Roger S. Lo, MD, PhD
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) honored Roger S. Lo, MD, PhD, with the first AACR–Waun Ki Hong Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cancer Research during the 2017 AACR Annual Meeting in Washington, DC.
The AACR established this award in recognition of AACR President (2001–2002) Waun Ki Hong, MD, FAACR, and his extraordinary contributions to cancer research, cancer care, and cancer prevention during his brilliant career as a physician-scientist. This award recognizes a worthy cancer researcher who has conducted highly meritorious laboratory, translational, or clinical cancer research anywhere in the world at a relatively early stage in his or her career. It will honor the outstanding research of a young investigator who has not yet reached 46 years of age at the time of the presentation of the award.
Dr. Lo, Professor in the Division of Dermatology and Associate Professor in the Department of Molecular and Medicinal Pharmacology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), was recognized for his pioneering research toward identifying the molecular underpinnings of metastatic melanoma and its response to therapy. His work provided the major scientific rationale for testing the effectiveness of inhibitors of BRAF and MEK in combination as a treatment for melanoma—a therapeutic approach that is now globally considered the standard of care.
“On behalf of the American Association for Cancer Research, I wish to congratulate Dr. Lo on receiving the inaugural AACR–Waun Ki Hong Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cancer Research,” said Margaret Foti, PhD, MD (hc), Chief Executive Officer of the AACR. “His impressive achievements have earned him a reputation as an original thinker and creative researcher, and the AACR is thrilled to be recognizing such a talented early-career investigator. Supporting early-career investigators like Dr. Lo is a vital part of the AACR’s mission, because these are the individuals who will transform the treatment and prevention of cancer in the future.”
Host of Accomplishments
The AACR has previously recognized Dr. Lo’s work with the 2013 AACR Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cancer Research and the AACR–AFLAC Scholar-in-Training Award, Translational Medicine 2008: Bridging the Lab and the Clinic in Cancer Medicine. He also received the 2014 Phillip A. Sharp Innovator Award from Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C), of which the AACR is the Scientific Partner, and a 2011 SU2C Innovative Research Grant.
Additionally, Dr. Lo has been honored with the Young Investigator Award from the Society for Melanoma Research (2013) and the UCLA Diana Gordon Jonsson Cancer Center Award for Research Excellence (2014). He was named a Sidney Kimmel Translational Scholar by the Sidney Kimmel Foundation (2011) and is an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation (2012) and the American Dermatological Association (2015).
Dr. Lo received his medical degree from Cornell University Medical College and his doctorate from the tri-institutional program at Weill Cornell Medical College, Rockefeller University, and the Sloan Kettering Institute. He completed an internship in medicine and a residency in dermatology at UCLA. ■
