Dr. Douglas R. Lowy, Laboratory Chief and Principal Investigator at the NCI/NIH, a co-discoverer of the HPV vaccine against cervical cancer, Scientific Advisor to the SWCRF and recipient of the David Workman Memorial Research Award has been elected to the National Academy of Science.
Dr. Charles L. Sawyers, Chair, Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Institute, a recipient of a SWCRF Prostate Research Program Grant has just been awarded the Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award for the development of Gleevec.
SWCRF Investigator Dr. Stephen B. Baylin, and Dr. Peter A. Jones, both recipients of the SWCRF David Workman Memorial Research Award received the Landon-AACR Award from the American Association for Cancer Research for their work in epigenetic therapy.
The Liver Cancer Program at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, first supported by the SWCRF, received the American Association for Cancer Research Award for the most effective International Collaboration.
The Engineered Immunity Program for melanoma based at Caltech and UCLA received its initial funding from the SWCRF. This enabled a multidisciplinary group of scientists and physicians to produce sustained immunity against recurrence of melanoma using gene therapy targeted to long-lived immune cells. They have opened their first trial and have seen some remarkable responses in patients with melanoma within weeks after adoptive transfer of engineered immune cells. They are currently producing melanoma recognition genes delivered by viruses in preparation for a sustained immune stem cell engineering trial. This SWCRF research grant has now yielded 50-fold ($30,000,000) return on investment for this program. Dr. James S. Economou, the surgical leader of this team states in a recent letter "Funding from your Foundation was instrumental in getting our program off the ground. Indeed, this SWCRF investment brings hope to the many that suffer from melanoma."