2021 Minority Scholar in Cancer (MICR) Research Awardees
The AACR-MICR Council is very pleased to administer this important program, which provides funds for the participation of early-career, meritorious minority scientists in the AACR Annual Meeting. Scholars are chosen from both minority institutions and the larger bodies of universities, colleges, and research institutes and are selected on the basis of their qualifications, references from mentors, and an estimation of the potential professional benefit to the awardees.
Since its inception in 1985, the Minority Scholar in Cancer Research Award Program has been supported by a generous grant of 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. This year we are pleased to announce that the NCI-Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities, Promega, and Science have provided support for 2021 Minority Scholars.
For 36 years, the AACR has endeavored through this program to reach out to minority predoctoral and postdoctoral students and trainees as future cancer researchers. The program was created in an attempt to address the serious problem of lack of minority participation in cancer research by offering young minority students and trainees the opportunity to attend and participate in the Annual Meetings and Special Conferences of the AACR.
The names and affiliations of the 2021 Minority Scholar Award recipients are listed below, along with the numbers and titles of their presentations and brief video introductions.
Congratulations to the 2021 Minority Scholar in Cancer Reserach Awardees

Jacob J. Adashek, BA
Resident
University of South Florida
Tampa Florida

Olayinka O. Adebayo, MBBS
Graduate Student
Morehouse School of Medicine
Atlanta, Georgia

Heather K. Beasley, MS
Medical Student
Meharry Medical College
Nashville, Tennessee

Israel Castillo Gonzalez Pharm D
Postdoctoral Fellow
Florida International University
Davie, Florida

Oluwadara Coker, BS, MS
Graduate Student
MD Anderson Cancer Center
Houston, Texas

Geraldine C. Ezeka, BS
Graduate Student
University of Maryland School of Medicine
Baltimore, Maryland

Angel Adrian Garces, BS
Graduate Student
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Houston, Texas

Michael R. Koko, MPH
Epidemiologist
Alabama Department of Public Health
Montgomery, Alabama

McKayla B. Mickle, BS
Graduate Student
University of Maryland School of Medicine
Baltimore, Maryland

Mabel G. Perez-Oquendo, BS
Graduate Student
UT MD Anderson Cancer Center
Houston, Texas

Raquel Santana da Cruz, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
Georgetown University
Washington, DC

LaShanale M. Wallace, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
Memphis, Tennessee