currently a professor in
Emory’s Department of Hematology and Medical
Oncology and co-leader of the Discovery and
Developmental Therapeutics Program.
Source: Emory University press release, February 8, 2016.
Marc Ernstoff Assumes
Leadership Role at Roswell Park
Cancer Institute
Marc S. Ernstoff, MD, has
been appointed chair of the
Department of Medicine and
senior vice president of Clinical Investigation at Roswell
Park Cancer Institute, as well
as professor and chief of
Marc S. Ernstoff, MD
the Division of Hematology/
Oncology in the Department
of Medicine in the Jacobs School of Medicine and
Biomedical Sciences at the University of Buffalo.
Prior to joining Roswell Park, Dr. Ernstoff served
as director of the Melanoma Program at Cleveland Clinic’s Taussig Cancer Institute. ●
Source: Roswell Park Cancer Institute press release, February 4, 2016.
May 2016