- Email: [email protected]
Awards
xiv
Awards Mike Price Gold Medal Award 2012 Award winner: Dr. Jose´ Baselga Jose´ Baselga is the Chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology and Associate Director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center in Boston where he is also Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. His research interests are in clinical breast cancer and in translational and early clinical research. He conducted the initial clinical trials with the monoclonal antibodies cetuximab and trastuzumab and is leading the clinical development of several new agents including pertuzumab and PI3K inhibitors. His main focus in the laboratory and in the clinic is in the area of novel anti-HER2 agents, in the identification of mechanisms of resistance to anti-HER2 agents and therapeutic approaches to target the PI3K pathway. He is also leading a number of neo-adjuvant trials in breast cancer and has been at the forefront of developing biomarker-based early and translational clinical trials. Dr. Baselga received his M.D. and Ph.D. degree from the Universidad Autonoma of Barcelona. He completed a fellowship in Medical Oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York and subsequently stayed on as a faculty member of the Breast Medicine Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering. From 1996 to 2010 he was the Chairman of the Medical Oncology Service and Founding Director of the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO) at the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital in Barcelona, Spain. A recipient of many awards during his distinguished career, Dr. Baselga was most recently the recipient of the Queen Sof´ıa Spanish Institute’s Gold Medal. He was selected for this prestigious award for representing Spain’s leadership in the area of cancer research. Dr. Baselga is a member of the Editorial Boards of Cancer Cell, Clinical Cancer Research and Annals of Oncology and he is the founding editor-in-chief on the new flagship journal Cancer Discovery.
The Pezcoller Foundation − EACR Cancer Researcher Award ‘Celebrating academic excellence and achievements in the field of cancer research’ Award Winner: Prof. Eric CW So The Pezcoller Foundation − EACR Cancer Researcher Award Lecture will be presented for the first time at EACR-22 and at future EACR biennial congresses. Eric CW So obtained his PhD (Pathology) in 1997 from the University of Hong Kong and received most of his postdoctoral training at Stanford University, California where he worked with Professors Michael Cleary and Irving Weismann to study the transformation mechanisms and origins of leukemic stem cells (LSC). In 2004, Prof. So joined the newly formed Hemato-Oncology Department led by Professor Mel Greaves in the Institute of Cancer Research in London to set up his laboratory studying the molecular and cellular basis of acute leukaemia with a major focus on transcriptional and epigenetic regulation in LSC. In 2009, Professor So was appointed as the Chair Professor of Leukaemia Biology in King’s College London, and established the section of Leukaemia and Stem Cell Biology. Over the past few years, his team has made many seminal discoveries that are critical to the current understanding of leukaemia biology and to design effective therapy for the disease. His works are featured in many highly respected journals in the field including Cancer Cell, Cell Stem Cell, Nature Cell Biology and many others.
european journal of cancer 48, suppl. 5 (2012) xiv–xv
Awards
xv
Professor So serves in the review panels and advisory committees of many scientific and medical journals as well as international funding agencies in Europe, the US and Asia. He has won many personal awards throughout his scientific career. The most recent of these are an International Fellowship from the Association for International Cancer Research (AICR) in the UK (2005–2011) and the Young Investigator’s Award from the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) (2008–2011). He is also an elected Fellow of Academy of Life Science for Chinese in the UK (ALSC-UK) (2010) and an elected Member of European Research Institute for Integrated Cellular Pathology (ERI-ICP) (2010). Anthony Dipple Carcinogenesis Award 2012 Award Winner: Dr. Carlo M. Croce The Anthony Dipple Carcinogenesis Award is for major contributions to research in the field of carcinogenesis. Dr. Croce is world-renowned for his contributions involving the genes and genetic mechanisms implicated in the pathogenesis of human cancer. A native of Milan, Italy, Dr. Croce earned his medical degree summa cum laude in 1969 from the School of Medicine, University of Rome. He began his career in the United States the following year as an associate scientist at the Wistar Institute of Biology and Anatomy in Philadelphia. In 1980, he was named Wistar Professor of Genetics at the University of Pennsylvania and Institute Professor and Associate Director of the Wistar Institute, titles he held until 1988. From 1988−91, he was director of the Fels Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Biology at Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia. In 1991, Dr. Croce was named Director of the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson Medical College at the Thomas Jefferson University, in Philadelphia. While at Jefferson, he discovered the role of microRNAs in cancer pathogenesis and progression, implicating a new class of genes in cancer causation. In 2004 he moved to The Ohio State University. Under his direction at Ohio State faculty within the Human Cancer Genetics Program conduct both clinical and basic research. Basic research projects focus on how genes are activated and inactivated, how cell-growth signals are transmitted and regulated within cells, and how cells interact with the immune system. Clinical research focuses on discovering genes linked to cancer and mutations that predispose people to cancer. Dr. Croce, a member of the National Academy of Sciences and Institute of Medicine in the US and the Accademia Nazionale delle Scienze detta dei XL in Italy, was recently elected to Membership of The American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Carcinogenesis Young Investigator Award 2012 Award Winner: Dr. Lars Zender The Carcinogenesis Young Investigator Award is for a recent, significant contribution to carcinogenesis research by an investigator under the age of 40. Lars Zender, M.D., is Professor and Head of the Division of Molecular Oncology of Solid Tumors at the University Hospital Tubingen, ¨ Germany. Lars Zender’s work especially focuses on the identification of new cancer genes involved in liver cancer development. He developed clinically relevant mosaic (chimaeric) liver cancer mouse models, which allow for high throughput functional genomic analyses. Together with a limited number of other laboratories, Lars Zender’s group has the expertise to conduct stable RNA interference screens for the identification and validation of new cancer genes directly in vivo. Another key aspect in the scientific work of Lars Zender is his work on cellular senescence. In particular the Zender laboratory is studying the senescence associated secretory phenotype and how senescent tumour cells and pre-cancerous cells are recognised and cleared by the immune system. Recent work from Lars Zender’s laboratory showed that a continuous antigen specific immune clearance of premalignant senescent hepatocytes is crucial for tumour suppression in the liver.
Awards Mike Price Gold Medal Award 2012 Award winner: Dr. Jose´ Baselga Jose´ Baselga is the Chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology and Associate Director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center in Boston where he is also Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. His research interests are in clinical breast cancer and in translational and early clinical research. He conducted the initial clinical trials with the monoclonal antibodies cetuximab and trastuzumab and is leading the clinical development of several new agents including pertuzumab and PI3K inhibitors. His main focus in the laboratory and in the clinic is in the area of novel anti-HER2 agents, in the identification of mechanisms of resistance to anti-HER2 agents and therapeutic approaches to target the PI3K pathway. He is also leading a number of neo-adjuvant trials in breast cancer and has been at the forefront of developing biomarker-based early and translational clinical trials. Dr. Baselga received his M.D. and Ph.D. degree from the Universidad Autonoma of Barcelona. He completed a fellowship in Medical Oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York and subsequently stayed on as a faculty member of the Breast Medicine Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering. From 1996 to 2010 he was the Chairman of the Medical Oncology Service and Founding Director of the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO) at the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital in Barcelona, Spain. A recipient of many awards during his distinguished career, Dr. Baselga was most recently the recipient of the Queen Sof´ıa Spanish Institute’s Gold Medal. He was selected for this prestigious award for representing Spain’s leadership in the area of cancer research. Dr. Baselga is a member of the Editorial Boards of Cancer Cell, Clinical Cancer Research and Annals of Oncology and he is the founding editor-in-chief on the new flagship journal Cancer Discovery.
The Pezcoller Foundation − EACR Cancer Researcher Award ‘Celebrating academic excellence and achievements in the field of cancer research’ Award Winner: Prof. Eric CW So The Pezcoller Foundation − EACR Cancer Researcher Award Lecture will be presented for the first time at EACR-22 and at future EACR biennial congresses. Eric CW So obtained his PhD (Pathology) in 1997 from the University of Hong Kong and received most of his postdoctoral training at Stanford University, California where he worked with Professors Michael Cleary and Irving Weismann to study the transformation mechanisms and origins of leukemic stem cells (LSC). In 2004, Prof. So joined the newly formed Hemato-Oncology Department led by Professor Mel Greaves in the Institute of Cancer Research in London to set up his laboratory studying the molecular and cellular basis of acute leukaemia with a major focus on transcriptional and epigenetic regulation in LSC. In 2009, Professor So was appointed as the Chair Professor of Leukaemia Biology in King’s College London, and established the section of Leukaemia and Stem Cell Biology. Over the past few years, his team has made many seminal discoveries that are critical to the current understanding of leukaemia biology and to design effective therapy for the disease. His works are featured in many highly respected journals in the field including Cancer Cell, Cell Stem Cell, Nature Cell Biology and many others.
european journal of cancer 48, suppl. 5 (2012) xiv–xv
Awards
xv
Professor So serves in the review panels and advisory committees of many scientific and medical journals as well as international funding agencies in Europe, the US and Asia. He has won many personal awards throughout his scientific career. The most recent of these are an International Fellowship from the Association for International Cancer Research (AICR) in the UK (2005–2011) and the Young Investigator’s Award from the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) (2008–2011). He is also an elected Fellow of Academy of Life Science for Chinese in the UK (ALSC-UK) (2010) and an elected Member of European Research Institute for Integrated Cellular Pathology (ERI-ICP) (2010). Anthony Dipple Carcinogenesis Award 2012 Award Winner: Dr. Carlo M. Croce The Anthony Dipple Carcinogenesis Award is for major contributions to research in the field of carcinogenesis. Dr. Croce is world-renowned for his contributions involving the genes and genetic mechanisms implicated in the pathogenesis of human cancer. A native of Milan, Italy, Dr. Croce earned his medical degree summa cum laude in 1969 from the School of Medicine, University of Rome. He began his career in the United States the following year as an associate scientist at the Wistar Institute of Biology and Anatomy in Philadelphia. In 1980, he was named Wistar Professor of Genetics at the University of Pennsylvania and Institute Professor and Associate Director of the Wistar Institute, titles he held until 1988. From 1988−91, he was director of the Fels Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Biology at Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia. In 1991, Dr. Croce was named Director of the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson Medical College at the Thomas Jefferson University, in Philadelphia. While at Jefferson, he discovered the role of microRNAs in cancer pathogenesis and progression, implicating a new class of genes in cancer causation. In 2004 he moved to The Ohio State University. Under his direction at Ohio State faculty within the Human Cancer Genetics Program conduct both clinical and basic research. Basic research projects focus on how genes are activated and inactivated, how cell-growth signals are transmitted and regulated within cells, and how cells interact with the immune system. Clinical research focuses on discovering genes linked to cancer and mutations that predispose people to cancer. Dr. Croce, a member of the National Academy of Sciences and Institute of Medicine in the US and the Accademia Nazionale delle Scienze detta dei XL in Italy, was recently elected to Membership of The American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Carcinogenesis Young Investigator Award 2012 Award Winner: Dr. Lars Zender The Carcinogenesis Young Investigator Award is for a recent, significant contribution to carcinogenesis research by an investigator under the age of 40. Lars Zender, M.D., is Professor and Head of the Division of Molecular Oncology of Solid Tumors at the University Hospital Tubingen, ¨ Germany. Lars Zender’s work especially focuses on the identification of new cancer genes involved in liver cancer development. He developed clinically relevant mosaic (chimaeric) liver cancer mouse models, which allow for high throughput functional genomic analyses. Together with a limited number of other laboratories, Lars Zender’s group has the expertise to conduct stable RNA interference screens for the identification and validation of new cancer genes directly in vivo. Another key aspect in the scientific work of Lars Zender is his work on cellular senescence. In particular the Zender laboratory is studying the senescence associated secretory phenotype and how senescent tumour cells and pre-cancerous cells are recognised and cleared by the immune system. Recent work from Lars Zender’s laboratory showed that a continuous antigen specific immune clearance of premalignant senescent hepatocytes is crucial for tumour suppression in the liver.