Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation awards $2.7M to 7 top young clinical inv...( New York NY -- The Damon Runyon Canc...),Health

New York, NY -- The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation named 4 new Damon Runyon Clinical Investigators at its April 2009 Clinical Investigator Award Committee review. The recipients of this prestigious, three-year award are outstanding early career physician-scientists conducting patient-oriented cancer research at major research centers under the mentorship of the nation's leading scientists and clinicians. Each will receive $450,000 to support the development of his cancer research program.

For the first time, the Foundation also awarded Continuation Grants to 3 Damon Runyon Clinical Investigators. Each award will provide an additional two years of funding totaling $300,000. The Continuation Grant is designed to support Clinical Investigators who are approaching the end of their original awards and need extra time and funding to complete a promising avenue of research or initiate/continue a clinical trial. This program is possible through the generous support of the William K. Bowes, Jr. Foundation, and Connie and Robert Lurie.

The Clinical Investigator Award program is specifically intended to help address the shortage of physicians capable of translating scientific discovery into new breakthroughs for cancer patients. In partnerships with industry sponsors (Eli Lilly and Company, Genentech, Merck, Novartis and Siemens Medical Solutions), the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation has committed more than $32 million to support the careers of 48 physician-scientists across the United States since 2000.

2009 Clinical Investigator Awardees

Andrew L. Feldman, MD

Dr. Feldman's research focuses on defining the role of the transcription factor IRF4 in T-cell lymphomas (TCLs), aggressive cancers that are fatal in the majority of patients. He proposes that IRF4 represents a rational therapeutic target for TCLs and aims to develop new strategies to block IRF4 in lymphoma cells. Novel targeted therapi
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