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2023 Minority Scholar in Cancer Research Awardees at the 16th AACR Conference on The Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorites and the Medically Underserved.

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 and special conferences. 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.

For 38 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 2023 Minority Scholar Award recipients are listed below.

Jamirah Y. Chevrin, BS

Jamirah Y. Chevrin, BS

PhD Student
Morehouse School of Medicine
Atlanta, Georgia

Ifeanyi B. Chukwudozie, MBA, MPH

Ifeanyi B. Chukwudozie, MBA, MPH

Graduate Student
University of Illinois Chicago School of Public Health
Chicago, Illinois

Abigail M. Fielder, BA

Abigail M. Fielder, BA

PhD Student
Wayne State University School of Medicine
Detroit, Michigan

Dottington Fullwood, EdD

Dottington Fullwood, EdD

Postdoctoral Fellow
Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center
Jacksonville, Florida

Nicole Halmai, PhD

Nicole Halmai, PhD

Postdoctoral Research Fellow
University of California, Davis
Davis, California

Kofi Khamit-Kush, MS

Kofi Khamit-Kush, MS

PhD Student
Clark Atlanta University
Atlanta, Georgia

Mattia A. Mahmoud, MPhil

Mattia A. Mahmoud, MPhil

Medical Student
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Jimena Perez, BS

Jimena Perez, BS

Graduate Student
University of California, Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California

Veronica C. Rodriguez De Leon, BS

Veronica C. Rodriguez De Leon, BS

MPH Student
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Samanatha Verganza, BA

Samanatha Verganza, BA

Graduate Student
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, California