ASCO Annual Meeting Merit Awards: This Year’s Winners

By ASCO
August 10, 2018

The Conquer Cancer Merit Awards support oncology trainees who are first authors on abstracts selected for presentation at an ASCO scientific meeting, including the ASCO Annual Meeting and thematic symposia. Conquer Cancer recognized 127 recipients with Merit Awards at the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting, having already recognized 70 symposia-specific Conquer Cancer Merit Award recipients so far in 2018. These young oncology professionals are recognized for their important research findings in their respective fields within the cancer care continuum, with Special Merit Awards given to authors of the highest-ranking abstracts in select categories.

“Conquer Cancer’s Merit Awards support young, bright minds in oncology and their innovative approaches to cancer research,” said Ann H. Partridge, MD, MPH, FASCO, 2018 Chair of the ASCO Scientific Program Committee. “If we are going to make progress for our patients, support for new cancer research is vital, and we are excited to see how these awardees will continue to advance the field of oncology.” 

The following is a list of the 2018 ASCO Annual Meeting Merit Award winners: 

• Jithma P. Abeykoon, MD, Mayo Clinic, Rochester 
• Kathryn Cecilia Arbour, MD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center 
• Rita Elias Assi, MD, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (Sherwin Family Endowed Merit Awards) 
• Romualdo Barroso-Sousa, MD, PhD, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (Kathleen I. Pritchard, MD, Endowed Merit Award) 
• Francesca Battaglin, MD, USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, Keck School of Medicine 
• Marc Oliva Bernal, MD, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre 
• Manali A. Bhave, MD, BA, Northwestern University 
• Prajwal Boddu, MD, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center 
• Joseph Nicholas Bodor, MD, PhD, Fox Chase Cancer Center 
• Dominick Bossé, MD, MSc, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute 
• Elena Ioana Braicu, MD, PhD, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, European Competence Center for Ovarian Cancer, Charité Campus Virchow-Klinikum 
• Yanshuo Cao, MD, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre 
• Luisa Carbognin, MD, University of Verona 
• Alessia Castellino, MD, Mayo Clinic, Rochester 
• Fernando Caumont, MD, Virginia Mason Medical Center 
• Fumiko Ladd Chino, MD, BA, Duke University Medical Center 
• Kevin Lee Min Chua, MBBS, National Cancer Centre Singapore 
• Katherine Clifton, MD, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (Sherwin Family Endowed Merit Awards) 
• Julie Marie Collins, MD, MPH, National Cancer Institute 
• Vincenza Conteduca, MD, PhD, Istituto Scientifico Romagnolo per lo Studio e la Cura dei Tumori 
• Colleen A. Cuthbert, PhD, University of Calgary 
• Ila Datar, PhD, Yale School of Medicine 
• Lisa Derosa, MD, Gustave Roussy Cancer Campus, Paris Saclay University 
• Arpita Desai, MD, The University of Chicago (Frances A. Shepherd, MD, Endowed Merit Award in Lung Cancer) 
• Michael Edward Devitt, MD, University of Virginia 
• Bhagirathbhai R. Dholaria, MBBS, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute 
• Stephanie Dixon, MD, BS, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital 
• Soniya Dulal, MD, National Academy of Medical Sciences, Bir Hospital 
• Gustavo Dos Santos Fernandes, MD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center 
• Ahmad Ghorab, MD, MSc, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center 
• Ragisha Gopalakrishnan, MD, BS, Vanderbilt University Medical Center 
• Kyle Greene, MD, University of Utah Huntsman Cancer Institute 
• Andrea M. Gross, MD, National Institutes of Health (Bradley Stuart Beller Endowed Merit Award) 
• Shuchi Gulati, MD, FACP, University of Cincinnati Medical Center 
• Pat Gulhati, MD, PhD, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center 
• Anis Hamid, MBBS, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute 
• Simon Heidegger, MD, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University Munich 
• Brian S. Henick, MD, Yale School of Medicine 
• Raul Herrera, MD, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center 
• Amy Houghtelin, MD, BS, Children’s National Medical Center 
• Boyu Hu, MD, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center 
• Megan Jagosky, MD, Levine Cancer Institute 
• Anuradha Jayaram, MBBS, MRCP, The Institute of Cancer Research and The Royal Marsden NHS Trust Foundation 
• Elizabeth Jimenez Aguilar, MD, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute 
• Archit Joshi, MD, Cancer Institute (WIA) 
• Jin Kang, MD, Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute, Guangdong General Hospital (GGH) and Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences
• Yada Kanjanapan, MBBS, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre
• Tyler Garrett Ketterl, MD, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
• Daniel Khalaf, MD, British Columbia Cancer Agency, Vancouver Centre
• Lillian Rose Klug, PhD, Portland VA Health Care System and Oregon Health and Science University Knight Cancer Institute
• Michael Lam, MBBS, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
• Matteo Lambertini, MD, Institut Jules Bordet
• Nathalie LeVasseur, MD, British Columbia Cancer Agency
• Bryan Kincheon Li, MD, Hospital for Sick Children
• Wenhua Liang, MD, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, China State Key Laboratory, and National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Disease
• Kristina Lindemann, MD, PhD, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo
• Shiru Lucy Liu, MD, British Columbia Cancer Agency
• Stephen James Luen, MBChB, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
• Eoghan Ruadh Malone, MB BCh, BAO, BA, MSc, MRCPI, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre
• Shearwood McClelland III, MD, Oregon Health and Science University Knight Cancer Institute
• Kathan Mehta, MBBS, MPH, University of Pittsburgh
• Aaron Philip Mitchell, MD, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Amr Mohamed, MD, Karmanos Cancer Institute
• Kevin Thomas Nead, MD, MPhil, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine Hospital
• Tomohiro F. Nishijima, MD, New York University
• Maliha Nusrat, MD, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
• Michael David Offin, MD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
• Thomas Ollila, MD, The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
• Daniel Olson, MD, University of Chicago
• Seyed Saeed Pairawan, MD, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
• Kaushal Parikh, MD, New York Medical College
• Wungki Park, MD, Mount Sinai St. Luke’s and Roosevelt Hospitals
• Christine Megerdichian Parseghian, MD, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
• Sandro Pasquali, MD, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori
• Anita Peoples, PhD, MPH, University of Rochester Medical Center (Pain and Symptom Management Special Merit Award)
• Allan Andresson Lima Pereira, MD, PhD, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
• Noam Falbel Ponde, MD, Centro Paulista de Oncologia
• Alberto Puccini, MD, USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, Keck School of Medicine (Drs. Rachna and Puneet Shroff Endowed Merit Award)
• Chethan Ramamurthy, BA, MD, Fox Chase Cancer Center
• Rahul Ravilla, MD, University of Arkansas
• Pasquale Rescigno, MD, The Institute of Cancer Research and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust
• Nuria Romero-Laorden, MD, PhD, Hospital Universitario La Princesa
• Daniele Rossini, MD, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Pisana, Istituto Toscano Tumori
• Joshua K. Sabari, MD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
• Andreas Nicholas Saltos, MD, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute
• Stephen Matthew Schleicher, MD, MBA, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
• Alicia Latham Schwark, MD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (Allen S. Lichter, MD, Endowed Merit Award)
• Shiraj Sen, MD, PhD, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical School
• Adam Sharp, MD, PhD, The Institute of Cancer Research and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust
• Jack Shern, MD, National Cancer Institute (James B. Nachman Endowed ASCO Junior Faculty Award in Pediatric Oncology)
• Takehito Shukuya, MD, The Ohio State University
• Tharani Sivakumaran, MD, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
• Hadas Sorotsky, MD, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre  
• Paolo Strati, MD, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
• Stephanie Sullivan, MD, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Roger Sun, MD, PhDc, Gustave Roussy Cancer Campus
• Mahesh Swaminathan, MBBS, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
• Nina Prabha Tamirisa, MD, MS, Duke University Medical Center (Darla C. Ellis Endowed Women Who Conquer Cancer Merit Award)
• Aaron C. Tan, MBBS, PhD, BSc, Royal North Shore Hospital
• Jessica Tao, MD, BS, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
• Vatche Tchekmedyian, MD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
• Fiorela Hernandez Tejada, MD, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (Brigid Leventhal Special Merit Award)
• Sibo Tian, MD, Winship Cancer Institute, Emory University
• Nadina Tinsley, MBBS, MRCP, Christie Hospital NHS Trust
• Ryuma Tokunaga, MD, PhD, USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, Keck School of Medicine
• Mehdi Touat, MD, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (Dr. and Mrs. Douglas W. Blayney Endowed Merit Award)
• Veerisa Vimolchalao, MD, Chulalongkorn University
• Panagiotis J. Vlachostergios, MD, PhD, Weill Cornell Medical College & New York-Presbyterian Hospital
• Natalie Vokes, MD, MPhil, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (Loxo Oncology Endowed Merit Award)
• Adrienne Gropper Waks, MD, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
• Seth Andrew Wander, MD, PhD, BS, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
• Jennifer Rui Wang, MD, ScM, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
• Kunning Wang, PhD, Xi’an Jiaotong University
• Yucai Wang, MD, PhD, Mayo Clinic, Rochester
• Patrick Williams, MD, PhD, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
• Juliet Elizabeth Wolford, MD, University of California, Irvine (Sherwin Family Endowed Merit Awards)
• Xiaoliang Wu, MD, West Virginia University Cancer Institute
• Fevzi Firat Yalniz, MD, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
• Divya Yerramilli, MD, Harvard Radiation Oncology
• Todd Yezefski, MD, MS, BA, University of Washington School of Medicine
• Steven Yip, MD, British Columbia Cancer Agency, Vancouver Cancer Centre ■

© 2018. American Society of Clinical Oncology. All rights reserved.

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