Damon Runyon News

Three scientists with exceptional promise and novel approaches to fighting cancer have been named the 2023 recipients of the Damon Runyon Physician-Scientist Training Award. The awardees were selected through a highly competitive and rigorous process by a scientific committee comprised of leading cancer researchers who are themselves physician-scientists.

The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital announced a new pediatric-focused fellowship today. The initiative aims to help address the critical shortage of top young scientists who often seek more prevalent opportunities in adult cancer research or the pharmaceutical sector. The Damon Runyon–St. Jude Pediatric Cancer Research Fellowship will fund up to 25 fellowships over eight years, a $9 million investment.

Imagine you have just learned that you are genetically predisposed to developing blood cancer. Everyone acquires mutations in their blood as they age, your doctor explains, but certain mutations carry higher risk than others. When a mutation occurs in a blood stem cell and confers an evolutionary advantage, that mutant blood stem cell will give rise to a whole subpopulation of cells with the same mutation. This is known as clonal hematopoiesis (CH), and again, it is a normal age-related phenomenon.

Damon Runyon has announced its 2023 Quantitative Biology Fellows, three exceptional early-career scientists who are applying the tools of computational science to generate and interpret cancer research data at extraordinary scale and resolution. Whether constructing synthetic synapses to study cellular communication or engineering tumor models to predict treatment response, their projects seek to extend the boundaries of what is possible in cancer research by approaching fundamental biology questions from a new direction.

Damon Runyon scientists and industry partners gathered in person on Thursday, March 9 for the 2023 Accelerating Cancer Cures Symposium, hosted by Amgen at their new campus in South San Francisco.

The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation has announced its newest class of Damon Runyon Fellows, 14 exceptional postdoctoral scientists conducting basic and translational cancer research in the laboratories of leading senior investigators. The prestigious, four-year Fellowship encourages the nation’s most promising young scientists to pursue careers in cancer research by providing them with independent funding ($260,000 total) to investigate cancer causes, mechanisms, therapies, and prevention. 

The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation has announced eight recipients of the 2023 Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovation Award, established to support “high-risk, high-reward” ideas with the potential to significantly impact the prevention, diagnosis, or treatment of cancer. Five extraordinary early-career researchers will receive initial grants of $400,000 over two years, and each will have the opportunity to receive two additional years of funding (for a potential total of $800,000).

Damon Runyon is excited to announce the election of Joseph Pearlberg, MD, PhD, to its Board of Directors.

President Biden has announced his intent to appoint Clinical Investigator Award Committee member Monica Bertagnolli, MD, as Director of the National Cancer Institute. Dr. Bertagnolli will be the 16th Director, and the first woman, to head the NCI.

Damon Runyon is delighted to announce the election of Lori J. Pierce, MD, to its Board of Directors.