2008 Clinical Investigator Awards Recipients

The Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO) presented four $100,000 Clinical Investigator Awards (CIAs) at its 2008 Annual Cancer Symposium in March in Chicago, IL.

The recipients of the awards, designed to promote patient-oriented research through the training of surgical oncologists in clinical and translational science, include:

• Ronald P. DeMatteo, MD, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center,  “Prognostic value of molecular and pathologic factors in primary gastrointestinal stromal tumors”
  
• Sam S. Yoon, MD, Massachusetts General Hospital, “Combining targeted biological agents with radiation therapy for soft tissue sarcomas”
  
• Peter Allen, MD, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, “Cyst fluid expression profiling for the identification of high risk intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms of the pancreas” (Amgen).
  
• Anthony A. Lucci, Jr., MD, MD Anderson Cancer Center, “Identification and characterization of disseminated tumor cells in the bone marrow of breast cancer patients” (Sanofi-Aventis).

The awards are for two years ($50,000/year), beginning April 1, 2008.

The SSO expresses its appreciations to its corporate partners—Amgen and Sanofi-Aventis—for their assistance in funding two of the awards. The Society funded the remaining two CIAs.