Nominations for the 2012 Award are now closed.
The Award and Lecture
The prestigious Pezcoller Foundation–AACR International Award for Cancer Research was established in 1997 to annually recognize a scientist of international renown:
- who has made a major scientific discovery in basic cancer research OR who has made significant contributions to translational cancer research;
- who continues to be active in cancer research and has a record of recent, noteworthy publications; and
- whose ongoing work holds promise for continued substantive contributions to progress in the field of cancer.
The award is intended to honor an individual scientist. However, more than one scientist may be co-nominated and selected to share the award when their investigations are closely related in subject matter and have resulted in work that is worthy of the award.
The award consists of an unrestricted grant of €75,000, commemorative plaque, and full support to the winner and a guest to attend the AACR Annual Meeting. The winner of the 15th Annual Pezcoller Foundation-AACR International Award for Cancer Research will give a 50-minute award lecture at the AACR 103rd Annual Meeting 2012 in Chicago, IL, U.S.A. (March 31 - April 4, 2012).
Eligibility
- Eligible candidates are cancer researchers affiliated with institutions in academia, industry, or government that are involved in cancer research, cancer medicine, or cancer-related biomedical science anywhere in the world.
- Institutions or organizations are not eligible for the award.
- Receipt of other major awards does not preclude a candidate from eligibility for the award.
- No regard shall be given to race, gender, nationality, geographic location, or religious or political views.
Nomination Procedure and Instructions
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.
Selection
Candidates for the award will be considered by a prestigious international Selection Committee of renowned cancer leaders appointed by the president of the AACR in consultation with the Council of the Pezcoller Foundation. The committee will consider all nominations as they have been submitted; the committee may not combine submitted nominations, add a new candidate to a submitted nomination, or otherwise make alterations to the submitted nominations. After careful deliberations by the committee, its recommendations will be forwarded to the Executive Committee of the AACR and the Council of the Pezcoller Foundation for final consideration and determination.
Selection of the award winner will be made on the basis of the candidate's scientific accomplishments. No regard will be given to race, gender, nationality, or religious or political view.
Responsibilities of the Award Recipient
The winner will also present the Seventh Annual Stanley J. Korsmeyer Lecture in Padua, Italy, just prior to the official award ceremony in Trento, Italy, in May 2012. Remarks to be made during the ceremony must be delivered to the Pezcoller Foundation at least four weeks prior to allow sufficient time for translation into Italian. Should the winner be unable to participate in either event, the award must be forfeited and may be presented instead to the alternate.
In the rare event that there are dual winners of the award, the cash award will be shared equally between them, and the AACR Executive Committee will determine which of the two co-recipients will present the Pezcoller-AACR Award Lecture at the AACR Annual Meeting.
The Stanley J. Korsmeyer Lecture
This lectureship has been created through the Pezcoller Foundation, the Venetian Institute of Molecular Medicine, and the AACR to honor the late Dr. Stanley J. Korsmeyer's outstanding and significant contributions to our understanding of the mechanisms that regulate programmed cell death and survival.
Dr. Korsmeyer’s numerous accomplishments in the cancer field led to his being named the recipient of the Pezcoller Foundation-AACR International Award for Cancer Research in 2004. He subsequently presented a lecture at the Venetian Institute of Molecular Medicine – his last European lecture before his untimely death from cancer in 2005.
Through this lectureship, the Foundation, the Institute and the AACR wish to remember Dr. Korsmeyer in the manner he would have liked best – with the presentation of significant science and discussion among colleagues in cancer research. The lecture will be presented annually by the recipient of the Pezcoller-AACR Award, and will be delivered each year in May at the Venetian Institute of Molecular Medicine in Padua, Italy.
The Pezcoller Foundation was established in 1980 by Professor Alessio Pezcoller, a dedicated Italian surgeon who made important contributions to medicine during his career and who, through his foresight, vision, and generous gift in support of the formation of the foundation, stimulated others to join this effort in sustaining the work of the foundation. Professor Pezcoller has inspired scientists around the world to make significant advances in cancer research. In addition to sponsoring this prestigious award, the foundation also sponsors a series of symposia, publishes a journal, and supports awards for early-career scientists from Europe who have submitted highly rated abstracts for presentation at the AACR Annual Meeting.
Questions?
Linda Brooks-Stokes, Program Associate
awards@aacr.org
American Association for Cancer Research
17th Floor, 615 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106-4404
SPOTLIGHT
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14th Annual Recipient
Pier Paolo Pandolfi, M.D., Ph.D.
Director of Research,
Beth Israel Deaconess Cancer Center
Chief, Division of Genetics, Department of Medicine,
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
George C. Reisman Professor of Medicine and
Professor of Pathology,
Harvard Medical School
Boston, MA
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Dr. Pier Paolo Pandolfi (center) delivered his award lecture entitled, The Non-Coding Revolution: A Coding-Independent Function of Gene and Pseudogene mRNAs Regulates Tumour Biology, at the AACR 102nd Annual Meeting 2011 in Orlando, FL. He received his award from Dr. Giorgio Pederzolli (right), secretary of the Pezcoller Foundation and Dr. William G. Nelson (left), chairperson of the Selection Committee.
Dr. Pier Paolo Pandolfi is honored for his work in the field of cancer genetics and mouse models for cancer. His groundbreaking work is outstanding and has contributed to new therapies for treating cancer.
The research carried out in Dr. Pandolfi's laboratory has been important in understanding the molecular mechanisms and genetics underlying the pathogenesis of leukemias, lymphomas and solid tumors, as well as in modeling these cancers in mice.
Among his many accomplishments, Dr. Pandolfi and colleagues have characterized the function of oncoproteins and genes involved in the chromosomal translocations of APL in addition to major tumor suppressors such as PTEN and p53, and novel proto-oncogenes, such as POKEMON. These accomplishments have led to the development of novel and effective therapeutic strategies, and, as a result, APL is now considered a curable disease.
Additional novel therapeutic concepts have emerged from Dr. Pandolfi's research, which are currently being tested in clinical trials. More recently, Pandolfi and colleagues have presented a new theory describing how mRNA, both coding and non-coding, exerts biological functions with profound implications for human genetics, cell biology and cancer biology.
In 1994, Dr. Pandolfi became an assistant member of the molecular biology program and the department of human genetics at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. He grew through the ranks to become a member in the cancer biology and genetics program at the Sloan-Kettering Institute; professor of molecular biology and human genetics, and professor of molecular biology in pathology and laboratory medicine at the Weill Graduate School of Medical Sciences at Cornell University; and head of the molecular and developmental biology laboratories, and the incumbent of the Albert C. Foster Endowed Chair for Cancer Research at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.