Ronald D. Alvarez, MD, Professor of the Gynecologic Oncology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, has been elected the 44th President of the Society of Gynecologic Oncology. He is also Director of the Division of Gynecologic Oncology and Vice Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and holds the Ellen Gregg Shook Culverhouse Chair.
"We are in the midst of evolutionary times and our members need to be prepared for the changes coming with health care reform," Alvarez said in a news release. He has been the recipient of several NCI- as well as industry-funded grants in support of his research in gene therapeutics for ovarian cancer.
George Kovach, MD, has been named the new President of the Association of Community Cancer Centers. "As health care reform takes center stage this year, ACCC must continue to define quality cancer care, be a strong national advocate with a seat at the discussion table, and represent the needs and goals of the multidisciplinary cancer care team," he said in a statement.
Kovach currently serves as the Medical Director of the Genesis Cancer Center in Davenport, Iowa, was one of the founding members of the Iowa Oncology Society, and has been ACCC treasurer and Co-Chair for the ACCC's Sub-committee on Reimbursement.
Timothy M. Pawlik, MD, MPH, Head of the Johns Hopkins Liver Tumor Center, has been appointed Director of Surgical Oncology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He succeeds Richard Schulick, MD, who will head the surgery department at the University of Colorado.
Johns Hopkins Medicine's Department of Surgery have also announced the creation of two new sections: (1) The Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery Section, to be headed by Christopher L. Wolfgang, MD, PhD, Head of the Pancreatic Surgery Section and Co-Director of the Multidisciplinary Pancreatic Cyst Clinic; and (2) the Gastrointestinal Oncology, Breast, Melanoma, Sarcoma and Endocrine Section, to be headed by Nita Ahuja, MD, Head of the Gastrointestinal Sarcomas and Co-director of the Peritoneal Surface Malignancy Program.
Wolfgang is also Associate Professor in the Departments of Surgery, Oncology, and Pathology. Ahuja is also Associate Professor in the Surgery and Oncology departments, and maintains research labs studying molecular markers important in early diagnosis and prognosis of cancers. She is also a member of the Stand Up To Cancer Dream Team on epigenetic therapy.
Michelle M. Le Beau, PhD, the Arthur and Marian Edelstein Professor of Medicine and Director of the University of Chicago Comprehensive Cancer Center, has been elected to the American Association for Cancer Research Board of Directors for 2012 to 2015. She is a member of AACR's Science Policy and Legislative Affairs Committee and has previously served as a member of the AACR-Women in Cancer Research Charlotte Friend Memorial Lectureship Committee, Publications Committee, and the Kirk A. Landon-AACR Prize for Basic Cancer Research Committee.
Also at the University of Chicago, Richard L. Schilsky, MD, Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Section of Hematology/Oncology, has been named a 2012 Fellow of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. Formerly known as the ASCO Statesman Award, the fellowship recognizes ASCO members for dedication to volunteer efforts. He was ASCO President for 2008-2009 and has been an active member since 1980.
Arul M. Chinnaiyan, MD, PhD (left) and Charles L. Sawyers, MD, have been chosen by Stand Up To Cancer, the Prostate Cancer Foundation, and the AACR (SU2C's scientific partner) to lead the new SU2C Dream Team project, "Precision Therapy for Advanced Prostate Cancer."
The SU2C-PCF Prostate Dream Team Translational Cancer Research Grant provides the team of scientists (chosen from five top prostate cancer clinical research centers), young investigators, senior scientists, and patient advocates $10 million in funding to collaborate over a three-year period across seven clinical and research centers. They will analyze metastatic prostate cancer genomes and evaluate the efficacy of novel castrate-resistant prostate cancer drugs (like abiraterone) to determine what factors predict resistance to the treatments.
Chinnaiyan, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) investigator, is the S.P. Hicks Endowed Professor of Pathology and Professor of Urology at the University of Michigan and an American Cancer Society Research Professor. He also serves as the inaugural director of the Michigan Center for Translational Pathology. Sawyers, also an HHMI investigator, and AACR's President Elect, is Chair of the Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Professor in the Cell and Developmental Biology Program and the Department of Medicine at the Joan and Sanford Weill Graduate School of Medical Sciences of Cornell University.
The Society of Surgical Oncology, through its James Ewing Foundation, has recognized Lisa C. Paulsen, Stand Up To Cancer's co-founder, by presenting her the 2012 James Ewing Layman's Award-given annually to honor a non-physician for efforts in advancing public awareness, patient resources, or clinical or research outreach in the prevention or cure of cancer. She co-created SU2C in 2008, since which time $180 million has been pledged to the organization for research. Paulsen is President and CEO of the Entertainment Industry Forum, a national philanthropic organization of the TV and film industry.
James E. Darnell Jr., MD, and Robert G. Roeder, PhD, have been awarded the 12th annual Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research for their research achievements in understanding the regulation and expression of genes. "By helping to define how cells grow, replicate, and become specialized, these two scientists have allowed countless other scientists and physicians to explore new ways to fight disease including viruses, heart disease, anemia and autoimmune disorders," James J. Barba, President and Chief Executive Officer of Albany Medical Center and Chairman of the National Selection Committee, said in a news release.
Darnell, the Vincent Astor Professor Emeritus and Head of the Laboratory of Molecular Cell Biology at Rockefeller University, has made critical progress in cytokine signaling. Roeder, the Arnold O. and Mabel S. Beckman Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Head of the Laboratory of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, developed the first cell-free systems to study transcription, which allowed scientists to recreate transcription in a test tube to better study the processes by which cells turn genes on and off.
The two scientists will share a $500,000 award-the largest in medicine and science in the U.S.
Susan Weiss Behrend, RN, MSN, AOCN, of Fox Chase Cancer Center Department of Nursing was selected to serve as the Health Manpower Development Program Nurse Expert at the National Cancer Center Singapore, where she provided a comprehensive program of educational topics related to the subspecialty of Radiation Oncology Nursing. She notes that the program encompassed the trajectory of oncology nursing care delivery, including a foundation of radiobiology, the principles of treatment planning and delivery, and a discussion of nursing care along the continuum for patients and caregivers.
The "GE Healthymagination Cancer Challenge" awarded two research grants of $100,000 each) to the following:
* Jennifer Pietenpol, PhD, Director of Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC), to continue her research in identifying aggressive triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) subtypes. Her work has already led to the identification of six subtypes, which was published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation and was the first to confirm that TNBC is not just one disease.
* Mia Levy, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Biomedical Informatics at VICC, and William Pao, MD, PhD, Director of the Division of Hematology and Oncology at VICC, have received the grant for My Cancer Genome (http://www.mycancergenome.org), an online resource created by Levy and Pao that educates clinicians, researchers, patients, and caregivers on tumor mutations and available targeted therapies.
David Rubin, MD, Program Director of the Fellowship in Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition at the University of Chicago, has received the Rosenthal Award for Patient Support and Care by the National Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America for his leadership and contributions to the quality of life of patients and families.
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