In 2008, as part of an ongoing effort to recognize and fund important translational research that could lead to advances in cancer care,
The ASCO Cancer Foundation established a new grant category for oncologists who are dedicated to bringing advances in basic sciences into the clinical arena and to mentoring other translational researchers. The inaugural
Translational Research Professorships—which promote the training and career development of clinical oncologists for whom translational research is a major component of their professional activities and support ASCO members who are primarily translational investigators—were awarded at the 2008 ASCO Annual Meeting.
The Translational Research Professorship awards $100,000 per year disbursed over five years. The grant is not designed to cover the total cost of a research project, nor is it intended to provide the recipient’s entire compensation during the award period. Rather, it is a supporting grant for the recipient’s research and mentoring activities. All award payments are made to the sponsoring institution. Born out of the ASCO Strategic Plan and proposed by the Translational Research Task Force—convened to look more closely at how to integrate translational research throughout ASCO programs—the grant focuses on therapeutics, which “have been closely related to the translation of very sophisticated laboratory findings into clinical strategies for patients,” according to Task Force Co-Chair S. Gail Eckhardt, MD.
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Dr. Joseph Bailes presents the Translational Research Professorship to Dr. Bruce E. Johnson (top) and Dr. Everett Vokes (bottom) during the 2008 ASCO Annual Meeting |
Born out of the ASCO Strategic Plan and proposed by the Translational Research Task Force—convened to look more closely at how to integrate translational research throughout ASCO programs—the grant focuses on therapeutics, which “have been closely related to the translation of very sophisticated laboratory findings into clinical strategies for patients,” according to Task Force Co- Chair S. Gail Eckhardt, MD.
“At the end of the day what oncology really needs is team science, so you need to have collaborative groups of basic scientists, pathologists, clinicians, and radiologists—a big team. The idea behind this award is to fund someone who is creating such teams to get the sophisticated laboratory findings into the clinic for therapeutics as expediently as possible,” she said.
Task Force Co-Chair Waun Ki Hong, MD, said the recipient of the award should have “a strong track record as a translational cancer researcher and as a mentor of young faculty. One has to have a lot of potential to make even more significant contributions as a professor.”
Bruce E. Johnson, MD and Everett Vokes, MD, are the 2008 recipients of the Translational Research Professorship.
Dr. Johnson, a specialist in thoracic malignancies, is the Director of the Lowe Center for Thoracic Oncology at the Dana- Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He also serves as a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. The monies from the Translational Research Professorship will support his current research proposal, “Impact of Genomic Changes on the Treatment of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.”
This funding will enable him to build the multidisciplinary team of medical oncologists, pathologists, and genomics experts necessary to handle the complexity of the research—a team that already includes David Jackman, MD, Pasi A. Jänne, MD, PhD, Matthew L. Meyerson, MD, PhD, and Kwok-Kin Wong, MD, PhD. This study “will be part of the ongoing effort, not just in our center but in many centers, of trying to match the specific changes in individuals’ tumors to the specific treatment,” Dr. Johnson said.
“What we really hope is that what we currently describe as personalized medicine will be available to a higher proportion of people, not just with lung cancer but with other cancers. We want to expand the proportion of patients who receive targeted treatments as the initial treatment to somewhere around 20% to 25% in the next five to 10 years.”
In addition to their research skills, recipients of the Translational Research Professorship are recognized for their dedication to mentoring young oncologists. Dr. Johnson credits his interest in lung cancer, in part, to early-career experiences with Paul A. Bunn, Jr., MD, Harvey M. Golomb, MD, and John D. Minna, MD.
“The thing I enjoy about mentoring,” he said, “is seeing the people I’ve trained in the past achieve high academic rank, develop their own research programs, and demonstrate that they have an impact on the disease. Several of my trainees became professors or heads of divisions before I became a professor—I was quite pleased to see that the students had moved faster than the teacher.”
He originally pursued translational research because it was “a good fit… When I first started my career, I was able to study lung cancers growing outside the body, in cell lines, and also take care of patients clinically. [Translational research] used the talents of working in the laboratory and in making clinical observations.”
Dr. Vokes is a Professor of Medicine, Section Chief of Hematology/Oncology, and Deputy Director of the Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Chicago. His research team will investigate the interaction of chemotherapy and radiation with novel therapies for the treatment of head and neck and lung cancers. The Translational Research Professorship funding will support Dr. Vokes’ team as they continue their research. These investigators include Ravi Salgia, MD, PhD, Ezra E. W. Cohen, MD, FRCPC, Mark Lingen, DDS, PhD, Marsha Rosner, PhD, and Ralph R. Weichselbaum, MD. (Dr. Weichselbaumm served as Dr. Vokes’ mentor for many years and still collaborates with the research team.)
The team is examining a gene therapy approach in which an adenovirus is connected to a radiation inducible promoter, which is linked to the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) gene. This therapy allows for local delivery and activation of TNF by radiation within the cancer cell where it then acts as a radiation sensitizer. “This concept is in phase I research. Linked to the trials are laboratory investigations that allow for a better understanding of the mechanisms,” Dr. Vokes explained. “The University of Chicago has a long history of translational and multispecialty research, and under the leadership of Michelle M. Le Beau, PhD, our cancer center is firmly committed to this approach and supporting complex studies such as this.”
Dr. Vokes noted that his work with upand- coming investigators has been “a wonderful thing.” He cites mentoring the next generation of research scientists as one of his most rewarding professional accomplishments.
Dr. Vokes also feels gratitude toward those who have helped him in his career and acknowledges Harvey Golomb, MD, Dr. Weichselbaum, ASCO President Richard L. Schilsky, MD, and Mark J. Ratain, MD, as mentors and/or collaborators who have influenced his work and who have helped him move his research forward. In addition, he credits fellow ASCO members, including Dr. Hong and Mark Green, MD, as being great advisors and supporters of his work.
“There’s a real need to make a difference and a wonderful opportunity to do so,” Dr. Vokes said. “What my generation as trainees had, and what the current generation of trainees has even more of, is concrete evidence that this research can make a difference for patients, so that is where research is challenging but incredibly rewarding.”
The Translational Research Professorships are supported by a grant from
Genentech BioOncology™ and
GlaxoSmithKline Oncology.
