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2011 Award Recipient
Ramon E. Parsons, M.D., Ph.D.
Avon Foundation Professor of Pathology & Cell Biology & Medicine
Leader, Breast Cancer Program
Institute for Cancer Genetics
Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center
Columbia University
New York, NY
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Dr. Ramon E. Parsons delivered his award lecture entitled, Alteration and Inhibition of PTEN in Breast Cancer. The award ceremony and lecture were held during the 34th Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium in San Antonio, TX.
- Learn more about the 2011 recipient, Dr. Ramon E. Parsons.
The Award and Lecture
The AACR Outstanding Investigator Award for Breast Cancer Research, funded by Susan G. Komen for the Cure®, recognizes an investigator of no more than 50 years of age whose novel and significant work has had or may have a far-reaching impact on the etiology, detection, diagnosis, treatment, or prevention of breast cancer. Such work may involve any discipline across the continuum of biomedical research, including basic, translational, clinical and epidemiological studies.
The recipient of the award will receive a $10,000 honorarium and present a 25-minute lecture at the 34th Annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. The symposium will be held December 6-10, 2011, at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio, TX.
Eligibility
- All cancer researchers who are affiliated with any institution involved in cancer research, cancer medicine, or cancer-related biomedical science anywhere in the world may be nominated. Such institutions include those in academia, industry, or government.
- Candidates must be no more than 50 years of age at the time the award is received, i.e. born on or after December 10, 1961.
- The award will be presented to an individual investigator.
- Institutions or organizations are not eligible for the award.
Nomination Process
Nominations are closed.
Nominations may be made by any scientist, whether an AACR member or nonmember, who is now or has been affiliated with any institution involved in cancer research, cancer medicine, or cancer-related biomedical science. Candidates may not nominate themselves.
Nominations must be submitted electronically to awards@aacr.org. Paper nominations will not be accepted.
The following materials must be submitted:
Nomination Letter, which must:
- be addressed to the Selection Committee, be written in English, and not exceed 1,000 words;
- specify the AACR award for which the candidate is being nominated;
- describe the candidate's novel and significant work that has had or may have a far-reaching impact on the etiology, detection, diagnosis, treatment, or prevention of breast cancer. The publications supporting the work should be directly referenced within the letter.
Candidate's CV. The candidate's curriculum vitae in English, including a complete list of the candidate's publications.
Summary Statement. A statement, no more than 50 words, summarizing the candidate's research accomplishments for which he or she is being nominated.
Preferred file format is a .doc. The candidate's CV may be submitted as a PDF file. The nomination is not considered fully submitted until the nominator receives a confirmation e-mail from the AACR; confirmations will be sent within two business days.
Nominators are asked to maintain the confidentiality of the nomination process and to refrain from informing the candidate about the nomination.
There is no restriction on the number of candidates that may be nominated by any individual scientist. There is no restriction on the number of nominators that may write nomination letters or that may sign a single nomination letter on behalf of a candidate.
Selection Process
Candidates will be considered by an Award Selection Committee appointed by the president of the AACR. After careful deliberation by the committee, its recommendations will be forwarded to the Executive Committee of the AACR for final consideration and decision. Selection of the award winner will be made on the basis of the candidate's scientific accomplishments without regard to race, gender, nationality, geographic location, or religious or political views.
Nancy G. Brinker promised her dying sister, Susan G. Komen, she would do everything in her power to end breast cancer forever. In 1982, that promise became Susan G. Komen for the Cure and launched the global breast cancer movement. Today, Komen for the Cure is the world's largest grassroots network of breast cancer survivors and activists fighting to save lives, empower people, ensure quality care for all and energize science to find the cures. For more than 25 years, Komen for the Cure has played a critical role in every major advance in the fight against breast cancer - transforming how the world talks about and treats this disease and helping to turn millions of breast cancer patients into breast cancer survivors.
Questions?
Linda M. Brooks-Stokes, Program Associate
awards@aacr.org
American Association for Cancer Research
17th Floor, 615 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106-4404
(267) 646-0578
SPOTLIGHT
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2011 Award Recipient
Ramon E. Parsons, M.D., Ph.D.
Avon Foundation Professor of Pathology & Cell Biology & Medicine
Leader, Breast Cancer Program
Institute for Cancer Genetics
Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center
Columbia University
New York, NY
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Dr. Ramon E. Parsons is honored for his work in establishing the importance of the PTEN/PI3K pathway to breast cancer.
Dr. Parsons has made the seminal discovery of the PTEN tumor suppressor and showed that PTEN was inactivated by mutation in a wide variety of human malignancies including breast cancer and in the rare breast cancer predisposition syndrome, Cowden Disease.
The initial discovery of PTEN was followed by a series of discoveries that have had a profound impact on our understanding of the pathogenesis of breast cancer. In 1998, Dr. Parsons discovered that PTEN inhibited the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway and induced apoptosis in mutant breast tumor cell lines. His mouse model of germline PTEN mutation developed numerous spontaneous tumors that were associated with activation of the PI3K pathway and could be treated effectively with a rapamycin analog. Dr. Parsons demonstrated that inhibiting the PI3K pathway with PTEN in breast tumor cell lines generates numerous feedback loops on the PI3K pathway. Dr. Parsons also went on to show that loss of PTEN expression in breast cancer is associated with genomic instability due to deregulation of CHK1.
Dr. Parsons found that alteration of the PI3 kinase pathway is common in breast cancer and that PTEN-loss is associated with basal-like breast cancer, metastasis, and poor prognosis. In 2008, he reported that PTEN is frequently mutated in BRCA1-associated hereditary breast cancer due to their inability to repair DNA breaks. The following year, Dr. Parsons identified PREX2 as the first protein that inhibits PTEN phosphatase activity and showed that it cooperates with PI3K mutations in breast cancer to activate the PI3K pathway. Recently, he reported that partial reduction of PTEN expression via shRNA was sufficient to initiate tumor development in mice. All of these accomplishments were made possible by an outstanding team of lab members and collaborators.
Dr. Parsons received his education at Columbia College, Columbia University (A.B.), Stony Brook University (M.D./Ph.D.), and Johns Hopkins University (postdoctoral fellowship). His Ph.D. research in the lab of Professor Peter Tegtmeyer studied the topic of DNA replication of SV40 tumor virus. His postdoctoral fellowship in the lab of Professor Bert Vogelstein focused on the role of DNA mismatch repair in the development of colon cancer. Dr. Parsons joined the faculty of the Departments of Pathology and Medicine at Columbia University in 1995, to head a new laboratory to study the pathogenesis of breast cancer.
Currently, Dr. Parsons is the Avon Foundation professor of breast cancer in the Institute for Cancer Genetics and Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, professor of pathology and cell biology and medicine, and the leader of the Breast Cancer Program of the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at Columbia University.