Gillison Receives Prestigious AACR Award
Maura L. Gillison, MD, PhD, professor of Medicine, of Epidemiology and of Otolaryngology at the OSUCCC – James, has received the 36th Annual AACR Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Memorial Award from the American Association for Cancer Research.
Gillison, who is also the Jeg Coughlin Chair of Cancer Research, was honored at the association’s 2012 annual meeting in Chicago, where she presented a lecture entitled “Clinical Implications of HPV in Head and Neck Cancers.”
“It is an honor to receive this award,” Gillison says. “Our team strives to generate data that will improve the lives of individuals affected by head and neck cancers, and this is a wonderful validation that we are on the right track.”
The AACR noted that Gillison’s “seminal research on the role of HPV in head and neck cancers revolutionized the specialty. Her research has demonstrated that HPV infection causes a distinct molecular, clinical and pathological subset of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas.”
NCI Renews Ohio State’s ‘Comprehensive’ Status
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has again designated The Ohio State University a “comprehensive” cancer center, a status the University has continuously retained since 1976. The NCI awards the title only to cancer programs that substantially contribute at all levels of cancer research – basic, clinical and population sciences – as well as provide patient care and professional and community education.
The University’s cancer program was evaluated for scientific impact, improving cancer care and clinical trials enrollment, and service to the community.
“As one of the nation’s leading comprehensive cancer centers, our groundbreaking discoveries are changing the way the world diagnoses, treats and prevents cancer,” says Michael A. Caligiuri, MD, director of Ohio State’s Comprehensive Cancer Center and CEO of The James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute. “We are pleased to maintain our ‘comprehensive’ status following a rigorous NCI review process, including a site visit by 28 scientists from other universities that led to the OSUCCC’s rating of exceptional, which is the highest possible rating.”