Susan Gueble, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Therapeutic Radiology, is the recipient of a High-Risk, High-Reward National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director’s Early Independence Award. This award is for exceptional junior scientists bypassing postdoctoral training to launch independent research careers. Dr. Gueble received her MD and PhD through the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) at Yale School of Medicine and completed her residency in radiation oncology at Yale New Haven Hospital as part of the Holman Research Pathway.
Dr. Gueble’s clinical focus is on caring for patients with gynecologic, prostate, and genitourinary malignancies, and her research focuses on understanding the mechanisms and therapeutic potential of novel DNA modifying agents in the setting of tumor-specific alterations in DNA damage response and repair genes. The project that received funding through the NIH High-Risk, High-Reward Research Program is titled, “Therapeutic Potential of a Novel MGMT-Dependent DNA Interstrand Crosslinking Agent in the Treatment of DNA Repair Deficient Cancer.”
The High-Risk, High-Reward Research Program through the NIH supports four awards for exceptionally creative scientists pursuing highly innovative research with the potential for broad impact in biomedical, behavioral, or social sciences. The Early Independence Award was established in 2011 to help accelerate exceptional junior investigators into positions of independent research. The review places a strong emphasis on the qualities of the investigator and the environment provided by the host institution. The 85 awards (totaling approximately $187 million) are supported by the NIH Common Fund, as well as six other institutes, centers, and offices across the NIH, beginning in 2023 for five years.