Daniel Petrylak, MD, is moving from New York Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center to Yale Cancer Center and Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale-New Haven as of September 1, where he has been named Director of the Prostate Cancer Research Group and Co-director of the Signal Transduction Research Program and will lead the genitourinary cancers medical oncology team.
Also at Yale and Smilow, Roy S. Herbst, MD, PhD, Chief of Medical Oncology, Associate Director for Translational Research, and Clinical Program Leader for the Thoracic Oncology Clinical Research Program, has been elected to be one of four new Translational Science Representatives serving on the Thoracic Malignancy Steering Committee for the National Cancer Institute.
Howard Ozer, MD, PhD, has been named Director of the University of Illinois Cancer Center. He joined the faculty in 2010 as the Eileen Lindsay Heidrick Professor in Oncology and Chief of Hematology/Oncology and has served as Interim Director since January 2011. Under his directorship, he will oversee the submission of the cancer center's grant application to be designated as a National Cancer Institute Cancer Center.
Carlo Croce, MD, Chair of the Department of Molecular Virology, Immunology, and Medical Genetics, and Director of Human Cancer Genetics at Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center-Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute, has received the 2012 Anthony Dipple Carcinogenesis Award, recognizing individuals who have added major research contributions to the field. He is principal investigator on 11 federal research grants and has more than 900 peer-reviewed, published research papers.
John P. Leonard, MD, has been elected Chair of the Lymphoma Research Foundation Scientific Advisory Board, for a two-year term that started July 1. He is currently Associate Dean for Clinical Research at Weill Cornell Medical College, Vice Chairman for Clinical Research in the Department of Medicine, and the Richard T. Silver Distinguished Professor of Hematology and Medical Oncology.
He also serves as Clinical Director of the Weill Cornell Center for Lymphoma and Myeloma, attending physician at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, and Associate Director for Clinical Research of the Weill Cornell Cancer Center.
COL (Ret.) James E. Williams, Jr., U.S. Army, MS, SPHR, and Olga G. Sanchez, Community Health Program Representative at San Diego State University/University of California San Diego Cancer Center Comprehensive Partnership, have been awarded the 2012 Susan Matsuko Shinagawa LIVESTRONG Cancer Control Leadership Award by the Intercultural Cancer Council and the Lance Armstrong Foundation.
Williams was recognized for his work as an advocate for prostate cancer control for men in communities of color and poverty, and also to honor his role as the only elected ICC chair to serve a three-year term. Williams currently serves as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Pennsylvania Prostate Cancer Coalition; on the PA Governor's Cancer Control, Prevention and Research Advisory Board; on the Dauphin County State Health Improvement Plan Board of Directors; and as an Editorial Board member for AACR's patient magazine, Cancer Today.
Sanchez was recognized for her work with the SDSU/UCSD Cancer Center Comprehensive Partnership, an NCI-funded Comprehensive Partnership to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities. She helped launch and expand the Por La Vida community cancer prevention and control program, which trains women in the community to educate other women in the community on anti-cancer messages in English and in Spanish, covering tobacco control, breast and cervical cancer early detection, and colorectal cancer screening. She also serves as a member of the San Diego Dia de la Mujer Latina Health Festival and as Secretary of the Red Nacional de Promotoras.
Mikkael Sekeres Appointed ODAC Chair
Mikkael Sekeres, MD, MS, OT's Clinical Advisory Editor for Hematology/Oncology, has been named Chair of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee. He is Director of the Leukemia Program at the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute and Chair of the Hematology/Oncology Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee there.
"It is an enormous privilege to be asked to chair ODAC," he told OT. "I look at this opportunity as a chance to give back to my country by being an integral part of the drug evaluation process.
"I've served as a member of ODAC for the past three years, a time during which the Committee has given its opinion about a number of drugs, and issues in drug development and evaluation, including interim endpoints like progression-free survival and the accelerated approval process. I hope over the tenure of my term as chair we can continue to provide valuable guidance to the FDA."
The committee reviews and evaluates data on the safety and effectiveness of human drug products used for cancer treatment-including both marketed and investigational drugs. The committee is charged with making appropriate recommendations to the Commissioner of Food and Drugs about drug approvals or rejections.
Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation Grants
Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to finding cures for childhood cancers, has announced the following 48 new grants to researchers across the country for projects focusing on pediatric tumors including brain tumors, Ewing's sarcoma, germ cell tumors, gliomas, hepatoblastoma, leukemias, neuroblastoma, osteosarcoma, and rhabdomyosarcoma.
The current grant cycle released awards in four categories: Innovation, Young Investigator, Epidemiology, and Pediatric Oncology Student Training (for medical and graduate students).
Innovation Awards
* Donald Small, MD, PhD, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
* Wolfram Goessling, MD, PhD, Brigham and Women's Hospital
* Stuart Orkin, MD, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
* David Pellman, MD, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
* Alex Huang, MD, PhD, Case Western Reserve University
* Jiayuh Lin, PhD, Children's Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, Ohio
* Margaret Goodell, PhD, Baylor College of Medicine
* Leonid Metelista, MD, PhD, Baylor College of Medicine
* David Traver, PhD, University of California in San Diego
* David Robbins, PhD, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
* Chin Chiang, PhD, Vanderbilt University Medical Center
* Marcel van den Brink, MD, PhD, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
* Andrei Thomas-Tikhonenko, PhD, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
* Lisa Cannon-Albright, PhD, Huntsman Cancer Institute
Young Investigator Awards
* John Powers, PhD, Children's Hospital, Boston
* Julia Etchin, PhD, Dana Farber Cancer Institute
* Jennifer Wu, MD, PhD, Dana Farber Cancer Institute
* Alexandros Tzatsos, MD, PhD, Massachusetts General Hospital
* Kathleen Galindo, PhD, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
* Chen Ling, PhD, University of Florida
* Meenakshi Hedge, MD, PhD, Baylor College of Medicine
* Paolo Abada, MD, PhD, University of California at San Diego
* Mario Otto, MD, PhD, University of Wisconsin
* Sean Landrette, PhD, Yale School of Medicine
* Ranjit Bindra, MD, PhD, Yale School of Medicine
* Sarah Tasian, MD, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
* Monalisa Mukerjea, PhD, University of Pennsylvania
* Fabiana Ostronoff, MD, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
* Phoenix Ho, MD, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Epidemiology Awards
* Terry Vik, MD, Indiana University School of Medicine
* Joshua Schiffman, MD, Huntsman Cancer Institute
* Kimberly Johnson, PhD, Washington University, St. Louis
Pediatric Oncology Student Training Program Awards
* Jennifer Lee, University of Georgia
* Claire Semerjian, Loyola University
* Marin Nishimura, University of California, Davis School of Medicine
* Tingyu Liu, Duke University Medical Center
* Shannalee Martinez, Loma Linda University
* Baweja Abinav, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
* Jessica Trimis, University of Southern California
* Mallery Olsen, University of Wisconsin
* AnneMarie Laurri, Weill Cornell Medical College
* Kevin Shahbahrami, New Jersey Medical School
* Wan Xing Hong, University of Central Florida School of Medicine
* Nicole Herbst, University of Pennsylvania
* Nathan Singh, University of Pennsylvania
* James Webb, Princeton University
* Matthew Mistry, Toronto Western Research Institute
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