Research Update 04.11.18 Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Share on LinkedIn Parker Institute Researchers Earn Awards in 2017 and 2018 Our affiliated researchers are prolific in their scientific endeavors to end cancer. They are some of the best and brightest minds in cancer immunotherapy, making significant contributions to the field and approaching the problem from many perspectives. The Parker Institute brings them together to accelerate novel therapies to patients. And, we’re nurturing a community of nonprofit organizations, pharma and biotech partnerships, academic centers and, of course, patients in a coordinated effort to solve cancer. We’re not alone in our investment in these researchers, nor do we think we should be. They are recognized for their work around the world by top organizations. Below is a short list of recognitions, awards and major grants Parker Institute researchers received in 2017 and the first quarter of 2018. By no means is it all-encompassing. Person Center Award Alan Ashworth UCSF Susan G. Komen Brinker Award 2018 Fellow of the AACR Academy Alexander Huang Penn Parker Bridge Scholar, Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy Alexander Marson UCSF Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Investigator award Alexander Rudensky MSK 2018 Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science, The Vilchek Foundation Allan Balmain UCSF The Human Genetics Medal, Ohio State University NCI Outstanding Investigator Award (R35) Cancer Research UK (CRUK) grant: “Mutographs of Cancer: discovering the causes of cancer through mutational signatures“ NIH/NCI Grant: “Integrating targeted and immunotherapy to treat genetically heterogeneous cancers” (UO1) Andrea Schietinger MSK NIH Director’s New Innovator Award Andrea Schietinger (center) of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center receives the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award Andrew Rech Penn Parker Scholar, Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy Ansuman Satpathy Stanford Parker Bridge Scholar, Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy Antoni Ribas UCLA Elected to Board of Directors of the AACR 2018 AACR-CRI Lloyd J. Old Award in Cancer Immunology Anusha Kalbasi UCLA Research Scholar Grant, Radiological Society of North America (2017-2019) Young Investigator Award, Tower Cancer Research Foundation (2017-2018) Avery Posey Penn Distinguished Young Investigator Research Award, Immuno-Oncology Young Investigators’ Forum UPenn Breast Cancer Pilot Grant, Abramson Cancer Center – Rena Rowan Breast Center Career Development Award (CDA-2), Veterans Administration Rehabilitation R&D Carl H. June Penn Distinguished Scientist Award, Association of American Cancer Institutes Election as Fellow of the AACR Academy Karnofsky Prize, American Society of Clinical Oncology David A. Karnofsky Memorial Award, AACI Distinguished Scientist Award Catherine Wu Dana-Farber “The One Hundred,” Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center Claire W. and Richard P. Morse Research Award, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Christopher Garcia Stanford Appointed the Younger Family Professor Claire Friedman MSK Young Investigator Award, Conquer Cancer Foundation E. John Wherry and Claire Friedman Penn, MSK Sharp Award, Stand Up 2 Cancer E. John Wherry and Matthew Hellmann Penn, MSK Sharp Award, Stand Up 2 Cancer E. John Wherry and Shelley Berger Penn Celgene Cancer Center Consortium Grant: “Restoring Effectiveness of Immunotherapy using Epigenetic Modulation” Fred Ramsdell and Alexander Rudensky PICI, MSK Crafoord Prize in Polyarthritis 2017, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Fred Ramsdell (left), PICI’s VP of Research, and Alexander Rudensky (third) of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center en route to receive the 2017 Crafoord Prize at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Hideho Okada UCSF NINDS/NIH Outstanding Investigator Award (R35) NIH/NINDS Grant: “Preclinical development of breakthrough immunotherapy for brain tumors” Howard Y. Chang Stanford Appointed the Virginia and D.K. Ludwig Professor of Cancer Genomics Elected Member, National Academy of Medicine Elected Member, National Academy of Medicine Endowed Chair, Virginia and D.K. Ludwig Professor of Cancer Genomics at Stanford University Jedd Wolchok MSK RCCS Monsey Medical Devotion Award Jedd Wolchok and Antoni Ribas MSK/UCLA 2017 Clarivate Citation Laureates, Clarivate Analytics Jeffrey Bluestone PICI David Rumbough Award for Scientific Excellence, JDRF Jennifer Wargo MD Anderson Stand Up to Cancer Grant Jim Allison MD Anderson Lecture Award, 7th Annual Henry Mihich Lecture, Roswell Park Cancer Institute Lecture Award, Han-Mo Koo Memorial Lectureship Award, Van Andel Research Institute Lecture Award, Janeway Lecture, American Radium Society, Inc. Lecture Award, Mark S. Brower, M.D. Endowed Lecture in Hematology & Oncology, Weill Cornell Medicine Lecture Award, Mellon Lecture, University of Pittsburgh Warren Alpert Foundation Prize, Harvard Medical School Warren Triennial Prize, Massachusetts General Hospital Wolf Prize for Medicine, Wolf Foundation Sjoberg Prize for Cancer Research, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellow Jim Allison and Bob Schreiber MD Anderson, WUSTL Balzan Prize for Immunological Approaches in Cancer Therapy, International Balzan Foundation FOTO: PETER MOSIMANN, 16. 11. 2017, BERN BE: Balzan Preis James Allison, PICI Director at MD Anderson (left) and Robert Schreiber, a PICI researcher at Washington University in St. Louis (right) together accept the 2017 Balzan Prize for Immunological Approaches in Cancer Therapy. Jonathan Peled MSK Cancer Systems Immunology Pilot Award Empire Clinical Research Investigator Program Seres Therapeutics Sponsored Research Agreement Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy Pilot Grant Sawiris Award Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy Career Development Award Josephine Giles Penn Irvington Postdoctoral Fellowship, Cancer Research Institute (CRI) Kathryn Nathanson Penn Osler Award for Patient Oriented Research Award, Penn Medicine Kole Roybal UCSF Sartorius & Science Prize for Regenerative Medicine & Cell Therapy Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Investigator award Laurie H. Glimcher Dana-Farber AAMC Distinguished Investigator Research Award Kober Medal Recipient, American Association of Physicians American Association of Medical Colleges Distinguished Research Award American Association of Immunology Lifetime Achievement Award 2018 Fellow of the AACR Academy Lewis Lanier UCSF Excellence in Mentorship Award, The American Association of Immunologists NIH Grant: Mapping Immune Responses to CMV in Renal Transplant Recipients NIH/NIAID Grant: “Mapping Immune Responses to CMV in Renal Transplant Recipients” Marcel van den Brink MSK NCI Grant: “The role of intestinal microbiota in graft versus host disease” NCI Grant: “Endothelial cells regulate immune reconstitution after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation” NIA Grant: “Thymic and peripheral Aspects of T cell Aging and Rejuvenation” Marco Ruella Penn Paola Campese Award for Leukemia Research, Italian Scientists and Scholars of North America Foundation (ISSNAF) Abstract Achievement Award, American Society of Hematology (ASH) Sparkathon-Emerging Leaders, Igniting Innovation Fellow, Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) National Cancer Institute (NCI), NIH Pathway to Independence Award (K99/R00) Molecular Biology in Clinical Oncology Workshop Scholar, American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) “Paul Calabresi” K12 Career Development Award, Penn Abramson Cancer Center/NIH Gabrielle’s Angel Foundation Special Grant Matthew Spitzer UCSF NIH Director’s Early Independence Award Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Investigator award Melody Smith MSK Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation Physician-Scientist Award Burroughs Wellcome Fund Robert Wood Johnson ASH-AMFDP Award 2017 Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy Pilot Grant Nicholas Haining Dana-Farber Members of the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI) Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) Colorectal Cancer Dream Team Phil Greenberg Fred Hutch Elected to Board of Directors of the AACR Richard V. Smalley, MD, Memorial Award, SITC Robert Prins UCLA NIH/NCI Grant: UCLA SPORE in Brain Cancer Robert Schreiber and Antoni Ribas WUSTL, UCLA Doctor Honoris Causa, University of Buenos Aires Robert Vonderheide Penn Named Penn Abramson Cancer Center Director Roberta Zappasodi MSK Breakthrough Award, Popular Mechanics 2017 Presidential Travel Award, SITC Ronald N. Germain* NIH William E. Paul Award for Excellence in Immunology and Cell Biology, Foundation for Primary Immunodeficiency Diseases Rosemary Akhurst UCSF NIH/NCI Grant: Advancing the translatability of mouse models for cancer immunotherapy Santosha Vardhana MSK Parker Fellow, Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy Scott James MSK Parker Bridge Scholar, Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy Amy Strelzer Manasevit Research Program Award (NMDP) (2017-Present) Sean Bendall Stanford NIH / NCI Grant: Immune Monitoring and Analysis of Cancer (IMACS) Sean Parker PICI Kaleidoscope Philanthropic Leadership Award, UCLA 100 Greatest Living Business Minds, Forbes Public Service Award, SITC Thomas M. Baer Stanford Royal Society of Edinburgh Fellow Vinod Balachandran MSK Presidential Award, Society of Immunotherapy for Cancer (SITC) Cancer Moonshot Award, National Cancer Institute (NCI) Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator Award AACR/Pancreatic Cancer Action Network Career Development Award Wendell Lim UCSF Byers Distinguished Professorship Seeding Bold Ideas Initiative Award, Marcus Program in Precision Medicine Innovation Yvonne Y. Chen UCLA NIH Grant: “Mechano-Sensing CAR-T Cells for Solid Tumor Metastases” Peer Reviewed Cancer Research Program Idea Award, Department of Defense Northrop Grumman Excellence in Teaching Award Zinaida Good Stanford Parker Scholar CYTO Image Analysis Challenge Finalist, International Society for Advancement of Cytometry Stanford Immunology NIH Training Grant Keystone Symposia Scholarship, Keystone Symposia on Molecular and Cellular Biology Biosciences Office of Graduate Education Travel Grant, Stanford University *Friend of Parker Institute Related Announcement PICI Network Investigators to Unveil Cancer Research Breakthroughs at AACR 2024 Announcement, From Bench to Fireside Episode Eight: Robbie Majzner, MD Announcement, From Bench to Fireside Episode Seven: Evanna Mills, PhD