National Cancer Center Announces Recipients of 2021-22 Research Fellowship Awards

NEW YORK, June 16, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Cancer Center is pleased to announce the recipients of its 2021-22 research grant awards, which support research fellows pursuing promising and innovative cancer research.

This year's class includes a total of sixteen recipients—seven first-time awards and nine renewals, representing total funding of $658,000. This is the largest number of grants, and the largest total dollar amount, the organization has ever made in a single year. First-time fellows receive $40,000 and are eligible for a renewal grant of $42,000 if he or she has demonstrated good progress at the conclusion of the first year.

"The members of NCC's Scientific Advisory Board agree that the quality of this year's post-doctoral applicants is second to none, as is the range of institutions they represent," said Regina English, Executive Director of the National Cancer Center. "We are thrilled we have been able to fund sixteen young fellows this year and are continuing to increase our grant awards. For the 2022-23 cycle, we will be increasing our fellowship amounts and awarding $50,000 for year one and $52,000 for renewal year two."

Recipients of the new post-doc fellowship awards are: Gretchen M. Alicea, Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University; Chiwei Xu, Ph.D., The Rockefeller University; Elena Grossi, Ph.D., Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai; Carmen Adriaens, Ph.D., Massachusetts General Hospital; Narek Darabedian, Ph.D., Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; Robin Armstrong, Ph.D., Memorial Sloan Kettering, and Varadha B. Venkadakrishnan, Ph.D., Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. In addition, the NCC renewed grants to Manqi Zhang, Ph.D., Duke University; William Maguire, M.D., Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh; Ibtehaj Naqvi, M.D., Ph.D., Duke University; David Frankhouser, Ph.D., Beckman Institute; Sohini Chakraborty, Ph.D., New York University School of Medicine; James Kaminsky, Ph.D., Boston Children's Hospital; Mireia Perez Verdaguer, Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine; David M. Gau, Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and Giulia Cova, Ph.D., New York University Medical Center.

Further details of their projects can be found on the NCC grants page here.

All award decisions are made by the NCC's Scientific Advisory Board, which is chaired by Darell D. Bigner, M.D., Ph.D., Duke University Medical Center. In addition to Dr. Bigner, the Scientific Advisory Board includes Jerome Ritz, M.D., Harvard Medical School,  John M. Kirkwood, M.D., University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute; Janet M.D. Plate, Ph.D.; and Victoria L. Seewaldt, M.D., City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center (Duarte, California).

For nearly 70 years, the NCC has been dedicated to providing financial support to research with the promise of conquering cancer. The NCC runs six cancer research programs: Aggressive Cancer Project; Fighting Childhood Leukemia; The Breast Cancer Project;  Children's Cancer Project; Prostate Cancer Project and the NCC Project. The organization also provides education on the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

About National Cancer Center

National Cancer Center was founded by Dr. J. Ernest Ayre in 1953 as a non-profit organization committed to research and education about cancer. Dr. Ayre was a pioneer in refining and promoting the Pap test for women, a major factor in reducing deaths from cervical cancer. He was also one of the first researchers to recognize the enormous potential of Interferon for cancer treatment.

SOURCE National Cancer Center