2022 Minority and Minority-serving Institution Faculty Scholar in Cancer Research Awardees
The AACR is very pleased to administer this important program, which provides funds for the participation of full-time minority faculty members and faculty members of Minority-Serving Institutions (MSI) at the AACR Annual Meeting 2022. Recipients of this award are scientists who are working at the level of assistant professor or above who are engaged in meritorious basic, clinical, or translational cancer research.
Now in its 25th year, this award program has been supported by a generous grant provided by the National Cancer Institute’s Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities. The Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities (CRCHD) works to increase the number of underrepresented minorities participating as competitive NCI/ NIH-funded cancer researchers. The Board of Directors of the AACR expresses its appreciation to the CRCHD for its long-term and generous support of faculty members and congratulations to the Minority and Minority-Serving Institution Faculty awardees.
The names and affiliations of the 2022 Minority and Minority-Serving Institution Faculty Scholars are listed below, along with the numbers and titles of their presentations.
Congratulations 2022 Minority and Minority-serving Institution Faculty Scholar in Cancer Research Awardees!
Mario Andres Blanco, PhD
Assistant Professor
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Matias A. Bustos, PhD
Assistant Professor
St. John’s Cancer Institute
Santa Monica, California
Alberto J. Caban-Martinez, PhD, DO, MPH
Associate Professor
University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
Coral Gables, Florida
Janai R. Carr-Ascher, PhD
Assistant Professor
St. John’s Cancer Institute, University of California-Davis
Davis, California
Valery A. Chavez, PhD
Assistant Scientist
University of Miami Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center
Miami, Florida
Sue Anne Chew, PhD
Assistant Professor
University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Brownsville, Texas
Jayanta Kumar Das, PhD
Assistant Professor of Biology
Florida Memorial University
Miami Gardens, Florida
Yamixa Delgado, PhD
Assistant Professor
San Juan Bautista School of Medicine
Caguas, Puerto Rico
Carlos Joel Diaz Osterman, PhD
Assistant Professor
Ponce Health Sciences University
Ponce, Puerto Rico
Jorge Gomez-Gutierrez, PhD
Associate Professor
University of Missouri-Columbia
Columbia, Missouri
Maria Gonzalez-Pons, PhD
Assistant Professor
University of Puerto Rico-Medical Sciences Campus
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Sonia L. Hernandez, PhD, MPhil, RD
Research Associate Professor
University of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois
Tyvette Hillard, PhD
Research Assistant Professor
Harper Cancer Research Institute
South Bend, Indiana
Tatiana Hurtado de Mendoza, PhD
Assistant Research Scientist
UCSD Moores Cancer Center
La Jolla, California
Jessica Y. Islam, PhD, MPH
Assistant Professor
Moffitt Cancer Center
Tampa, Florida
Eunkyung Lee, PhD
Assistant Professor
University of Central Florida
Orlando, Florida
Daniel F. Liefwalker, PhD
Research Assistant Professor
Oregon Health and Science University
Portland, Oregon
Justin Xavier Moore, PhD
Assistant Professor
Augusta University
Augusta, Georgia
Sara Pedron, PhD
Research Assistant Professor
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Urbana, Illinois.
Sangeetha Prabhakaran, MD
Assistant Professor of Surgery
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Luisel J. Ricks-Santi, PhD
Associate Professor
University of Florida
Gainesville, Florida
Maria D. Sanchez-Pino, PhD
Assistant Professor
Louisiana State University Stanley S. Scott Cancer Center
New Orleans, Louisiana
Francisco Sanchez-Vega, PhD, M Eng
Assistant Attending Computational Oncologist
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
New York, New York
Lisa Scarton, PhD, RN
Assistant Professor
University of Florida
Gainesville, Florida
Athena Starland-Davenport, PhD
Associate Professor
University of Tennessee Health Science Center
Memphis, Tennessee
Justin Taylor, MD
Assistant Professor
University of Miami Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center
Miami, Florida
Juli J. Unternaehrer, PhD
Assistant Professor
Loma Linda University
Loma Linda, California
Enrique Velazquez-Villarreal, MD, PhD, MPH, MS
Assistant Professor
Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California
Los Angeles, California
Mariano S. Viapiano, PhD
Associate Professor
SUNY Upstate Medical University
Syracuse, New York