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Roswell Park Deputy Director Elected to the National Academy of Medicine Kunle Odunsi, MD, PhD, FRCOG, FACOG, Deputy Director of Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine—a distinguished lifetime designation that is considered one of the highest honors in health and medicine.FigureKunle Odunsi, MD, PhD, FRCOG, FACOG: Kunle Odunsi, MD, PhD, FRCOG, FACOGThe election of new members recognized for their outstanding professional achievements and commitment to service was announced at the Academy's annual meeting, “Cancers: Can We Beat The Odds,” held in Washington, D.C. “We are so very proud of Kunle and honored to work alongside him,” said Candace S. Johnson, PhD, President and CEO of Roswell Park. “He has earned this incredible distinction through his unwavering dedication to cancer patients and his many achievements in moving cancer research forward.” National Academy of Medicine members are elected by their peers based on their contributions to the advancement of the medical sciences, health care, and public health. Odunsi is the first Roswell Park physician in the center's 120-year history to be elected to the National Academy of Medicine, and one of only three living members in Western New York. In announcing his appointment, the Academy recognized Odunsi “for identifying key mechanisms of immune suppression within the ovarian tumor microenvironment, pioneering studies to re-engineer mature T cells and hematopoietic stem cells for adoptive T-cell therapy, and implementing multi-institutional immunotherapy trials using novel strategies that he developed to impact outcome and quality of life of ovarian cancer patients.” “This wouldn't have been possible without the supportive, transdisciplinary, and collaborative environment at Roswell Park,” said Odunsi, who also serves as Chair of Gynecologic Oncology, M. Steven Piver Professor of Gynecologic Oncology, and Executive Director of the Center for Immunotherapy at the Buffalo-based cancer center. “I am humbled by this honor and so grateful to my extraordinary teams from the gynecologic oncology clinical program and the Center for Immunotherapy, with whom I work every day. And I owe an enormous debt to the patients I have been privileged to work with, and from whom I have learned so much.” Odunsi is a Fellow of both the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in the U.K., and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. He was among the authors of a National Academy of Medicine study published in 2016: “Ovarian Cancers: Evolving Paradigms in Research and Care.” He also spoke about immunotherapy for ovarian cancer at the National Academy of Medicine Annual Meeting in Washington. Fox Chase Professor Honored With Hispanic Heritage Award Jose Russo, MD, FACP, Director of the Irma H. Russo, MD, Breast Cancer Research Lab at Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, was recognized by AL DÍA with a Hispanic Heritage Award at the third annual Hispanic Heritage Awards Luncheon at the Union League of Philadelphia.Jose Russo, MD, FACP: Jose Russo, MD, FACPThe event recognized outstanding leadership from a variety of professionals of Hispanic heritage in the Philadelphia region. Russo was honored in the field of health. Russo received his Medical Doctor degree from the University National of Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina, in 1968. In 1971, he moved to the U.S. and began his work at the Michigan Cancer Foundation's Department of Pathology, where he and his late wife Irma Russo, MD, founded the Breast Cancer Research Laboratory. This lab has authored more than 430 scientific publications, 15 books, and obtained more than $36 million in grants for breast cancer research. In 1991, Russo moved his lab to Fox Chase, where in 2013 it was renamed The Irma H. Russo, MD, Breast Cancer Research Laboratory-FCCC-Temple Health. He and his team are currently developing a clinical trial in the prevention of breast cancer in young women carriers of the BRCA1/2 mutations in collaboration with the oncologists in the medical school at Ghent University in Belgium. “My team and I are passionate about preventing and searching for therapeutic tools for improving the lives of those affected by breast cancer,” Russo said. “It is an honor to be acknowledged for those contributions by members of the Hispanic community.” AL DÍA News Media is a news organization based in Philadelphia, which is focused on the Latino American experience. SKCC–Jefferson Health Director Named AACI President-Elect Karen E. Knudsen, PhD, Enterprise Director of the NCI-designated Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center– Jefferson Health (SKCC), Philadelphia, has been elected Vice President/President-Elect of the Association of American Cancer Institutes' (AACI) Board of Directors.Karen E. Knudsen, PhD: Karen E. Knudsen, PhDKnudsen, who has been serving as SKCC Enterprise Director since 2015, governs cancer research and cancer care across 14 hospitals within Jefferson Health. She is also the Hilary Koprowski Chair, Department of Cancer Biology at Thomas Jefferson University, and Professor of Cancer Biology, Urology, Medical Oncology, and Radiation Oncology. Her translational research centers on prostate cancer and has contributed to new mechanisms for treatment of advanced disease. “Dr. Knudsen is the leader we need for cancer today,” said Stephen K. Klasko, MD, MBA, President of Thomas Jefferson University and CEO of Jefferson Health. “She has a deep commitment to both hard science and the urgency of gaining access to those scientific discoveries for all members of our communities. Here at the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson, she has led our focus on solving the intense disparities in cancer mortality in our city, and improving the lives of all cancer patients through access for all to the most advanced care.” As President of the AACI—an organization comprising 98 premier academic and freestanding cancer research centers in the U.S. and Canada—Knudsen will work with the AACI Board of Directors and other leaders to support their mission to enhance the impact of academic cancer centers. “It's an honor to be elected from my peers as the President-Elect of AACI. I look forward to working not just with AACI leadership but with all centers to advance the pace of discovery, and improve the lives of cancer patients and their families,” Knudsen said. A member of AACI's Board of Directors since 2016, Knudsen was Program Chair of the association's 2017 annual meeting. She also serves on review, advisory, and elected panels for the NIH, Department of Defense, ASCO, American Association for Cancer Research, and is Editor-in-Chief of the journal Molecular Cancer Research. Her 2-year term began Sept. 30 during the AACI/Cancer Center Administrators Forum annual meeting in Chicago. University of Florida Awarded Grant to Establish a Cancer Health Equity Center The NCI has awarded a 5-year, $16 million grant to establish a cancer health equity center at the University of Florida (UF) and partner institutions. The Florida-California Cancer Research, Education, and Engagement, or CaRE2, Health Equity Center will be an interdisciplinary, intercollegiate effort involving researchers from UF, Florida A&M University, and the University of Southern California. The center will bring together researchers from the two states with the highest cancer incidence and mortality to create a bicoastal minority cancer research and training center. Florida and California also have uniquely rich and heterogeneous populations of Blacks and Latinos, who are the focus of this study. Led at UF by Program Directors Folakemi T. Odedina, PhD, and Diana Wilkie, PhD, the CaRE2 center is directed and administered by multiple principal investigators from each institution. Odedina serves a dual appointment as a Professor in the colleges of Pharmacy and Medicine, part of UF Health. She is also the principal investigator and Program Director of the UF Florida Minority Cancer Research and Training, or MiCaRT, Center that was established in 2014 through a grant from the NCI and supported by the UF Health Cancer Center.Folakemi T. Odedina, PhD: Folakemi T. Odedina, PhDDiana Wilkie, PhD: Diana Wilkie, PhDWilkie is the Prairieview Trust-Earl and Margo Powers Endowed Professor at the College of Nursing and Director of the Center for Palliative Care Research and Education. She is also Co-Program Leader of the UF Health Cancer Center's Cancer Population Sciences research program. Both Odedina and Wilkie have extensive experience in leading multidisciplinary center grants and cancer disparities research. “Behind every cancer statistic are the tears and agonies of cancer patients, survivors, family members, and friends,” Odedina said. “I take the fight against cancer personally because I am simply tired of seeing unnecessary cancer deaths in minority and underserved populations globally.” In her roles at the UF MiCaRT Center, Odedina's primary goal has been to transform the exploratory cancer center into a comprehensive health equity center. Wilkie said the center will allow researchers to better understand the culture and background of these minority populations and those diagnosed with cancer. “We have done a lot to reduce cancer mortality and morbidity in general, but research for Blacks and Latinos has not kept pace with the majority population,” Wilkie said. “With the CaRE2 Health Equity Center, we are focusing on the biological and human experience that can be altered from one's cultural background to improve cancer outcomes for Blacks and Latinos. We want to better understand how one's biology, beliefs, and attitudes affect engagement with care and survivorship.” Within each institution there are six CaRE2 center cores designed to be highly integrated into the research platform and to support the overall mission. These cores are led by researchers at their respective institutions and include the administrative core; the research education core; the outreach core; the planning and evaluation core; the shared resources core; the tissue modeling core; and the bioinformatics, statistical, and methodological core. At UF, researchers come from across multiple campuses, including the colleges of Medicine, Pharmacy, Nursing, and Education, UF Research and Academic Center Lake Nona, UF Health Jacksonville, as well as from UF Health Shands Hospital. The team includes researchers with expertise across the spectrum, from molecular biology and bioinformatics to community outreach and clinical interventions. For the first phase of the center, two full research projects and one pilot project will be conducted that are focused on prostate and pancreatic cancers, two cancers with noted disparities among Blacks and little-known information among Latinos. Each project has a team at each of the partnering institutions. Led by Li-Ming Su, MD, Chair of the UF College of Medicine's Department of Urology, the first full research project will aim to understand the contribution of novel mitochondrial-derived peptides to racial differences in prostate cancer development.Li-Ming Su, MD: Li-Ming Su, MDThe second research project is led by Jose Trevino, MD, Assistant Professor in the UF College of Medicine's Department of Surgery, and aims to reduce disparities in efficacy of a chemotherapy treatment by using molecular profiles of patients to predict their sensitivity to this treatment, taking into account various factors related to racial and ethnic differences.Jose Trevino, MD: Jose Trevino, MDThomas Schmittgen, PhD, Chair of the UF College of Pharmacy's Department of Pharmaceutics, will lead the pilot project that focuses on identifying the genetic basis of racial disparities in pancreatic cancer by examining early events that lead to the cancer formation using human samples in vitro.Thomas Schmittgen, PhD: Thomas Schmittgen, PhDAnother goal of the center is to provide research training opportunities for underrepresented minority trainees and early-stage investigators that foster their individual career development. “This center really ‘takes a village’ to address cancer health disparities,” Odedina said. “Our strength is in our diversity, with the center being led by five underrepresented minority scientists and four women.” The center will also be supported by the UF Health Cancer Center. Jonathan Licht, MD, Director of the UF Health Cancer Center, said he is proud of the role that the Cancer Center has played in supporting the aspirations of this team and all they will accomplish. “This center will also expand our reach beyond North Central Florida to more urban Orlando and Jacksonville areas and bring UF expertise to study the challenges in underserved and underrepresented cancer populations,” Licht said. “The goal of our Cancer Center is to bring the best minds and the most impactful resources to work on behalf of our community to solve the challenges of cancer.” Within the 5-year grant period, the researchers have various scholarly productivity and goals, including 39 presentations, 20 scientific publications, 25 grants submitted with at least 15 being awarded, 26 undergraduate trainees, 28 post-baccalaureate trainees, 34 graduate student trainees, 21 postdoc trainees, 25 ESI trainees, five awards, and seven community reports. Frederick National Laboratory Names Chief Science Officer Leonard P. Freedman, PhD, has been named Chief Science Officer at the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research in Maryland. He joins the staff after 6 years as founding President of the Global Biological Standards Institute.Leonard P. Freedman, PhD: Leonard P. Freedman, PhD“I am delighted to announce Dr. Freedman's appointment and to welcome him with great enthusiasm to the leadership team here at the Frederick National Laboratory,” said Ethan Dmitrovsky, MD, Laboratory Director of the Frederick National Laboratory. “Dr. Freedman is a widely recognized and highly effective leader in basic biomedical research, drug discovery, and science policy,” Dmitrovsky said. “He has extensive experience in the private and non-profit sectors, as well as in academia. From this experience, he brings a wealth of relevant knowledge and a collegial, yet determined, manner that will serve him and us well in his new role.” In his new role, Freedman will provide internal scientific leadership while building external partnerships and collaborations in science and technology development. His focus is on translating science into medicine to benefit patients suffering from AIDS, cancer, and emerging health challenges. “I am extremely excited to join an incredible team doing amazing science and supporting the important mission that affects so many people,” Freedman said. “In getting to know the scientists and staff at Frederick, I am already impressed with the depth and breadth of the science and technologies coming out of this national facility,” he said. “I look forward to supporting the many important projects that are already under way and to further developing the promise of the Frederick National Laboratory.” Freedman comes to the Frederick National Laboratory after working in science policy at the Global Biological Standards Institute, a nonprofit dedicated to advancing life science standards and best practices through policy initiatives, thought leadership, and education. Previously, he served as Vice Dean for Research and Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Jefferson Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. Previously, Freedman was a member and Professor of Cell Biology and Genetics at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Weil Cornell Medical College. There, Freedman and his laboratory made decisive discoveries in the area of nuclear hormone receptor structure and function. Freedman has received numerous competitively funded NIH grants and was the recipient of major research honors, including the Boyer Award for Biomedical Research at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and a MERIT award from NIH. He was also the recipient of the Ernst Oppenheimer Award from The Endocrine Society. Widely published, Freedman has also served on scientific review panels and editorial boards. For 10 years, he was editor of Molecular and Cellular Biology. In addition, Freedman served on the Board of Directors of the American Type Culture Collection. New Penn Medicine Center Brings Immunotherapy to Brain Tumor Treatment Penn Medicine recently announced the newest Translational Center of Excellence (TCE) in the Abramson Cancer Center, Philadelphia, focused on glioblastoma multiforme. The team will investigate new immune therapies for glioblastoma and, in particular, design and test new CAR T-cell therapies. Roughly 15,000 people are diagnosed with glioblastoma each year, with a median survival rate of only 15 months. Recently, and most notably, Senator John McCain died 13 months after his glioblastoma diagnosis. “Penn Medicine is at the cutting-edge of research and clinical care for patients with glioblastoma, and our TCE will help accelerate this mission-critical work,” said Donald M. O'Rourke, MD, John Templeton, Jr., MD Associate Professor in Neurosurgery in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. “Immunotherapy is a game-changer for aggressive forms of cancer and Penn is the only institution in the U.S. researching this kind of combined CAR-T and checkpoint inhibitor therapy for glioblastoma right now.”Donald M. O'Rourke, MD: Donald M. O'Rourke, MDThe TCE, a partnership of the Abramson Cancer Center and the Department of Neurosurgery, is led by O'Rourke, and brings together multidisciplinary teams across Penn, including investigators from and Laboratory Medicine, and Translational Medicine, Medicine, Neurosurgery, Radiation Oncology, and Medicine and at the School of In to novel treatment the Abramson Cancer Center and Penn Brain Tumor Center have a full of medical and for These include more as therapy, and as well as new as and “The cutting-edge are coming from said M. 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