Susan G. Komen presents Brinker Awards to breast cancer researchers
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Susan G. Komen selected two breast cancer researchers to receive Brinker Awards.
The awards are the nonprofit organization’s highest scientific honor.
The award recipients — Donald McDonnell, PhD, and Laura Esserman, MD — will deliver keynote lectures at this year’s San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, which will be conducted virtually from Dec. 8-12.
McDonnell — professor of pharmacology and cancer biology and distinguished professor of molecular cancer biology at Duke University School of Medicine, as well as co-director of the women’s cancer program at Duke Cancer Institute — will receive the Brinker Award for Scientific Distinction in Basic Science.
The award recognizes McDonnell’s research contributions that have improved understanding of ER signaling and helped establish a foundation for the development and use of novel endocrine therapies to treat ER-positive breast cancer.
“His leadership in the field and creative approach to translating laboratory-based discoveries to new cancer drugs will have a lasting impact on breast cancer research and care,” Jennifer Pietenpol, PhD, executive vice president for research at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, director of Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center and chief scientific adviser for Komen, said in a press release.
Esserman — director of Carol Franc Buck Breast Care Center, Alfred A. de Lorimier endowed chair in general surgery, and professor of surgery at radiology at University of California, San Francisco — will receive this year’s Brinker Award for Scientific Distinction in Clinical Research.
The award recognizes Esserman’s research contributions that led to more personalized approaches to breast cancer care. The I-SPY trial and other clinical trial programs she has led have accelerated the development of effective and safe treatments, detection strategies and prevention options.
“Her groundbreaking work in the I-SPY and I-SPY2 clinical trials has revolutionized our understanding of neoadjuvant clinical trials as biomarker and novel therapeutic testing venues and has led the way for the development of several clinically important agents,” George Sledge Jr., MD, professor of medicine at Stanford University and also a chief scientific adviser for Komen, said in the release.
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts