AACR Recognizes 2023-2024 Research Grantees
PHILADELPHIA — The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) today announced its newest class of grant recipients.
Since 1993, the AACR has allocated $138 million and awarded over 900 research grants to support hundreds of scientists devoted to advancing the understanding, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer. These grants support researchers in the U.S. and abroad at every stage of their careers, representing a global commitment to cancer prevention, early detection, interception, and cure.
Fellowships
2022 AACR-AstraZeneca Immuno-oncology Research Fellowship
Shalom Lerrer, PhD, Columbia University, New York, NY
“Inhibition of PD-1-Effector VRK2 to improve cancer immunotherapy”
2023 AACR-AstraZeneca Breast Cancer Research Fellowship
Jenny Hogstrom, PhD, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA
“Mechanisms of succinate-mediated drug resistance in HR+ breast cancer”
2023 AACR-AstraZeneca Breast Cancer Research Fellowship
Milos Spasic, PhD, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA
“Understanding how age-associated changes in immune function impact TNBC”
2023 AACR-AstraZeneca Clinical Immuno-oncology Research Training Fellowship
Kazuki Sone, MD, PhD, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY
2023 AACR-AstraZeneca Hematology/Oncology Research Training Fellowship
Brittaney-Belle E. Gordon, MD, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA
2023 AACR-Bayer Clinical Oncology Research Training Fellowship
Ha Pham, MD, PhD, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN
2023 AACR-Bristol Myers Squibb Cancer Disparities Research Fellowship
Nicole B. Halmai, PhD, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA
“Genetic ancestry and DNA methylome in gastric cancer among Latinos”
2023 AACR-Johnson & Johnson Lung Cancer Initiative Clinical Oncology Research Training Fellowship
Nerea Lopetegui-Lia, MD, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH
2023 AACR-Lobular Breast Cancer Alliance Invasive Lobular Carcinoma Research Fellowship
Capucine Héraud, PhD,Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA
“Elucidating the unique biology of ILC and response to endocrine treatments”
2023 AACR-Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation Medulloblastoma Research Fellowship
Jennifer C. Coleman, PhD, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England
“Examining life-or-death stress responses in DEAD-box helicase X-linked (DDX3X)-mutated medulloblastoma”
2023 AACR-Pfizer Breast Cancer Research Fellowship
Mariana Bustamante Eduardo, PhD, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL
“Lipid metabolism, epigenetic reprogramming, and ER negative breast oncogenesis”
2023 AACR-Pfizer Breast Cancer Research Fellowship
Zuen Ren, MD, PhD, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
“Exploring damaged progenitors as targets for breast cancer prevention”
2023 AACR-Sontag Foundation Brain Cancer Research Fellowship
Zulekha A. Qadeer, PhD, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
“Targeting epigenetic drivers in group 3 medulloblastoma”
2023 AACR-StacheStrong Glioblastoma Research Fellowship
Raghavendra Vadla, PhD, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA
“Targeting bromodomain containing 2 protein to inhibit mesenchymal transition in recurrent glioblastoma”
2023 Bosarge Family Foundation-Waun Ki Hong Scholar Award for Regenerative Cancer Medicine
Qiwen Gan, PhD, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY
“Regenerate salivary glands via combinatorial pathway intervention”
2024 AACR-Conquer Cancer, the ASCO Foundation Young Investigator Award for Translational Cancer Research
Nolan Priedigkeit, MD, PhD, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA
“Fusion RNAs as individualized therapeutic targets in advanced breast cancer”
2024 AACR-QuadW Foundation Sarcoma Research Fellowship in Memory of Willie Tichenor
Erica M. Pimenta, MD, PhD, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA
“IGF1 loss as a molecular driver of liposarcoma de-differentiation”
Career Development Awards
2023 AACR Career Development Award in Lung Cancer Research
Lindsay M. LaFave, PhD, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, NY
“Investigating chromatin plasticity in lung cancer evolution”
2023 AACR Career Development Award in Lung Cancer Research
Alexandre Reuben, PhD, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
“T-cell receptor engineering for the treatment of lung cancer”
2023 AACR Gertrude B. Elion Cancer Research Award
Yadira Soto-Feliciano, PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
“Revealing cancer epigenomes through the lens of chromatin adaptor proteins”
2023 AACR-AstraZeneca Career Development Award for Physician-Scientists, in Honor of José Baselga
Kristopher Bosse, MD, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
“Murine GPC2 CAR T cells to define mechanisms of immune escape”
2023 AACR-Debbie’s Dream Foundation Career Development Award for Gastric Cancer Research
Heather McGee, MD, PhD, City of Hope, Duarte, CA
“Radiation-induced inflammasome activation and alarmins in gastric cancer”
2023 AACR-Novocure Career Development Award for Cancer Research
Christopher A. Alvarez-Breckenridge, MD, PhD, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
“Tumor treating field modulation of metastatic bone tumor microenvironment”
2023 AACR-St. Baldrick’s Foundation Pediatric Cancer Research Grant
Alanna Joyce Church, MD, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA
2023 Breast Cancer Research Foundation-AACR Career Development Award to Promote Diversity and Inclusion
Yehoda M. Martei, MD, MSCE, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
“Effectiveness of community health workers on access to breast cancer care”
2023 Breast Cancer Research Foundation-AACR Career Development Award to Promote Diversity and Inclusion
Evanthia Roussos Torres, MD, PhD, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
“Suppressing suppression: myeloid centric approach to an anti-tumor response”
2023 Breast Cancer Research Foundation-AACR NextGen Grant for Transformative Cancer Research
Igor Bado, PhD, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY
“Determining FGF2-mediated DTC fate in breast cancer bone metastasis”
2023 Victoria’s Secret Global Fund for Women’s Cancers Career Development Award, in partnership with Pelotonia & AACR
Sarah E. Johnstone, MD, PhD, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA
“The impact of architectural protein disruption on the 3D cancer genome”
2023 Victoria’s Secret Global Fund for Women’s Cancers Career Development Award, in partnership with Pelotonia & AACR
Purna Joshi, PhD, The University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas, TX
“The role of adipocyte progenitors in obesity-driven mammary cancer”
2023 Victoria’s Secret Global Fund for Women’s Cancers Career Development Award, in partnership with Pelotonia & AACR
Angelina T. Regua, PhD, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX
“Role of RET in mediating brain metastasis of triple-negative breast cancer”
2023 Victoria’s Secret Global Fund for Women’s Cancers Career Development Award, in partnership with Pelotonia & AACR
Ana Ruiz-Saenz, PhD, Center for Cooperative Research in Biosciences (CIC bioGUNE), Derio, Spain
“Unmasking cancer cells to maximize the impact of antibody-drug conjugates”
2024 Breast Cancer Research Foundation-AACR Career Development Award to Promote Diversity and Inclusion
Paola Betancur, PhD, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
“A genomic insertion variant activates immune escape in breast cancer”
2024 Breast Cancer Research Foundation-AACR Career Development Award to Promote Diversity and Inclusion
Francisco Sanchez-Vega, PhD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY
“Race-aware multimodal data integration for outcome models in breast cancer”
2024 Lustgarten Foundation-AACR Career Development Award for Pancreatic Cancer Research, in Honor of John Robert Lewis
Christina G. Towers, PhD, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, CA
“Targeting metabolic adaptations to autophagy inhibition in PDAC”
2024 Lustgarten Foundation-AACR Career Development Award for Pancreatic Cancer Research, in Honor of Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Tracy W. Liu, PhD, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV
“Expanding immunotherapy in pancreatic cancer by targeting myeloperoxidase”
Independent Investigator Awards
2023 AACR-Debbie’s Dream Foundation Innovation and Discovery Grant
Eunyoung Choi, PhD, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN
“Fatty acid desaturation as a novel druggable target for gastric cancer”
2023 AACR-Debbie’s Dream Foundation Innovation and Discovery Grant
Brent Allen Hanks, MD, PhD, Duke University, Durham, NC
“The NLRP3-HSP70 axis and immunotherapy resistance in gastric cancer”
2023 AACR-Debbie’s Dream Foundation Innovation and Discovery Grant
Ryan H. Moy, MD, PhD, Columbia University, New York, NY
“Targeting CCNE1 amplification in gastric cancer”
2023 Friends of the AACR Foundation Early Career Investigator Award
Timothy Spear, MD, PhD, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
2024 Lustgarten Foundation-Swim Across America-AACR Pancreatic Cancer Early Detection Research Grant
Renato Ostuni, PhD, Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milan, Italy
“Targeting the PGE2-IL-1b axis for PDAC diagnosis and early treatment”
Grants Supporting Researchers in Africa
2022 Beginning Investigator Grant for Catalytic Research (BIG Cat)
Adwoa Bemah Boamah Mensah, PhD, Kwame Nkrumah University, Kumasi, Ghana
“Development and evaluation of mobile app to promote breast cancer screening”
2023 Beginning Investigator Grant for Catalytic Research (BIG Cat)
Katherine Rae Antel, MD, PhD, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
“Liquid biopsy for the diagnosis of lymphoma in Sub-Saharan Africa”
2023 Beginning Investigator Grant for Catalytic Research (BIG Cat)
Brehima Diakite, MD, PhD, University of Sciences, Techniques and Technologies of Bamako, Bamako, Mali
“Pharmacogenetics of hormonal breast cancer treatment”
2023 Beginning Investigator Grant for Catalytic Research (BIG Cat)
Alex Mremi, DDS, MMed, FCPath-(ECSA), PhD, Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre, Moshi, Tanzania
“Cytosponge cytology screening for esophageal cancer in Tanzania”
2023 Beginning Investigator Grant for Catalytic Research (BIG Cat)
Rizine Robert Mzikamanda, MBBS, MMed, Baylor College of Medicine Children’s Foundation, Lilongwe, Malawi
“Acute leukemia diagnostics in Malawian children”
Grants Supporting Researchers in Latin America
2023 AACR Maximizing Opportunity for New Advancements in Research in Cancer (MONARCA) Grant for Latin America
Rafael Loch Batista, MD, PhD, University of Sao Paulo Medical School, Sao Paulo, Brazil
“Human endogenous retrovirus reactivation in triple-negative breast cancer”
2023 AACR Maximizing Opportunity for New Advancements in Research in Cancer (MONARCA) Grant for Latin America
Javiera Garrido, MSc, PhD, Universidad de Desarrollo, Santiago, Chile
“Factors affecting tumor variability and clinical progression in lung cancer”
2023 AACR Maximizing Opportunity for New Advancements in Research in Cancer (MONARCA) Grant for Latin America
Sofia Russo, PhD, Institut Pasteur de Montevideo, Montevideo, Uruguay
“Modulation of Th17 cells polarity in cancer immunotherapy by TMEM176B”