St. Jude executive receives award for contributions to pediatric cancer research
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James R. Downing, MD, received the inaugural AACR-St. Baldrick’s Foundation Award for Outstanding Achievement in Pediatric Cancer Research.
American Association for Cancer Research and St. Baldrick’s Foundation created the award last year to honor a person whose contributions to pediatric cancer research led to fundamental improvement in the understanding and treatment of childhood cancer.
Downing, president and CEO of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, has spent more than 30 years focusing on research to uncover the genetic basis of childhood cancer. He played a key role in the creation of the Pediatric Cancer Genome Project.
“I am honored to be the first recipient of the AACR-St. Baldrick's Foundation Award for Outstanding Achievement in Pediatric Cancer Research,” Downing said in a press release. “I’m grateful to accept this award for St. Jude and for all the colleagues with whom I’ve had the pleasure of working throughout my career. Together, we’ve made steady progress in understanding why childhood cancer arises, spreads and resists treatment. I feel privileged that my work has helped advance the fight against this disease.”
Downing delivered a lecture during the AACR Virtual Annual Meeting II titled “The molecular pathology of pediatric leukemia.”
The award also provides $75,000 in research funding for a junior faculty member whose research has the potential to expedite breakthroughs in pediatric cancer.
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