V. Craig Jordan, OBE, PhD, DSc, FMedSci, is joining the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, as Professor in Breast Medical Oncology and Molecular and Cellular Oncology, starting next month. His work will focus on the new biology of estrogen-induced cell death with the goal of developing translational approaches for treating and preventing cancer.
Jordan is currently Scientific Director of the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University and the Vincent T. Lombardi Chair of Translational Research there, as well as Vice Chairman of the Department of Oncology and Professor of Oncology and Pharmacology at Georgetown University's Medical School. He is also a visiting Professor of Molecular Medicine at the University of Leeds in England, and an Adjunct Professor of Molecular Pharmacology and Biological Chemistry at Northwestern University.
He has previously served on the faculties at: Northwestern University Medical School; Fox Chase Cancer Center; the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine; the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research at the University of Berne, Switzerland; and the University of Leeds, England. He was elected President of the Royal Society of Medicine Foundation of North America, as well as being elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in the U.K.
Angelita Habr-Gama, MD, PhD, Professor of Surgery at the University of Sao Paulo School of Medicine and Staff Surgeon of Coloproctological Surgery at Hospital Alemao Oswaldo Cruz in Sao Paulo, Brazil, has been selected as the American Society for Radiation Oncology 2014 Honorary Member, the Society's highest honor, given to a distinguished cancer researcher, scientist, or leader in a discipline other than radiation oncology, radiobiology, or radiation physics. She will be inducted during an awards ceremony at ASTRO's 56th Annual Meeting this month.
"Dr. Habr-Gama's extensive research in developing and promoting non-operative treatment approaches for rectal cancer, including radiation therapy, is important to providing optimal cancer care for each patient's unique situation," Colleen A.F. Lawton, MD, FASTRO, Chair of ASTRO's Board of Directors, said in a news release. "Her continued study of additional treatment strategies and her emphasis on a change in the standards of care demonstrate her dedication to improving the lives of cancer patients worldwide."
Habr-Gama founded the Division of Coloproctology at the University of Sao Paulo School of Medicine, and has been a member of the Board of the Oncology Foundation of Sao Paulo since 1990. Her work in the late-1980s led to the discovery that patients with rectal cancer who had received neoadjuvant chemoradiation therapy did not have residual cancer (even though those patients were still undergoing abdominal perineal resections).
Zhijian "James" Chen, PhD, Professor of Biology at UT Southwestern Medical Center and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, has been named the 2015 recipient of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Merck Award, which recognizes outstanding contributions to research in biochemistry and molecular biology. Chen will present his award lecture, "Enemy within-immune and autoimmune responses to cytosolic DNA and RNA," at next year's annual ASBMB meeting in Boston as part of the award.
Chen holds the George L. MacGregor Distinguished Chair in Biomedical Science. His work deciphered the mechanisms of cell signaling, inflammation, and innate immunity. Chen has also previously identified an unexpected role for ubiquitin, showing that it activates proteins important in immune regulation and other essential cellular functions. And his subsequent work found that cells' mitochondria contribute to the body's immune response, and he identified MAVS, the mitochondrial protein essential for immune defense against many RNA viruses. He also discovered the cGAS pathway, which activates the immune system in response to microbial and self DNA.
Among other honors, Chen was inducted into the National Academy of Sciences, as well as the Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas.
Medical College of Wisconsin has received a $2.6 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to study pancreatic cancer treatments. The project aims to develop new methods of slowing or halting the metastasis of cancer cells by investigating a combination of energy metabolism inhibitors with relatively nontoxic mitrochondria-targeted drugs to ultimately lead to the development of new drugs to treat patients with pancreatic cancer that would halt the energy production of malignant cells.
Michael Dwinell, PhD, Associate Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, and Balaraman Kalyanaraman, PhD, Harry R. & Angeline E. Quadracci Professor in Parkinson's Research and the Professor and Chairman of Biophysics, are co-principal investigators of the grant.
Elizabeth Budde, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor in the Department of Hematology & Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation at City of Hope, has received The Jake Wetchler Foundation for Innovative Pediatric Cancer Research-Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation Clinical Investigator Award, a $450,000 grant to support a three-year study of immunotherapy treatment for patients with acute myeloid leukemia.
"The project that Dr. Budde has developed will expand the field of T cell immunotherapy in a very significant way and extend the benefit of treatment to patients with few options," Steven T. Rosen, MD, Provost and Chief Scientific Officer at City of Hope, said in a news release.
Budde leads the research under the mentorship of Stephen J. Forman, MD, the Francis and Kathleen McNamara Distinguished Chair in Hematology and Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation at City of Hope.
Deborah K. Mayer, PhD, RN, AOCN, FAAN, Professor in the School of Nursing at the University of North Carolina has now also assumed the role of UNC Lineberger Director of Cancer Survivorship, a new position in which she will lead the effort there to enhance clinical and research initiatives for cancer survivors at the cancer center. She started July 1.
"As a leader in cancer survivorship and oncology nursing, Dr. Mayer is uniquely positioned to bring our cancer survivorship efforts together," Shelton Earp, MD, Lineberger Professor and Director of UNC Cancer Care, said in a news release. "Dr. Mayer brings the clinician's perspective, a distinguished academic record, and experience in setting the national agenda for the nation's almost 14 million cancer survivors."
Currently, Mayer also serves as Editor of the Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing. She is a member of the American Society for Clinical Oncology Survivorship Committee and Chair of the ASCO Survivorship Care Plan Work Group. She is a former President of the Oncology Nursing Society and has held appointments on the National Cancer Advisory Board and the NCI's Board of Scientific Advisors.
OT Editorial Board Member Carolyn Weaver, RN, MSN, AOCN, AHN-BC, has joined Quintiles as Oncology Nurse Educator. Quintiles is a biopharmaceutical development company with initiatives to advance product development, integrated health care services, and population health across oncology and other aspects of health care and medicine.
She was most recently Clinical Nurse Specialist and Patient Education Coordinator at Fox Chase Cancer Center.
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Emmanuel Farber, MD, PhD, Carcinogenesis Research Pioneer, Dies at 95
Emmanuel Farber, MD, PhD, a cancer researcher whose work is known for clarifying the understanding of how certain chemicals cause cancer, died last month. He was 95.
In addition to his contributions to cancer research, he was a past President of the American Association for Cancer Research (1972-1973); an inaugural fellow of the AACR Academy (2013); and made numerous contributions to public policy, including being an early proponent of limiting tobacco use and educating the public about smoking risk, having served on the U.S. Surgeon General's first Advisory Committee on Smoking and Health (1961-1964).
"The AACR and the research community lost a true leader with the passing of Dr. Farber," AACR CEO Margaret Foti, PhD, said in a news release. "We are deeply grateful for his extraordinary laboratory research contributions, which laid the groundwork for our understanding of human cancer. His special spirit and characteristic enthusiasm about the potential of cancer science and medicine will be remembered always by his devoted friends and colleagues all over the world."
Farber's work established that cancer-causing chemicals bind to DNA, and went on to demonstrate that chemical carcinogenesis is a sequential process by showing that a series of step-by-step chemical treatments could cause cancer to develop in the liver. In his work, he emphasized that to understand carcinogenesis, it is necessary to understand the cellular, genetic, metabolic, and molecular changes that are occurring during the process.
His academic career included appointments at Tulane University, the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, the Fels Research Institute at Temple University School of Medicine, and the University of Toronto. At his death, he held the titles of Chairman Emeritus and Professor in the Department of Pathology at the University of Toronto.
In addition to his service as President of AACR, Farber was also a member of the Board of Directors for the Association, Associate Editor of Cancer Research, and a member of the Pennsylvania (East) State Legislative Committee and Molecular Epidemiology Working Group. He received the AACR G.H.A. Clowes Memorial Award in 1984.
He had also served as Vice President and President of the American Society of Experimental Pathology and President of the Histochemical Society. He was a member of the Panel on Medical Sciences of the U.S.-Japan Cooperative Science Program; the National Advisory Cancer Council of the U.S. Public Health Service; the Lung Cancer Task Force; and the Committee on Food Safety and Food Safety Policy of the National Academy of Sciences. He was Chairman of the Pathology B Study Section of the National Institutes of Health; and he was also a member of the Committee on Pathology, the Division of Medical Sciences of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Research Council, the Histochemical Society, and the American Society of Experimental Pathology.
Among his honors were the Parke-Davis Award in Experimental Pathology, the Samuel R. Noble Foundation Award, and the Rous-Whipple Award of the American Association of Pathologists, as well as being elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.