For
Immediate Release
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Lauded For Their Leading-Edge Research Efforts
(New York, NY – December 1, 2007) Joan’s Legacy: The Joan Scarangello Foundation to Conquer Lung Cancer announces a new award, the "Hope Now Award for Lung Cancer Research.” The award was established by Chawla Hope Initiatives, a philanthropic fund founded by Chicago-based technology company retired CEO, Mr. Prem Chawla, a three-year-plus lung cancer survivor and never-smoker.
The annual Hope Now Award is intended for the research lab and its leader showing the most progress in lung cancer research in a particular year. The purpose of the award is to publicly honor and recognize excellence in lung cancer research and to encourage development of novel treatment options for lung cancer survivors. In establishing the award, Mr. Chawla noted, “Many lung cancer survivors develop resistance to too few available treatments quickly. We must, therefore, honor researchers who are in the forefront of making valiant efforts to overcome this critical challenge and are working hard on bringing new treatments to patients.”
The 2007 Hope Now awardees are Pasi Jänne, M.D., Ph.D., Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and William Pao, M.D., Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Both awardees are medical oncologists who specialize in treating patients with lung cancer, as well as translational researchers focused on non-small cell lung cancer. Both Dr. Jänne and Dr Pao appreciated receiving the award and noted that such recognition from the lung cancer survivor community is most meaningful.
Dr. Jänne’s main research interests include the study of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations in non-small cell lung cancer and their impact on the efficacy of EGFR-targeted therapeutic agents.
EGFR mutations occur primarily in never smokers. These patients have very high response rates to EGFR inhibitors. Dr. Jänne’s lab has studied mechanisms of developing resistance to EGFR inhibitors and novel ways to overcome this resistance.
Dr. Pao’s primary interest lies in identifying mutations in genes that may play a role in lung tumors. He is also studying why some patients and not others respond to targeted therapies such as gefitinib (Iressa) and erlotinib (Tarceva).
Dr. Pao first reported the link between EGFR mutations and EGFR TKI response in never smokers. He also discovered the causes of relapse in never-smoking patients with initial benefit from gefitinib and erlotinib.
The Joan’s Legacy Medical Committee nominated several candidates for the awards recognizing leading lung cancer research labs, with a specific individual as the recipient. Because of the excellence both of this year’s awardees have shown, the decision was made by Chawla Hope Initiatives to give each of them one-year award of $20,000 to apply towards lung cancer research.
Joan’s Legacy: The Joan Scarangello Foundation to Conquer Lung Cancer (www.joanslegacy.org) is a nonprofit organization committed to fighting lung cancer by funding innovative research and focusing greater attention on the world’s leading cancer killer. Funding $3.6 million in new and cutting-edge research in just five years, Joan’s Legacy is fast becoming recognized as the venture capital source for ground-breaking lung cancer research.
Chawla Hope Initiatives is a philanthropic fund established by Chicago-based technology entrepreneur Prem Chawla to solve complex social and medical problems through innovative and unique research. The Hope Now Award for lung cancer research is the first such award established by Chawla Hope Initiatives, because lung cancer is the number one cancer killer in the United States and the five year survival rate is only 15%. There is, therefore, an urgent need to expedite research efforts to find novel treatments. More information on the award can be found at www.hope-now-awards.org
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