The Pelotonia Fellowship Program funds multidisciplinary, cutting-edge cancer research performed by our best undergraduate, graduate, medical and postdoctoral students, regardless of their field of study. These students move us toward our goal of one day living in a cancer-free world while at the same time developing their careers to become independent cancer researchers.
To date, 353 awards have been given to these trainees. Our fellows have made discoveries that are being published in prestigious journals; have received additional research and scholarly awards; have produced data that has culminated in large grant applications; have continued onto successful paths into graduate and medical schools and into postdoctoral, industry and faculty positions.
We are very proud of the diversity and transparency of our program. As you look through this report, you will see projects funded from 51 departments in 10 different colleges at The Ohio State University, Nationwide Children’s Hospital and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. We understand new discoveries occur when people look at problems from different points of view and with broad areas of expertise. Funding talented student researchers in diverse disciplines like Engineering, Physics and Business helps in our fight against cancer and pays tremendous dividends.
To see all of the funded projects, in addition to a list of our committee members, application deadlines, scoring criteria and fellowship guidelines, go to our website: go.osu.edu/pelotoniafellowships > Research & Education > Pelotonia-Funded Research > Pelotonia Fellowship Program.
A program like this would not be successful if it were not for the hard work of all of our 46 committee members who represent 19 different departments. These colleagues are incredibly dedicated to the success of this program and I want to thank each of them for their hard work and dedication. Special thanks to Natarajan Muthusamy, DVM, PhD, for his work helping develop our international program with Avinashilingam University. We would like to welcome Doug Ulman and thank Karl Koon and Justine Boggs at Team Buckeye and the Pelotonia team for all their hard work to support this cause that we believe so much in. We are also incredibly thankful to the Pelotonia participants (both traditional and virtual riders, volunteers and donors), OSU faculty, departments, colleges, and especially the graduate school and Dr. Scott Herness, Interim Vice Provost for Graduate Studies and dean of the graduate school, for supporting and providing matching funds to our program.
Even though this fellowship program has had some amazing accomplishments in a short period of time, moving forward, additional emphasis will be placed on increasing the metrics of incoming postdoctoral trainees; increasing diversity in all programs and increasing the pool of Population Science and Biomedical Informatics applicants. Accomplishment of these goals will help us train the next generation of cancer scientists and help our university become one of the best training institutions in the nation.
Thank you for your support and interest.
Sincerely,
Gustavo Leone, PhD
Klotz Chair in Cancer Research
Professor
Director of the Solid Tumor Biology Program
Associate Director of Basic Research
Comprehensive Cancer Center
The Ohio State University
Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, PhD
Director, Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research
Distinguished University Professor
S. Robert Davis Chair of Medicine
Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology
Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research
Ohio State University College of Medicine