ASCO, Conquer Cancer Foundation Congratulate 2015 Grant and Award Recipients

The Conquer Cancer Foundation of ASCO presented more than $6.7 million in grants and awards to more than 200 promising oncology researchers at the 2015 ASCO Annual Meeting. The Conquer Cancer Foundation and ASCO congratulate the recipients on their contributions to the field of oncology and offer profound thanks to the generous organizations that supported these awards.

To see the complete list of grant and award recipients, visit conquercancerfoundation.org/grantrecipients and conquercancerfoundation.org/awardrecipients.

Comparative Effectiveness Research Professorship in Breast Cancer

The Comparative Effectiveness Research Professorship in Breast Cancer provides flexible funding to outstanding researchers who have made, and are continuing to make, significant contributions that have changed the direction of cancer research and who provide mentorship to junior researchers. The professorship is supported by the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

• Dawn L. Hershman, MD, MS, Columbia University Medical Center

Advanced Clinical Research Award in Breast Cancer

The Advanced Clinical Research Award funds investigators in their fourth to ninth year of faculty appointment, who are committed to clinical cancer research in an area not currently funded. The award is supported by the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

• Priyanka Sharma, MD, University of Kansas Medical Center

Career Development Awards

The Career Development Award provides funding to clinical investigators who have received their initial faculty appointment to establish an independent clinical cancer research program. This year’s recipients will each receive a 3-year grant totaling $200,000:

• Sandra P. D’Angelo, MD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
• Ayca Gucalp, MD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
• Siwen Hu-Lieskovan, MD, PhD, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
• Douglas B. Johnson, MD, Vanderbilt University Medical Center
• David Margel, MD, PhD, Rabin Medical Center
• Sean Matthew McBride, MD, MPH, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
• Katherine Reeder-Hayes, MD, MBA, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Rizwan Romee, MD, Washington University
• Florian R. Schroeck, MD, MS, White River Junction VA Medical Center/The Dartmouth Institute
• Vamsidhar Velcheti, MD, The Cleveland Clinic
• Jason R. Westin, MD, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Career Development Awards are supported by Astellas, AstraZeneca, the Breast Cancer Research Foundation®, the Conquer Cancer Foundation Mission Endowment, Genentech BioOncology, Lilly, and Takeda Oncology.

Young Investigator Awards

The Young Investigator Award provides funding to promising investigators to encourage and promote quality research in clinical oncology. This year’s 58 awardees will each receive a 1-year grant of $50,000.

Young Investigator Awards are supported by AbbVie, Inc.; the American Association for Cancer Research; Amgen; Anonymous; the ASCO and Conquer Cancer Foundation Boards of Directors; the ASCO State Affiliate Council and ASCO Clinical Practice Committee; AstraZeneca; Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; the Breast Cancer Research Foundation; Celgene Corporation; The Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation; the Conquer Cancer Foundation; Conquer Cancer Foundation Women Who Conquer Cancer; Eisai Inc.; Ethicon; Genentech BioOncology; Gilead Sciences, Inc.; Incyte Corporation; Janssen Biotech, Inc.; the John and Elizabeth Leonard Family Foundation; Journal of Clinical Oncology; the Kidney Cancer Association; Lilly; Merck & Co., Inc.; Novartis Oncology; Onyx Pharmaceuticals; Susan K. Parsons, MD, and Walter Armstrong; Pfizer Oncology; the Reid R. Sacco Adolescent and Young Adult Alliance; Roche; the Scopus Foundation; Young A. Sohn and Mark Armenante; the Strike 3 Foundation; Takeda Oncology; The WWWW Foundation Inc. (QuadW); and The Sarcoma Fund of the QuadW Foundation of Communities Foundation of Texas.

International Development and Education Award

The International Development and Education Award provides support for early-career oncologists in low- and middle-income countries to further their knowledge and careers and establish strong long-term relationships with leading ASCO members who serve as scientific mentors. This year’s 20 awardees attended the 2015 ASCO Annual Meeting and visited their mentor’s institution, where they gained knowledge and skills to share with their peers back home. Notably, this is the first year IDEAs supported oncologists from Ghana, Mauritius, and South Africa.

International Development and Education Awards are supported by AstraZeneca, Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals Inc., the Conquer Cancer Foundation, Roche, and Takeda Oncology.

Medical Student Rotation for Underrepresented Populations

The Medical Student Rotation for Underrepresented Populations provides 8- to 10-week clinical or clinical research oncology rotations for U.S. medical students from populations underrepresented in medicine who are interested in pursuing oncology as a career. This year, seven medical students were selected to participate in the program:

• Oladapo Adeniran, University of Illinois at Chicago
• Cecil Benitez, Stanford University
• Mario Martinez, University of Illinois at Chicago
• Angel Moran, University of California, Davis
• Dionisia Quiroga, Michigan State University
• Elisa Quiroz, Ponce Health Sciences University
• Jasmine Smith, University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville

The Medical Student Rotation for Underrepresented Populations is supported by the Conquer Cancer Foundation Mission Endowment, Eisai Inc., Genentech BioOncology, and Lilly.

Resident Travel Award for Underrepresented Populations

The Resident Travel Award for Underrepresented Populations provides financial support for residents from underrepresented populations to attend the ASCO Annual Meeting. This year eight residents were selected to participate in the program:

• Olufunke Akinbobuyi, MD, Morehouse School of Medicine
• Idoroenyi Amanam, MD, St. Mary Medical Center
• Ebenezer Appah, MD, Meharry Medical College
• Frederick Doamekpor, MD, Morehouse School of Medicine
• Nancy Osuji-Oduh, MD, Morehouse School of Medicine
• Linnea Perkins, MD, Ochsner Clinic
• Sonya Reid-Lawrence, MD, Meharry Medical College
• Oluchi Ukaegbu, MD, Vanderbilt University Medical Center

The Resdient Travel Award is supported by Janssen Biotech, Inc. and Novartis Oncology.

Clinical Trials Participation Awards

The Clinical Trials Participation Award recognizes and promotes high-quality clinical research sites with the intent to increase the awareness of, and participation in, clinical trials among physicians. The awards are presented to community-based practices participating in clinical trials at an exceptional level. The Coalition of Cancer Cooperative Groups has supported these awards for 13 consecutive years.

• Cancer Care Specialists of Central Illinois–Decatur, Illinois
• Blue Ridge Cancer Care–Roanoke, Virginia
• Oncology Hematology Care, Inc.–Cincinnati, Ohio
• Scottsdale Healthcare–Scottsdale, Arizona
• The Division of Gynecologic Oncology at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center– Phoenix, Arizona
• Cone Health Cancer Center–Greensboro, North Carolina

Merit Awards for High-Quality Research

The Conquer Cancer Foundation distributed 99 Merit Awards to oncology fellows who submitted high-quality research for presentation at the 2015 ASCO Annual Meeting, four of which were Special Merit Awards for the highest-ranking abstracts in select categories. The 2015 Special Merit Award recipients are:

• Mark Applebaum, MD, University of Chicago, Brigid Leventhal Special Merit Award
• Maria-Jose de Miguel-Luken, MD, The Institute of Cancer Research and The Royal Marsden Hospital, Bradley Stuart Beller Special Merit Award, (supported by the Bradley Stuart Beller Endowment Fund)
• Sébastien Héritier, MD, Versailles University & APHP, Trousseau
  Hospital, James B. Nachman ASCO Junior Faculty Award in Pediatric Oncology
• Ryan Nipp, MD, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Harvard Cancer Center, Pain and Symptom
  Management Research Merit Award

Oncology Trainee Travel Awards

The Oncology Trainee Travel Award supports the continuing education and professional development of trainee oncologists by providing individual travel grants to defray travel expenses for attending the ASCO Annual Meeting. In 2015, the Conquer Cancer Foundation awarded 64 Trainee Travel Awards, supported by Takeda Oncology.

2015 Long-Term International Fellowship

The Long-Term International Fellowship provides early-career oncologists in low- to middle-income countries the support and resources needed to advance their training by deepening their relationship with a mentor from the United States, Canada, or Europe and his or her institution. This year’s recipients are:

• Malek Baassiri, MD
  Home Institution: American University of Beirut Medical Center (Lebanon)
  U.S. Sponsoring Institution:
  St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
  Mentor: Melissa M. Hudson, MD
• Kibrom Hagos, MD
  Home Institution: Black Lion Hospital, Addis Ababa University (Ethiopia)
  U.S. Sponsoring Institution:
  Oregon Health and Science University
  Mentor: Charles R. Thomas, MD, FASCO

The Long-Term International Fellowship is supported by the Conquer Cancer Foundation, Gilead Sciences, Inc., and Roche. ■