NCCN Helps Strengthen Cancer Research Pipeline by Awarding Grants to Five Young Investigators

FORT WASHINGTON, Pa., April 4, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The NCCN Foundation^® has announced five recipients for this year's Young Investigator Awards. The grantees come from National Comprehensive Cancer Network^® (NCCN^®) Member Institutions, and will each receive up to $150,000 in funding over a two-year period. This marks the eighth year for the NCCN Foundation Young Investigator Awards supporting career development for innovative cancer researchers.

"It is so inspiring to learn about the new ways these up-and-coming researchers are trying to solve today's cancer treatment problems," said Deborah Armstrong, MD of The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins. Dr. Armstrong chaired the 2018 YIA Proposal Review Committee. "Not only do we have a chance to identify where tomorrow's game changing discoveries will come from, but we can also provide funding to support this potentially life-saving research."

The 2018 awardees are:

• Rebecca Arend, MD, University of Alabama at Birmingham Comprehensive Cancer Center
• The Role of TGF-β in Immune Suppression in Suboptimally Debulked Ovarian Cancer Patients
• Yin Cao, MPH, ScD, Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine
• Disparities in Young-Onset Colorectal Cancer Survival According to Patient, Treatment, and Tumor Molecular Characteristics    
• Tim Luetkens, MD, Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah
• CD229 Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cells for the Treatment of Multiple Myeloma
• Edwin R. Manuel, PhD, City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center
• Altering the Local Immune Landscape in Lung Cancer to Improve Anti-PD-1 Therapy
• Cecilia Yeung, MD, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center/Seattle Cancer Care Alliance
• Optimization of a Rapid Point of Care Device for Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia Diagnosis and Therapy Guidance

These five awardees were selected out of a pool of 48 applicants nominated from across the 27 NCCN Member Institutions. The NCCN Oncology Research Program (ORP) will manage and oversee the projects for the next two years. The awardees will then present the results from their research at the NCCN 25^th Annual Conference in 2020.

Several past YIA Awardees participated in this year's NCCN Conference, presenting their work as part of the general poster session. Those presenters included:

• James Chen, MD, The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center - James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute
• Roisin Connolly, MBBCh, The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins
• Ryan Nipp, MD, MPH, Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center | Massachusetts General Hospital
• Elias Obeid, MD, MPH , Fox Chase Cancer Center
• Kathryn Ruddy, MD, MPH, Mayo Clinic Cancer Center
• Daniel Sherbenou, MD, PhD, University of Colorado Cancer Center
• Geoffrey Sonn, MD, Stanford Cancer Institute

"With past Young Investigator Awards, we've seen researchers more than deliver on their promise to make significant contributions to the cancer care landscape," said Marcie R. Reeder, MPH, Executive Director, NCCN Foundation. "Awardees have gone on to be published in high-impact journals, have distinguished research careers, and some have wound up on NCCN Guidelines Panels. By giving them a leg-up at this early point in their career, we can make sure to keep the research pipeline primed for future breakthroughs. That means more cures, better prevention, and improved care for the next generation of people with cancer."

The 2018 NCCN Foundation Young Investigator Awards were made possible through support from AbbVie Inc., AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP, Genentech, Inc., Gilead Sciences, Merck & Co. Inc., Sharp & Dohme Corp., Takeda Oncology, and Pfizer Inc.

For more information about the NCCN Young Investigator Awards, visit NCCN.org/patients.

About NCCN Foundation
NCCN Foundation^® was founded by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network^® (NCCN^®) to empower people with cancer and advance oncology innovation. NCCN Foundation supports people with cancer and their caregivers at every step of their treatment journey by delivering unbiased expert guidance from the world's leading cancer experts through the library of NCCN Guidelines for Patients^® and other patient education resources. NCCN Foundation is also committed to advancing cancer treatment by funding the nation's promising young investigators at the forefront of cancer research, initiating momentum in their careers and furthering the betterment of patients through their groundbreaking innovations. For more information about NCCN Foundation, visit http://www.nccnfoundation.org.

About the National Comprehensive Cancer Network
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network^® (NCCN^®), a not-for-profit alliance of 27 leading cancer centers devoted to patient care, research, and education, is dedicated to improving the quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of cancer care so that patients can live better lives. Through the leadership and expertise of clinical professionals at NCCN Member Institutions, NCCN develops resources that present valuable information to the numerous stakeholders in the health care delivery system. As the arbiter of high-quality cancer care, NCCN promotes the importance of continuous quality improvement and recognizes the significance of creating clinical practice guidelines appropriate for use by patients, clinicians, and other health care decision-makers.

The NCCN Member Institutions are: Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center, Omaha, NE; Case Comprehensive Cancer Center/University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center and Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute, Cleveland, OH; City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center, Los Angeles, CA; Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center | Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Boston, MA; Duke Cancer Institute, Durham, NC; Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA; Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT; Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center/Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, Seattle, WA; The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, MD; Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, Chicago, IL; Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, Phoenix/Scottsdale, AZ, Jacksonville, FL, and Rochester, MN; Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY; Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, FL; The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center - James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute, Columbus, OH; Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, NY; Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO; St. Jude Children's Research Hospital/The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN; Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford, CA; University of Alabama at Birmingham Comprehensive Cancer Center, Birmingham, AL; UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center, La Jolla, CA; UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, San Francisco, CA; University of Colorado Cancer Center, Aurora, CO; University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center, Ann Arbor, MI; The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX; University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center, Madison, WI; Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Nashville, TN; and Yale Cancer Center/Smilow Cancer Hospital, New Haven, CT.

Clinicians, visit NCCN.org. Patients and caregivers, visit NCCN.org/patients. Media, visit NCCN.org/news. Follow NCCN on Twitter @NCCNnews and Facebook @National.Comprehensive.Cancer.Network.

Media Contact:
Rachel Darwin, NCCN
267-622-6624
[email protected]

SOURCE National Comprehensive Cancer Network

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