The Linda Fenner Memorial Lecture
Linda Ann Miller Fenner was born in October of 1951 to Sophie and Harry Miller. The youngest of three sisters, she attended public school in Lebanon, Pennsylvania and then attended the University of Pittsburgh, receiving a degree in Arts and Sciences. Linda married Terry Fenner in 1974, and in 1976 they moved to Miami. In 1978 Linda entered the University of Miami Law School. She graduated in 1981 and initially pursued a law career. In 1990 Linda and Terry moved to Denver, and Linda discovered a new purpose in life as a community activist.
She became extremely active in community and Jewish philanthropic causes, becoming President of the Jewish Women’s Philanthropy Center Board, President of the Meadow HillWomen’s Golf League, and recipient of the Golda Meir Award for dedication to the Jewish community in 2005. She was also a member of the Denver Jewish Family Service Board, the Jewish Community Foundation Board, and the National Board ofWomen’s Philanthropy of the UJC.
Linda lived her life believing that we cannot change the inevitable…" Life is 10% what happens to one and 90% how one deals with it." In the last years of her life she was diagnosed with breast cancer, enduring her complicated treatment and illness with great dignity and perseverance. In part as a result of Linda’s illness, her sister and brother-in-law, Irma and Norman Braman, have become passionate advocates on behalf of breast cancer research in the United States and Israel and have dedicated their efforts to improve diagnosis, care, and treatment for breast cancer patients. Linda Fenner was a person of great warmth, generosity, and kindness whose life touched many in her family, her community, the United States and Israel.
The Braman Family Foundation has been a generous supporter of the first two Joint American Israeli Cancer Conferences held in Jerusalem in 2005 and 2006, and of this AACR Centennial Conference for Translational Cancer Medicine.
The AACR, Israel Cancer Association, and Braman Family Foundation have now dedicated the Linda Fenner Memorial lecture in Linda’s memory. The 2008 Linda Fenner Memorial lecturer was Dr. Yosef Yarden of Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel who will speak on "EGFR and HER2 Signaling and Relevance to Cancer Therapy." Dr. Yarden will be introduced by Dr. Joyce Slingerland, Director of the Braman Family Breast Cancer Institute at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center in Miami, Florida, USA.
The Judah Folkman Memorial Lecture
Dr. Judah Folkman, who died suddenly in January, 2008, was the founder of the field of angiogenesis research. He made seminal discoveries on the mechanism of angiogenesis, which have opened a field of investigation now pursued worldwide. Dr. Folkman’s hypothesis (1971) that solid tumors are angiogenesis-dependent initiated studies of angiogenesis in tumor biology and in disciplines as diverse as developmental biology, ophthalmology, and dermatology.
Dr. Folkman’s laboratory reported the first purified angiogenesis molecule, the first angiogenesis inhibitor, and proposed the concept of angiogenic disease. All of these discoveries have been translated into numerous clinical trials. Angiogenesis inhibitors are now approved by the FDA in the U.S., and in 28 other countries. Largely because of Dr. Folkman’s research, the possibility of antiangiogenic therapy is now on a firm scientific foundation, not only in the treatment of cancer, but of many non-neoplastic diseases as well.
Dr. Folkman’s exceptional achievements have been recognized by many national and international awards. In 1990, he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences. He is also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society and the Institute of Medicine.
Dr. Folkman was also an active member of AACR. He was an editorial board member of two AACR journals, Cancer Research and Clinical Cancer Research. In addition to serving on several AACR committees and chairing several AACR conferences, he was the 1985 recipient of the AACR-G.H.A. Clowes Memorial Award. More recently, he served as a trustee of the AACR Foundation for the Prevention and Cure of Cancer. The AACR was pleased to name Dr. Napoleone Ferrara’s keynote talk "The Judah Folkman Memorial Lecture."