The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation has named two outstanding young scientists as recipients of the Damon Runyon-Sohn Pediatric Cancer Fellowship Award, committing nearly $500,000 to help address a critical shortage of funding for pediatric cancer research.

When cancer cells escape their primary tumor and move to the fluid and tissues surrounding the brain and spinal cord—a condition called leptomeningeal metastasis—the result is devastating. Now, Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator Adrienne A. Boire, MD, PhD, and colleagues at Memorial Sloan Kettering have discovered how these rogue cells are able to survive in the barren environment of the cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) and suggest a possible strategy for treatment.

A new publication from Damon Runyon Physician-Scientist Jonathan E. Shoag, MD, and colleagues at Weil Cornell Medicine shows that PSA screening has benefits beyond lowering prostate cancer death risk, such as prevention of metastatic disease and the impaired quality of life associated with its treatment. The researchers suggest that the balance of benefits and harms of screening may be more favorable than previously recognized.

Damon Runyon chats with Former Clinical Investigator Jakob Dupont, MD, about his pioneering path to develop cellular immunotherapies and other innovative oncology drugs.

Damon Runyon Physician-Scientist Andrew L. Ji, MD, and colleagues at Stanford University School of Medicine have discovered a population of specialized cells living at the edges of a tumor that potentially guide the metastasis of skin cancer and help it evade the body’s immune system.

The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) has presented the 2020 AACR-Joseph Burchenal Award for Outstanding Achievement in Clinical Cancer Research to Damon Runyon alum Jedd D. Wolchok, MD, PhD. This award recognizes Dr. Wolchok for his leadership in the groundbreaking clinical development of immunotherapy drugs called checkpoint inhibitors for treating cancer.

Last week, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the HPV vaccine for the prevention of head and neck cancers. This is welcome news to Former Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator Maura L. Gillison, MD, PhD, who has been fighting for this approval for over a decade.

The Pew Charitable Trusts and the Alexander and Margaret Stewart Trust have named Damon Runyon-Dale F. Frey Breakthrough Scientist Shruti Naik, PhD, and Former Damon Runyon Fellow Jihye Yun, PhD, as part of the 2020 class of the Pew-Stewart Scholars Program for Cancer Research. 

Damon Runyon prides itself on having an accomplished Board of Directors comprised of individuals who passionately believe that supporting the best young minds in cancer research will lead to a cure. We welcome Nat Turner and Judy Swanson to our Board this year. 

The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation has named four new Damon Runyon Clinical Investigators. The recipients of this prestigious three-year award are outstanding early career physician-scientists conducting patient-oriented cancer studies at major research centers around the country.