The Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Research Alliance awards $4.2M to seven rising leaders in cancer research
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The Pershing Square Sohn Prize Has Supported 46 Cancer Scientists in the New York Life Science Ecosystem by Funding High-Risk, High-Reward Research
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Research Alliance today announced the seven winners of the 2020 Pershing Square Sohn Prize for Young Investigators in Cancer Research, awarded annually to cancer research scientists and physician-scientists based in the greater New York-area. The Prize, totaling $4.2 million in funding awarded, emboldens early-career investigators to pursue research projects at a stage when traditional funding is lacking. Recipients receive $200,000 per year for up to three years.
Over the past seven years, over $27 million in funds have been awarded to 46 scientists. With this funding, provided at the early stage of their promising careers, the recipients are contributing to New York’s growing biomedical research hub. In addition to funding, the Alliance provides Prize winners with opportunities to present their work to scientific and business audiences, helping to bridge the gap between academia and industry and across application domains.
“With COVID-19 disrupting lives, especially for those dealing with cancer, enabling early-stage research remains key to the health and wellbeing of patients and their families,” said Pershing Square Foundation Trustee Neri Oxman. “This year’s winners, when viewed as a whole, embody research characterized by boldness and interdisciplinarity. We are honored to support our scientists, and the novel work they lead.”
The winners of the 2020 Pershing Square Sohn Prize are:
“We remain committed to cancer research even during this global pandemic. We are extremely impressed by the superb quality of the proposals we received as well as the exceptionally talented researchers that are working in the greater New York area institutions,” said Olivia Tournay Flatto, PhD, Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Research Alliance and President of The Pershing Square Foundation. “It is our goal to build a community of innovative and talented individuals, and to connect them with a ‘family’ of funders and collaborators in pursuit of novel ideas, therapies, technologies, and, ultimately, knowledge that can further our understanding of disease and fundamental human biology.”
“The work to find new treatments and cures for cancer continues to be an urgent global health priority so we are heartened by the research approaches of this year’s Prize winners,” said Evan Sohn, Vice President of the Sohn Conference Foundation. “We are confident that with the passion, creativity, and insights we’ve seen from this group of scientists, they will make discoveries that will have a lasting impact for the patients for whom our Foundation fights.”
As part of the selection process, the Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Research Alliance relied on the guidance of a highly accomplished advisory board.
Prize Advisory Board members include: Jeanne B. Ackman, MD, Director, Thoracic MRI, Radiologist, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School; Mikael Dolsten, MD, PhD, President, Worldwide Research and Development, Pfizer, Inc.; Allan Goodman, PhD, President and CEO, The Institute of International Education; Pablo Legorreta, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Royalty Pharma; Richard P. Lifton, MD, PhD, President, The Rockefeller University; Siddhartha Mukherjee, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Oncology, Columbia University Medical Center, and Author of The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer and The Gene: An Intimate History; James E. Rothman, PhD, Fergus F. Wallace Professor of Biomedical Sciences, Yale University and 2013 Nobel Prize Winner in Physiology or Medicine; Bruce Stillman, PhD, President and CEO, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory; Craig Thompson, MD, President and CEO, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; and George D. Yancopoulos, MD, PhD, President and Chief Scientific Officer, Regeneron.
Additional details about the Prize winners can be found on the PSSCRA website at https://psscra.org/.
About The Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Research Alliance
The Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Research Alliance was formed in 2013 through a $25 million commitment by The Pershing Square Foundation, which partnered with The Sohn Conference Foundation. The Alliance is dedicated to playing a catalytic role in accelerating cures for cancer by supporting innovative cancer research and by facilitating collaborations between academia and industry. Annually, the Alliance awards the Pershing Square Sohn Prize to young New York area-based scientists who are engaged in cutting-edge cancer research. For more information, visit http://psscra.org/.
Contacts
Christy Barrow
Program Manager, Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Research Alliance
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