Five Yale Cancer Center physicians have received awards from Conquer Cancer, the American Society of Cancer Oncology (ASCO) Foundation. The grants are given in conjunction with the virtual scientific program of the 2020 ASCO Annual Meeting.
Sanjay Aneja, M.D., Assistant Professor of Therapeutic Radiology at Smilow Cancer Hospital and a member of Yale Cancer Center’s Radiobiology and Radiotherapy Research Program, received a Career Development Award. Aneja is a physician scientist whose research is focused on the application of machine learning techniques on clinical oncology. The Career Development Award is a three-year grant that funds clinical investigators who have received their initial faculty appointment and are working to establish an independent, patient-focused, clinical cancer research program.
Mariya Rozenblit, M.D., a clinical fellow in the Medical Oncology-Hematology Program at YCC and SCH, received a 2020 Young Investigator Award. Mentored by YCC’s Lajos Pusztai, M.D., Rozenblit was recognized for her research, “Using single nucleotide variants of high functional importance to predict the risk of developing breast cancer in young women with high risk family history.” The award grant provides funding to promising investigators to encourage and promote quality research in oncology. The grant supports pre-clinical and clinical cancer research projects by oncologists who are undergoing a career transition from a fellowship program to a faculty appointment. Eighty-one investigators received Young Investigator Awards this year.
Vikram Jira, M.D., received the Pain and Symptom Management Special Merit Award for the highest-ranking abstract in Pain and Symptom Management Research. Ranjan Pathak, MBBS, and Rozalyn L. Rodwin, M.D., received Merit Awards. Recipients are fellows/oncology trainees whose research is addressed in high-quality abstracts submitted to an ASCO Meeting and recognized for its scientific merit.
“Conquer Cancer is proud to recognize this group of talented clinical cancer researchers,” said Thomas G. Roberts, Jr., MD, FASCO, chair of the Conquer Cancer Board of Directors. “From supporting research projects that rarely see funding to providing that first, vital research grant to a young scientist, Conquer Cancer is cultivating the next generation of breakthroughs for every cancer, every patient, everywhere.”