Four Harvard Medical School researchers were among 22 elected fellows of the American Association for Cancer Research Academy, which recognizes and honors distinguished scientists whose scientific contributions have propelled significant innovation and progress against cancer. The AACR will induct its 2019 class of elected Fellows of the AACR Academy at the organization’s annual meeting in Atlanta, March 29-April 3.
Members of the 2019 class of Fellows of the AACR Academy from HMS include:
George Q. Daley, dean of Harvard Medical School; the Caroline Shields Walker Professor of Medicine; and professor of biological chemistry and molecular pharmacology in the HMS Blavatnik Institute
For demonstrating the role of the BCR/ABL oncogene in the pathogenesis of chronic myeloid leukemia, and for his creation of pluripotent stem cell-based disease models to improve drug and transplantation therapies for malignant and genetic diseases.
Gordon Freeman, HMS professor of medicine and researcher at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
For groundbreaking contributions to the discovery of the PD-1 signaling pathway and the PD-1 ligands, PD-L1 and PD-L2, and for spotlighting the involvement of this pathway in tumor evasion of immunosurveillance.
Daniel A. Haber, the HMS Kurt J. Isselbacher Professor of Oncology and director of the Cancer Center at Massachusetts General and an investigator in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute
For characterizing EGFR mutations in lung cancer, biological properties of circulating tumor cells in cancer, and WT1 and WTX tumor suppressors in Wilms’ tumor, and for contributing to the fundamental understanding of molecular carcinogenesis and drug sensitivity to inform the development of molecularly targeted therapeutics.
Arlene Sharpe, the George Fabyan Professor of Comparative Pathology; head of the Department of Immunology in the HMS Blavatnik Institute; and co-director of the Evergrande Center for Immunologic Diseases
For defining how T-cell costimulatory and coinhibitory molecules and pathways regulate immune responses, and for demonstrating that T cells are required not only to activate antimicrobial and antitumor immunity, but also to repress immune responses to combat tissue transplantation rejection and autoimmune disease.
Hao Wu, the Asa and Patricia Springer Professor of Structural Biology at Boston Children’s Hospital and professor of biological chemistry and molecular pharmacology in the HMS Blavatnik Institute, was named to receive the Protein Society’s 2019 Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin Award, which is granted in recognition of exceptional contributions in protein science which profoundly influence our understanding of biology.
Wu was selected for the remarkable achievements she has made in changing how we view the molecular mechanism of signal transduction and recent work from her laboratory that has illuminated inflammasome assembly and the resulting pyroptotic cell death. The signalosome concept that Wu pioneered established the importance of oligomeric, cooperatively assembled protein complexes for immune receptor signaling and by extension, for intracellular signaling more generally.
Four HMS researchers have been selected as among 17 Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Imaging Scientists, who have expertise in technology development across several scientific disciplines and represent imaging centers across the United States. They will receive funding to drive innovation and collaboration between biology, microscopy hardware and imaging software to accelerate progress in the imaging field that will allow biomedical science to push forward even more quickly to cure disease. The recipients from HMS include:
Caroline Magnain, HMS instructor in radiology and a physicist at the Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital
Magnain uses optical microscopy to image the postmortem human brain’s cellular and fiber organizations. Her work bridges the microscale, obtained by optical imaging and histology, and the macroscale, obtained by MRI—the clinical standard for brain imaging.
Cassandravictoria Innocent, HMS research associate in neurology at Boston Children’s Hospital and assistant director of the Cellular Imaging Core
Innocent consults on the relevant and unique light microscopy methods used in advanced imaging.
Srigokul Upadhyayula, HMS assistant professor of pediatrics at Boston Children's
Upadhyayula with collegues aims to bring scientists with broad specialties in instrumentation, biology, applied mathematics and computer science together and provide free access to advanced imaging systems and resources.
Jennifer Waters, lecturer on cell biology and director of the Nikon Imaging Center at HMS
Waters has broad expertise with light microscopes, detectors and image acquisition software and a strong working knowledge of image analysis, processing and data management. She has developed many educational resources for the greater imaging community and founded the advanced microscopy postdoctoral fellowship program at Harvard.
Michael Talkowski, HMS associate professor of neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital, was one of two individuals named to receive 2019 Scientific Innovations Award from the Brain Research Foundation. The award supports basic and clinical neuroscience projects that may be too innovative and speculative for traditional funding sources with a high likelihood of producing important findings.
Talkowki’s project “Mechanistic Dissection of Three-Dimensional Regulatory Architecture in neurodevelopmental Disorders” seeks to explore for the first time the regulatory impact of structural changes to 3Db organization on genes expressed early in brain development and associated with severe neurodevelopmental anomalies.
Four Harvard Medical School faculty members were among the winners of ASCO's 2019 Special Awards, which honors work that transforms worldwide cancer care. The recipients will be honored at ASCO’s 2019 Annual Meeting this summer where they will deliver lectures on their work.
Joan Brugge, the HMS Louise Foote Pfeiffer Professor of Cell Biology and co-director of the Ludwig Center, is the recipient of the Science of Oncology Award for her significant contributions to the understanding of tumorigenesis and her research on cellular responses and strategies to overcome treatment resistance.
Judy Garber, HMS professor of medicine at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Brigham and Women's Hospital, is the recipient of the ASCO-American Cancer Society Award for her research in clinical cancer genetics and translational research on novel agents targeting DNA repair defects in breast cancer. She is a leader in research on triple-negative breast cancer and Li-Fraumeni Syndrome.
Ann Partridge, HMS professor of medicine at Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's, is the recipient of the Ellen L. Stoval Award for Advancement of Cancer Survivorship Care for her leadership of the Young Women’s Breast Cancer Study , which has characterized a range of issues for young breast cancer survivors and the factors that play an important role in patient decision-making. She has been working to improve outcomes in young adult cancer survivors and identifying molecular differences in tumors and biomarkers of long-term effects.
Robert Mayer, the Stephen B. Kay Family Professor of Medicine at Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's and faculty associate dean for admissions at HMS, is the recipient of the Distinguished Achievement Award for overseeing the training of several hundred oncologists over 36 years as the director of Dana-Farber’s Medical Oncology Fellowship Program and for establishing the Center for Gastrointestinal Oncology at Dana-Farber.
Cigall Kadoch, HMS assistant professor of pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, has been awarded the 2019 Martin and Rose Wachtel Cancer Research Prize from the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The award honors early-career investigators who have performed outstanding work in the field of cancer research. She will deliver a lecture on her research at the National Institutes of Health at an award ceremony this summer.
Kadoch studies chromatin regulation, with her work focusing on the role of aberrant chromatin remodeling in promoting a wide range of common cancer types.
Two Harvard Medical School graduate students were among 13 awardees named to receive the 2019 Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, which recognizes outstanding achievement in graduate studies in the biological sciences.
The 2019 Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award recipients from HMS are:
Daniel Montoro, PhD candidate, Biological and Biomedical Sciences
Stephen Xingjie Zhang, PhD 2018, neurobiology
HMS research fellow in medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
The award includes an honorarium and travel expenses to attend a scientific symposium in May at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, where the recipients will present findings from their research.
Augustus White, III, the Ellen and Melvin Gordon Distinguished Professor of Medical Education and HMS professor of orthopedic surgery at Beth Israel Deaconess, received the National Medical Association’s 2018 Meritorious Achievement Award, which honors individuals for noted national and international achievement and prominence.
White was recognized for his exceptional work in medical service, medical research and academic medicine at the organization’s annual convention in August 2018. He was acknowledged for his work improving the health of Americans and for inspiring and challenging medical professionals nationwide to address critical issues in health care and medicine.
Patricia O’Malley, HMS assistant professor of pediatrics and of emergency medicine and medical director of the Pediatric Palliative Care Service at Massachusetts General Hospital, was named to receive the inaugural Ilene Beal Courageous Provider Award. The award, presented by the Courageous Parents Network with support from the Ilene Beal Charitable Foundation, award recognizes a pediatric provider who provides exceptional family-centered care in circumstances of serious childhood illness.
