Pancreatic cancer is one of the most difficult forms of cancer to treat effectively. Standard courses of chemotherapy drugs often come up short for patients, leading to a dismal 5-year relative survival rate of just 10%. And while the past few years’ transformative breakthroughs in immunotherapy have drastically improved the prognosis for many patients diagnosed with other forms of cancer, most pancreatic cancers have proved frustratingly resistant to immunotherapy alone.

The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation has named 15 new Damon Runyon Fellows at its fall Fellowship Award Committee review. The Fellowship encourages the nation's most promising young scientists to pursue careers in cancer research by providing them with independent funding ($231,000 total) to work on innovative projects. The Committee also named five new recipients of the Damon Runyon-Dale F. Frey Award for Breakthrough Scientists, which provides additional funding to scientists completing a Damon Runyon Fellowship Award who have greatly exceeded our highest expectations.

This year, thirteen Damon Runyon alumni were chosen as American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Fellows in honor of their invaluable contributions to science and technology. 

The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation announced that seven scientists with novel approaches to fighting cancer have been named 2021 recipients of the Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovation Award. Five initial grants of $400,000 over two years were awarded to early career scientists whose projects have the potential to significantly impact the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

Our scientists remain undaunted in their important cancer research, despite the challenges and precautionary measures required to safely work in their laboratories this year. In case you missed them, here are just a few of the exciting discoveries made by Damon Runyon researchers in 2020.

To understand all the genetic alterations driving melanoma, Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator Eliezer Van Allen, MD, and his colleagues at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have assembled the largest molecular dataset on this disease and used it to uncover new details that may help in diagnosis and treatment.

The Damon Runyon Annual Breakfast looked different this year, but we were delighted to host the Reimagined Annual Breakfast virtually on December 2, 2020.

The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation is pleased to announce the new Chair of its Board of Directors, Deborah J. Coleman. Ms. Coleman was unanimously elected at the Board’s annual meeting last month. She succeeds Alan Leventhal, who has led the Board since February 2010.

Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovator Elli Papaemmanuil, PhD, and colleagues at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center have uncovered new clues that may help answer a troubling question—why do some patients develop a secondary blood cancer after receiving radiation or chemotherapy treatment for their initial cancer diagnosis? 

Pancreatic cancer is particularly difficult to diagnose since people usually have no symptoms until the cancer reaches a more advanced stage or spreads to other organs. Though progress against this cancer has been slow, Damon Runyon researchers are making an impact through understanding the biology and developing novel treatments.