The Pew Charitable Trusts and the Alexander and Margaret Stewart Trust announced the inaugural class of Pew-Stewart Scholars for Cancer Research. Five promising early-career scientists will receive funding for research aimed at finding cures for cancer using approaches that include genetics, pharmacology, and structural biology.
"Cancer continues to take a terrible toll on human health worldwide, and creative approaches are vital for the development of novel therapies," said Rebecca W. Rimel, Pew's president and CEO. "We are delighted to partner with the Stewart Trust to expand our commitment to science and eagerly anticipate the discoveries these talented researchers will make to address these challenges."
Pew has supported innovative research by young scientists through its biomedical scholars program http://www.pewtrusts.org/projects/pew-biomedical-scholars/ since 1985 and through the Pew Latin American fellows program http://www.pewtrusts.org/projects/pew-latin-american-fellows/ launched in 1991.
"Some of the most important health advances have stemmed from curiosity-driven investigations, and young researchers seem particularly primed to seed innovation in the field of cancer," said William Bierbower, executive trustee for the Stewart Trust, which for over 15 years has backed researchers probing the mechanisms of cancer.
"By combining forces with Pew, whose biomedical programs set the standard for selecting outstanding researchers, we believe we can leverage the most talented scientific minds to discover novel means of preventing, treating, and eventually curing cancer."
The Pew-Stewart scholars are assistant professor-level cancer researchers. They receive funding over four years and will have the opportunity to collaborate with Pew biomedical scholars and Latin American fellows at Pew's annual biomedical meeting.
Also announced today were the newest members of Pew's biomedical scholars and Latin American fellows programs, which support groundbreaking research by promising early-career biomedical researchers in the United States and Latin America.
The 2014 Pew-Stewart Scholars for Cancer Research are:
Arvin Dar, Ph.D.
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Oncology and chemical biology
Andrew Holland, Ph.D.
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Cell biology and oncology
Shawn Douglas, Ph.D.
University of California, San Francisco
Pharmacology and nanotechnology
Agnel Sfeir, Ph.D.
New York University School of Medicine
Chromosome biology
Roberto Zoncu, Ph.D.
University of California, Berkeley
Cell biology and cancer metabolism
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