Prostate Cancer Foundation Announces 2017 Young Investigator Awards Recipients

SANTA MONICA, Calif., July 10, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF) today announced its 2017 Young Investigator (YI) Awards, which support early career scientists who are focused on accelerating the delivery of life-extending and life-saving therapies for men living with prostate cancer.

The YI Awards provide three years of funding – a total of $3.6 million in 2017 – to future research leaders who are dedicated to driving the critical research needed to ultimately defeat prostate cancer. Since 2007, PCF has invested over $47 million to support 223 young investigators.  

"Over the years, YI Awardees' research has led to advancements in new treatments and vastly improved our understanding of precision medicine, bringing us closer than ever to a cure," said Howard Soule, PhD, chief science officer and executive vice president of PCF. "We are proud to support this year's young investigators who are leading projects that will continue to help accelerate the breakthrough discoveries needed to not only further advance therapies, but ultimately defeat prostate cancer once and for all."

The 2017 YI Awardees were selected from a pool of 123 applications from 75 institutions in 12 countries. As part of the YI program, awardees must be within six years of completing professional scientific training programs and be under the guidance of least one mentor. Each award is matched dollar-for-dollar by the investigator's institution.

The following 19 investigators were selected to receive 2017 Young Investigator Awards:

• Sarah Amend, PhD – Johns Hopkins University
• Michael Augello, PhD – Weill Cornell Medicine
• Maria Carlo, MD – Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
• Elena Castro, MD, PhD – Spanish National Cancer Research Centre
• Michael Cheng, MD – Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
• Robert Flavell, MD, PhD – University of California, San Francisco
• Stephanie Harmon, PhD – National Cancer Institute
• Stefanie Hectors, PhD – Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital
• Thomas Hope, MD – University of California, San Francisco
• Wouter Karthaus, PhD – Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
• Fatima Karzai, MD – National Cancer Institute
• Ping Mu, PhD – Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
• Nicholas Nickols, MD, PhD – University of California, Los Angeles
• Yashar Niknafs, PhD – University of Michigan
• Mark Preston, MD, MPH – Harvard: Brigham and Women's Hospital
• David Quigley, PhD – University of California, San Francisco
• Konrad Stopsack, MD, MPH – Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
• David VanderWeele, MD, PhD – National Cancer Institute
• Di Zhao, PhD – The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Read More About the Class of 2017 PCF Young Investigators

About the Prostate Cancer Foundation

The Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF) is the world's leading philanthropic organization funding and accelerating prostate cancer research. Founded in 1993, PCF has raised more than $700 million and provided funding to more than 2,000 research programs at more than 200 cancer centers and universities. The PCF global research enterprise now extends to 19 countries and funds a robust research portfolio. PCF advocates for greater awareness of prostate cancer and more efficient investment of governmental research funds for transformational cancer research. Its efforts have helped produce a 20-fold increase in government funding for prostate cancer. For more information, visit www.pcf.org.

Connect with PCF: Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn

CONTACT:
Andrea Miyahira
Prostate Cancer Foundation
310-570-4705
[email protected]

SOURCE Prostate Cancer Foundation