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Vanderbilt researcher receives VA award
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Ann Richmond, PhD, professor of cancer research and professor of cancer biology and medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, received the William S. Middleton Award from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ Biomedical Laboratory Research and Development Service.
Richmond, who also serves as senior associate cancer specialist with the VA Tennessee Valley Healthcare System, received the award for her contributions to the understanding of chemokines, inflammatory proteins that can regulate tumor growth.
Her research improved the understanding for how to increase the effectiveness of immunotherapies for the treatment of melanoma.
“A lot of our work is linking how chemokines, as inflammatory mediators, play a role in the recruitment of anti-tumor leukocytes — white blood cells — into the tumor microenvironment to help boost the immune response to the tumor, and allow these immune cells to destroy tumor cells,” Richmond said in a press release. “Immunotherapy is the best treatment we have now for metastatic melanoma. We’ve made huge strides in understanding how to treat this disease.”
Richmond has served on Vanderbilt’s faculty since 1989.