Mount Sinai cancer researcher receives award for lifetime achievement
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Nina Bhardwaj, MD, PhD, received the Lifetime Achievement in Cancer Research award from American Association of Indian Scientists in Cancer Research.
The award is presented each year to an outstanding scientist in recognition of significant contributions to cancer research that have had a lasting impact and demonstrate a lifetime commitment to achieving progress against cancer.
Bhardwaj is director of immunotherapy at The Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai. She also is medical director of the vaccine and cell therapy laboratory, co-director of the cancer immunology program and Ward-Coleman chair in cancer research at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
Her research has significantly advanced the understanding of how use of innate immune cells to reverse immunosuppression in tumor microenvironments can treat cancer.
Bhardwaj’s team discovered a subset of dendritic cells that play an important role in initiating immune response. She also developed dendritic cell-based and dendritic cell-targeted vaccines for the treatment of cancer and infections.
“It was a wonderful surprise to receive this award and to join such a prestigious group of previous recipients,” Bhardwaj said in a press release. “It was also extraordinary to be recognized by such an elite group of peers.
“When I started in this field, dendritic cells were not considered unique lineages and were thought to be a lesser sibling of monocytes,” Bhardwaj added. “But with the support of Mount Sinai and, in particular, The Tisch Cancer Institute, we were able to make significant discoveries that helped to expand this field and led to many studies using dendritic cells as cellular vaccine adjuvants. Ultimately, it is exciting to have our efforts validated with this award and it inspires me to continue my work and advance the fight against cancer.”
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