2024 Minority Scholar in Cancer Research Awardees
The AACR is very pleased to administer this important program, which provides funds for the participation of early-career, meritorious minority scientists at the AACR Annual Meeting 2024. Scholars are chosen from both minority institutions and the larger bodies of universities, colleges, and research institutes. They are selected on the basis of their qualifications, references from mentors, and an estimation of the potential professional benefit to the awardees.
Since its founding in 1985, the Minority Scholar Awards in Cancer Research 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.
For 39 years, the AACR has endeavored through this program to reach out to minority predoctoral and postdoctoral students, trainees, and junior investigators 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 AACR would also like to thank Merck and the Change our Future Foundation for providing additional funding to support young minority investigators.
Karmen Aguirre, BS
Graduate Student
Stanford University
Stanford, California
John D. Aleman, BA, BS
Graduate Student
University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
Aurora, Colorado
Gretchen Alicea, PhD
Clinical/Postdoctoral Fellow
Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, Maryland
Christopher L. Benson II, MS, BS
Graduate Student
Case Western Reserve University
Cleveland, Ohio
Gabriel Borges-Velez, BS
Clinical/Postdoctoral Fellow
University of Puerto Rico Comprehensive Cancer Center
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Tayla R. Brooks, BS
Graduate Student
Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science
Rochester, Minnesota
LaKendria K. Brown, MS
Graduate Student
Meharry Medical College
Nashville, Tennessee
Kaylin M. Carey, MS, BS
Graduate Student
Morehouse School of Medicine
Atlanta, Georgia
Kenysha YJ Clear, MS
Graduate Student
Wake Forest University School of Medicine
Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Taylor Crawford, BS
Graduate Student
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Angelica I. Cruz-Lebron, PhD, BS
Clinical/Postdoctoral Fellow
Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, Maryland
Edward J. Evans Jr., PhD, BA
Clinical/Postdoctoral Fellow
University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
Aurora, Colorado
Anelisse Dominicci-Maura, BS
Graduate Student
University of Puerto Rico, Medical Science Campus
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Noelle Francois, BS
Graduate Student
Thomas Jefferson University
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Abigail M. Fielder, BA
Graduate Student
Wayne State University School of Medicine
Detroit, Michigan
Dottington Fullwood, Ed D
Clinical/Postdoctoral Fellow
Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center
Jacksonville, Florida
Sheniqua R. Glover, BS
Graduate Student
Auburn University
Auburn, Alabama
Erik Guillen, BA
Graduate Student
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Bronx, New York
Grace Guzman, BS
Medical Student
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Little Rock, Arkansas
Noel A. Jacquet, BS
Graduate Student
Louisiana State University Health Shreveport
Shreveport, Louisiana
Jessica D. Johnson, BS
Graduate Student
University of Texas Health Sciences Center
San Antonio, Texas
Kimberly Lukasik, BS, AAS
Graduate Student
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Alejandro R. Marrero-Gonzalez, BS
Medical Student
Medical University of South Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina
Christian McDonald, MS, BS
Graduate Student
University of Miami
Miami, Florida
Daisy Medina, BS
Graduate Student
University of Texas Health Sciences Center
San Antonio, Texas
Mulki Mehari, BA
Medical Student
University of California, San Francisco
San Francisco, California
Natalie M. Meléndez-Vázquez, BS
Graduate Student
University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Kimberly S. Meza, BA
Graduate Student
Brown University
Providence, Rhode Island
Dominique Monroe, MS, BS
Graduate Student
Medical College of Georgia-Augusta University
Augusta, Georgia
Sarina D. Murray, BS
Graduate Student
University of Iowa
Iowa City, Iowa
Michelle Naidoo, PhD
Clinical/Postdoctoral Fellow
Weill Cornell Medicine
New York, New York
Madeleine M. Ndahayo, BS
Graduate Student
University of Maryland, Baltimore
Baltimore, Maryland
Joy Okoro, B Pharm, MPH
Graduate Student
Florida A&M University
Tallahassee, Florida
Olasunkanmi Olaoye, PhD, MS
Clinical/Postdoctoral Fellow
Dana Farber Cancer Institute
Boston, Massachusetts
Walter A. Orellana, MS, BS
Clinical/Postdoctoral Fellow
Huntsman Cancer Institute
Salt Lake City, Utah
Jenny P. Paredes, PhD, MS
Postdoctoral Fellow
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
New York, New York
Nakea M. Pennant, BS
Graduate Student
Clark Atlanta University
Atlanta, Georgia
Corey M. Perkins, BA
Graduate Student
University of Florida
Gainesville, Florida
Dornell Pete, MPH, PhD
Clinical/Postdoctoral Fellow
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center
Seattle, Washington
Bonita H. Powell, MS, BS
Graduate Student
Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, Maryland
Jovanka Ravix, BS
Graduate Student
University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
Miami, Florida
LaShae D. Rolle, MPH, BS
Graduate Student
University of Miami
Miami, Florida
Bianca A. Romo, PhD, BS
Clinical/Postdoctoral Fellow
University of Texas Health Sciences Center
San Antonio, Texas
Marissa Russo, BS
Graduate Student
Mayo Clinic Graduate School for Biomedical Sciences
Jacksonville, Florida
Harmony I. Saunders, MS, BS
Graduate Student
University of Kansas Medical Center
Kansas City, Kansas
Anamaris Torres-Sanchez, RN, BSN
Graduate Student
University of Puerto Rico at Rio Piedras Campus
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Sofia Tortora Morel, DDS
Graduate Student
State University of New York, Downstate
Brooklyn, New York
Olga Trejos Kweyete, Pharm D, BS
Clinical/Postdoctoral Fellow
University of Florida College of Pharmacy
Orlando, Florida
Anamaria G. Zavala, PhD
Clinical/Postdoctoral Fellow
Boise State University
Boise, Idaho
Charles C. Okechukwu, MS, BS
Graduate Student
Wake Forest University School of Medicine
Winston-Salem, North Carolina