FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
May 28, 2008
CONTACT:
Heather Goethe
703-299-1016
Alexandria, VA—The ASCO Cancer Foundation will honor over 100 oncologists and oncology fellows with the International Development and Education Award (IDEA) and Merit Awards at the the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s 44th Annual Meeting in Chicago. Both awards promote medical education, career development and clinical research to improve cancer care. All award recipients will receive funding to help with travel expenses to attend the ASCO Annual Meeting.
The ASCO Cancer Foundation IDEA program is designed to improve global oncology by providing support to twenty young oncologists from outside the United States who wish to attend the Meeting. IDEA recipients are paired with ASCO members from the United States and Canada. These ASCO volunteer mentors help the awardees navigate the ASCO Annual Meeting, which attracts more than 30,000 attendees worldwide. Following the meeting, the mentors host the IDEA award recipients at their clinical institutions for several days to facilitate further hands-on learning opportunities. The oncologists are carefully paired based on shared sub-specialties or research interests. In prior years, these mentorship opportunities have blossomed into long-term collaborations between oncologists practicing thousands of miles apart.
“The ASCO Meeting is a wonderful opportunity for our members to cultivate positive relationships with these young, talented oncologists,” said Professor Alexander Eggermont, 2007-2008 IDEA Working Group Chair. “It is a privilege to work directly with these oncologists to foster their interest and education in the field of oncology. As the young investigators of our future, it is in our best interest to invest in their career development.”
IDEA recipients participate in a comprehensive program at the ASCO meeting, including a panel discussion about cancer in the developing world, and they attend educational and scientific sessions. In addition, recipients receive three years of complimentary membership to ASCO, which includes a subscription to the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
The ASCO Cancer Foundation Merit Award program was established to encourage more fellows to attend the Annual Meeting and to further promote clinical research in young investigators. The awards are presented to 100 oncology fellows annually in recognition of outstanding abstracts submitted to the Program Committee for the upcoming Annual Meeting. Two of these fellows have further distinguished themselves by receiving special Merit Awards for submitting top-ranking abstracts to the Meeting. Joshua Brody, MD, of Stanford University Medical Center, will receive the Bradley Stuart Beller Merit Award for his research in developmental therapeutics on immunotherapy. Ajay Gupta, MD, MBBS, of the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, India, is the 2008 recipient of the Brigid Leventhal Merit Award, for his research in pediatric cancer.
“ASCO believes it is important to recognize the contributions of clinical investigators from all nations,” said Michael Carducci, MD, 2007- 2008 Chair of the Scientific Program Committee. “The winners of this year’s IDEA Awards represent the future of cancer care and the continued progress against cancer around the world .”
This year the ASCO Cancer Foundation will award over $200,000 to the IDEA and Merit Award winners. The 2008 IDEA Awards are generously supported through grants from Amgen Oncology; AstraZeneca; Merck Serono; Roche; and Wyeth. The 2008 Merit Awards is made possible through grant support from the American Cancer Society (ACS); Amgen Oncology; Aptium Oncology; Bristol-Myers Squibb and ImClone Systems Incorporate; Celgene Corporation; Lilly Oncology; Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Novartis Oncology; OSI Oncology; Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; sanofi-aventis U.S.; and Wyeth.
ASCO Foundation IDEA Recipients:
Charles Adisa
Nigeria |
Nataliya Kitsera
Ukraine |
Hatern Azim
Egypt |
Qui Li
PR China |
Ashush Bakshi
India |
Yan Li
PR China |
Yasemin Bolukbasi
Turkey |
Cau Nguyen
Vietnam |
Mobolaji Dada
Nigeria |
Joao Nunes
Brazil |
Balazs Dome
Hungary |
Navneet Singh
India |
Mohamed El Noseery, MSC
Zambia |
Igor Stojkovski
Macedonia |
Dej Gautam
Nepal |
Ilya Tsimafeyeu
Russia
|
Sonja Genedieva-Stavrik
Macedonia |
Piotr Wysocki
Poland |
Sarneh Hashem
Jordan |
Jianquan Zhu
PR Chin
|
About ASCO
The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) is the world’s leading professional organization representing physicians who care for people with cancer. With more than 25,000 members, ASCO is committed to improving cancer care through scientific meetings, educational programs and peer-reviewed journals. For ASCO information and resources, visit www.asco.org/presscenter. Patient-oriented cancer information is available at www.cancer.net.
About The ASCO Cancer Foundation
The ASCO Cancer Foundation is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization that supports educational programs of the highest quality in cancer care and prevention, facilitates the dissemination of information about cancer and cancer treatment to patients and their families; and, through its grants program, supports, encourages, and recognizes excellence in clinical research in the field of oncology. For more information on the ASCO Foundation, please visit http://ASCOFoundation.org.
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