The Damon Runyon-Jake Wetchler Award for Pediatric Innovation is given annually to a third-year Damon Runyon Fellow whose research has the greatest potential to impact the prevention, diagnosis or treatment of pediatric cancer. Marissa Rashkovan, PhD, a Damon Runyon-Sohn Pediatric Cancer Fellow at the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, received this special award at the annual Fellows' Retreat.

Since 2004, Genentech has made a transformational commitment to Damon Runyon of over $5.4 million to support the next generation of outstanding scientists. Nancy Valente, MD, Genentech’s Senior Vice President of Product Development/Global Head, Hematology Development, and Genentech’s Charitable Giving team, discuss the company’s productive partnership with Damon Runyon. 

Written by Jennifer Cavanaugh, breast cancer survivor, advocate, wife and mom. 

I had been a huge supporter of cancer research and the Raveis Ride + Walk fundraiser since its inception five years ago. Last year, I attended and walked with my family while I was in the thick of my battle. I was and still am somewhat in shock that it is me standing here speaking to all of you, especially at this point in my life.

Three Damon Runyon alumni were elected to the National Academy of Medicine. Election to the Academy is considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine and recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service: Edwin (Ted) G. Abel, PhD (Former Fellow ’93-’96); Julie A. Segre, PhD (Former Fellow ’97-’00); and Catherine J. Wu, MD (Former Clinical Investigator ’07-’12).

Damon Runyon will invest up to $3.6 million over three years to recruit the most talented young scientists to become the next leaders in computational biology.

“Can you help my children? Who can tell me why my two young children both got this old person’s disease?” Lucy A. Godley, MD, PhD, vividly remembers reading the desperate email at 10:15 pm four years ago. The email was from Linda Schramm, an American living in Mexico, who was determined to find a treatment for her daughter suffering from myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS).

In September, first- and third-year Damon Runyon Fellows came together from their separate labs around the country at the Annual Fellows’ Retreat. Held in Southbridge, Massachusetts this year, the Fellows took the opportunity to network, share ideas and get professional advice from leaders in all fields of cancer research.

William G. Kaelin, Jr, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, shares the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability.

Peter J. Turnbaugh, PhD (Damon Runyon Innovator '16-'20), at the University of California, San Francisco, discusses his recent discovery that eating a diet of cooked food fundementally changes the microbes living in the gut compared to a diet of raw foods.

Surprising new research from Jason M. Sheltzer, PhD (Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovator ’18 - ’20) and colleagues at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory suggests why 97% of cancer drugs in clinical trials fail to stop cancer in patients and never make it to market.