2023 AACR Annual Meeting Features DCEG Research
, by Elise Tookmanian, Ph.D.
From left to right: Daniela Gutierrez Torres, Neal Freedman, Jennifer Loukissas, Courtney Dill, Jungeun Lim, Wayne Lawrence, Jongeun Rhee, Brittany Lord, Dominiqua Griffin, Meredith Shiels, Stephen Chanock, Francine Baker, Doug Lowy, Betel Blechter, Rohit Thakur, Jackie Lavigne, Patricia Erickson, and Monjoy Saha.
In 2023, the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) annual meeting took place in Orlando, Florida. From April 14-19, DCEG scientists presented their research on the theme, “Advancing the Frontiers of Cancer Science and Medicine,” received awards, and networked with other scientists.
On April 17, Meredith Shiels, Ph.D., M.H.S., senior investigator in the Infections and Immunoepidemiology Branch, and Neal D. Freedman, Ph.D., M.P.H., senior investigator in the Metabolic Epidemiology Branch, discussed their publication describing the opportunities to achieve President Biden’s Cancer Moonshot goal of reducing cancer death rates in the U.S. at a press conference. They were joined by the authors of an accompanying commentary, Monica Bertagnolli, M.D., NCI Director, Danielle Carnival, Ph.D., Cancer Moonshot Coordinator in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Elizabeth M. Jaffee, M.D., Deputy Director of The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland. This study was covered in various news media, including HealthDay.
DCEG Director Stephen J. Chanock, M.D., was elected to the 2023 class of Fellows of the AACR Academy alongside 22 other leaders in the field of cancer research. He was honored “for pioneering efforts dedicated to defining detectable clonal mosaicism and for impactful research focused on the discovery and characterization of cancer susceptibility regions in the human genome, directly enhancing our understanding of the association between inherited genetic variants and cancer risk.”
Brittany Lord, Ph.D., M.P.H., M.S., postdoctoral fellow in the Integrative Tumor Epidemiology Branch, was recognized as a NextGen Star. She gave an invited talk during the Decoding the Origins of Drug Resistance Phenotypes in Cancer session titled, “Investigating biological mediators of social and environmental risk factors on cancer health disparities."
Courtney Dill, Ph.D., M.S.C.R., M.S., postdoctoral fellow in the Biostatistics Branch, received a Minority Scholar in Cancer Research Award for her abstract, “Association between genetic ancestry and all-cause mortality among Black and White eversmokers in the PLCO cohort." This award provided support for her attendance at the AACR Annual Meeting.
The AACR Associate Council, which includes Wayne Lawrence, research fellow in the Metabolic Epidemiology Branch. From left to right: Safa Majeed, Kristin Altwegg, Katie Campbell, Wayne Lawrence, Francesco Caiazza, Kristin Anderson, Mathias Seviiri, and James SeongJun Han.
Monjoy Saha, research fellow in the Integrative Tumor Epidemiology Branch, stands in front of his poster with NCI colleagues. From left to right: Aubrey Hubbard, John McElderry, Monjoy Saha, and Jian Sang.
Meredith Shiels stands at a podium labeled AACR Annual Meeting 2023 at the press conference for her paper, "Opportunities for Achieving the Cancer Moonshot Goal of a 50% Reduction in Age-Adjusted Cancer Mortality by 2047."
Courtney Dill, postdoctoral fellow in the Biostatistics Branch, stands in front of her award-winning poster.
From left to right: Wayne Lawrence, Jongeun Rhee, and Brittany Lord.