We are extremely pleased to announce the addition of the "MICR Member Spotlight!" page to the MICR webpages. This webpage exists to focus attention on the recent awards, promotions, degree completions, and appointments of AACR-Minorities in Cancer Research members.
The mission of MICR is to prevent and cure cancer while meeting the professional needs and advancing the careers of minority scientists. Sending your accolades to us for the "MICR Member Spotlight" will increase the visibility and recognition of the outstanding contributions minority scientists are regularly making to the field of cancer research.
Call for Spotlight Nominations
Have you or a colleague recently made a career advancement, earned a degree, had a major publication, or received an Award? If so, nominate them (or yourself) for the MICR Member Spotlight! Let the MICR Community know what is going on in your life. It's easy: fill out the MICR Member Spotlight Form and e-mail it to us. You can also fax it to us at (215) 440-9412.
SPOTLIGHT
MICR Scholar Awards Announced
Congratulations to the recent winners of the Minority-Serving Institution Faculty Scholar in Cancer Research Award and the Minority Scholar in Cancer Research Award for participation in the AACR Annual Meeting 2012.
Ringer and Torti Elected National Coalition for Cancer Research Board
MICR members were among those newly elected to the National Coalition for Cancer Research Board of Directors. Congratulations to David P. Ringer, Ph.D., American Cancer Society, Atlanta, GA; and Frank M. Torti, M.D., Comprehensive Cancer Center of Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC.
Brebi Postdoctoral Appointment
MICR celebrates member Priscilla Brebi Mieville, who recently attained a Ph.D. in cell biology and a postdoctoral fellowship at the University de La Frontera Laboratorio de Patología Molecular in Temuco, Chile.
Duane Smoot Joins Meharry Medical College and Nashville General Hospital
MICR congratulates Duane T. Smoot, M.D., FACP, FACG, newly-appointed professor and Edward S. Harkness chair in the department of internal medicine, Meharry Medical College, Nashville, TN, as well as chief of medicine, Nashville General Hospital. Dr. Smoot is a member and past-president of the Minorities in Cancer Research Council.
Olopade Presents Distinguished Lecture
Olufunmilayo Falusi Olopade, M.D., presented the 2011 AACR Distinguished Lecture on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities, funded by Susan G. Komen for the Cure®. Founded in 2010, the AACR Distinguished Lecture on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities recognizes an investigator whose novel and significant work has had or may have a far-reaching impact on the etiology, detection, diagnosis, treatment or prevention of cancer health disparities. Dr. Olopade delivered her lecture,“Closing the Knowledge Disparity Gap: From Molecular Mechanisms to Interventions and Back,” on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2011, during the opening plenary session of the Fourth AACR Conference on The Science of Cancer Health Disparities, held Sept. 18-21, in Washington, D.C.
Feature in Oncology Times
We are proud to share that Lisa L. Baumbach-Reardon, Ph.D., associate research professor, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, FL, was recently featured in Oncology Times (June 25, 2011) in an article about her work, Genetic Differences Between Caucasian & Black Women May Account for Disparities in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer. This study, focusing on gene-expression profiling in women with triple-negative breast cancer, suggests that the underlying differences among racial groups are present not just in tumors, but in normal tissue as well.
Editorial Board Appointment and Publication
Congratulations to Donald J. Alcendor, Ph.D., department of microbiology and immunology and the Center for AIDS Health Disparities Research, Meharry Medical College, Nashville, TN for being appointed to the highly prestigious Editorial Board of the Journal of Bioengineering & Biomedical Science. Dr. Alcendor also recently had the paper KSHV Regulation of Fibulin-2 in Kaposi's Sarcoma: Implications for Tumorigenesis, presented at the Third AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved, published in the American Journal of Pathology September 2011 issue.
National Advisory Council Role for Jasjit S. Ahluwalia
Jasjit S. Ahluwalia, M.D., M.P.H., executive director, Center for Health Equity, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, MN, has been appointed by the US Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, to serve on the National Advisory Council on Minority Health and Health Disparities of the National Institutes of Health for a three-year term. The Council advises and makes recommendations to the secretary of Health and Human Services, the director of NIH, and the director of the newly created National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities.
Acting Branch Chief DICP-CCOP/MBCCOPs
Our congratulations to Worta McCaskill-Stevens, M.D., M.S., who been appointed the acting branch chief for the National Cancer Institute-Division of Cancer Prevention’s Community Oncology and Prevention Trials Research Group, which houses the symptom management portfolio, cancer control breast cancer prevention and the Minority-Based Community Clinical Oncology Program.
Cruz-Correa Appointed to National Cancer Advisory Board
Warm wishes to MICR Council Member Marcia Cruz-Correa, M.D., Ph.D., University of Puerto Rico Comprehensive Cancer Center, San Juan, PR, who was appointed as a member of the National Cancer Advisory Board on February 24, 2011. President Obama said of Dr. Cruz-Correa and his other appointments, “These dedicated individuals bring a wealth of experience and talent to their new roles and I am proud to have them serve in this Administration. I look forward to working with them in the months and years to come.”