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Center director receives award
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Lewis C. Cantley, PhD, director of the Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center at Weill Cornell Medical College, won the 2015 Canada Gairdner International Award from the Gairdner Foundation.
“The Canada Gairdner International Award is one of the most prestigious prizes in the world,” Cantley, a professor in oncology research and professor of cancer biology in medicine at Weill Cornell, said in a press release. “The fact that my peers had selected me to receive this award is a great honor.”
The award — which comes with a $100,000 (Canadian) cash prize — recognizes his discovery of an enzyme called phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) and the signaling pathway it controls. Cantley determined cancers in humans often occur due to activation of PI3K, a discovery that led to the development of agents that target the pathway.
“We believe this will be a game-changer in the war against cancer and will make a big impact on patient care,” Cantley said.