Carlo M. Croce, MD, Professor and Chair of the Department of Molecular Virology, Immunology, and Medical Genetics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine has received the Association for Molecular Pathology Award for Excellence in Molecular Diagnostics, sponsored by Roche Molecular Diagnostics.
Croce's research has uncovered early events in the pathogenesis of leukemia, lymphoma, lung, nasopharyngeal, head and neck, esophageal, gastrointestinal, and breast cancers, and he discovered the novel role of microRNAs in the genesis of various cancers.
Croce is also Director of the Human Cancer Genetics program and the John W. Wolfe Chair in Human Cancer Genetics at Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center-Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute. He was recently inducted as a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies.
V. Craig Jordan, OBE, PhD, DSc, Professor of Pharmacology at Georgetown University Medical Center has been chosen to receive the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics 2012 Goodman and Gillman Award in Drug Receptor Pharmacology for his work in the development of tamoxifen, which helped establish the drug as a long-term breast cancer treatment. Jordan also serves as the Scientific Director at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center.
A team of cancer imaging experts at the Johns Hopkins In Vivo Cellular and Molecular Imaging Center has received some $8 million in grants from the National Cancer Institute for a five-year research initiative to speed development of early diagnostic tests and new treatments for breast, prostate, and other common cancers.
"By harnessing the very latest technology in noninvasive imaging-using any single or combination imaging modality of MRI, CT, SPECT, PET, laser optics or ultrasound-we expect to develop tests that detect cancer faster and earlier, distinguish spreading or metastatic tumors from dormant ones, and develop better and more tolerable chemotherapy drugs that only attack cancerous cells, leaving healthy cells alone," principal investigator Zaver Bhujwalla, PhD, Professor of Radiology and Oncology in the Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological at John's Hopkins, said in a news release. She will oversee the 30+-member team, and work with the center's associate directors, Marty Pomper, MD, PhD, and Richard Wahl, MD.
Lucy Godley, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine in Hematology/Oncology in the Department of Medicine at the University of Chicago, has been elected to membership in the American Society of Clinical Investigation. Her research has uncovered some of the molecular mechanisms that drive tumorigenesis, with a focus on hematopoietic malignancies and DNA methylation.
Also at the University of Chicago, Olatoyosi Odenike, MD, has been promoted to Associate Professor of Medicine. Her research centers on developing novel therapeutic agents for the treatment of leukemia, chronic myeloproliferative diseases, and myelodysplastic syndromes.
Martin J. Murphy, Jr., PhD, DMed Sc, has been reappointed to lead ASCO's Conquer Cancer Foundation as Chair of the Board of Directors. He is Founding Chairman and CEO of AlphaMed Consulting, Inc., and founding Executive Editor of The Oncologist and Stem Cells.
The Foundation is ASCO's philanthropic arm, which funds initiatives in clinical research, patient education, and patient advocacy. ASCO's Board of Directors appointed the following new members to the Foundation, whose terms began on January 1: Ira M. Elegant, Esq., of Buchbinder & Elegant in Miami Beach; Michael Gordon, JD, of Angelo, Gordon & Co., an investment advisory firm and Director of the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation; and Thomas G. Roberts, Jr. MD, MSocSc, a medical oncologist now with Farallon Capital Management and a senior health care analyst and portfolio manager at Noonday Asset Management L.P.
Also reappointed are Richard L. Schilsky, MD, as Secretary this year; William C. Penley, MD, as Treasurer this year; and Robert J. Mayer, MD, who will each serve three-year terms on the Conquer Cancer Foundation board.
The Robertson Foundation has made a $50 million commitment to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Care Center, which will fund construction of the Josie Robertson Surgery Center, a new, 16-story, 179,000-square-foot outpatient surgical facility. Funds will also be used to start the Josie Robertson Investigators Program, which will bring 10 young physicians and scientists to MSKCC over the next five years to pursue entrepreneurial research. The donation has been made in honor of Josephine Robertson, who served on MSKCC's Board of Overseers from 2004 until her death in 2010, and was a director and member of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
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