Grants
Michael A. Caligiuri, MD, director of The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center and CEO of The James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute, has received a five-year, $2.56 million Oncology Training Grant renewal (CA009338) from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to support Ohio State’s postdoctoral oncology training program.
Ramiro Garzon, MD, associate professor in the Division of Hematology, was awarded a five-year, $1.59 million NCI grant (CA188269) to develop a new class of drugs called CRM1 inhibitors for treatment of acute leukemia.
Balveen Kaur, PhD, professor of Neurological Surgery and associate director for shared resources at the OSUCCC – James, has received a five-year, $1.7 million grant from the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NS064607) for a study evaluating changes in the tumor microenvironment induced by oncolytic viruses (OV) and their effect on OV therapy.
Fen Xia, MD, PhD, professor of Radiation Oncology, and Arnab Chakravarti, MD, professor and chair of Radiation Oncology, have received a five-year, $2.09 million NCI grant (CA188500) to study the molecular mechanisms involved in the response of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) cells and brain neurons to DNA damage caused by radiation therapy. The goal is to improve the therapeutic index in GBM treatment.
Ramesh Ganju, PhD, professor of Pathology, has received a five-year, $1.23 million NCI grant (CA109527) to further characterize the role of several chemokine-receptor pathways in regulating breast tumor growth, angiogenesis and metastasis.
Metin Gurcan, PhD, associate professor of Biomedical Informatics and director of the Clinical Image Analysis Lab, and Gerard Lozanski, MD, associate professor-clinical of Pathology, have received a four-year, $1.09 million NCI grant (CA134451) for a computer-based assessment of the tumor microenvironment in follicular lymphoma.
Norman Lehman, MD, PhD, associate professor-clinical and director of the Division of Neuropathology, has received a $1.8 million, five-year grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NS081125) to study Aurora-A, a protein that helps drive cell division, as a novel therapeutic target in glioblastoma.
Steven Clinton, MD, PhD, professor, Division of Medical Oncology, College of Medicine; Purnima Kumar, MDS, PhD, associate professor, Division of Periodontology, College of Dentistry; Steven Schwartz, PhD, professor of Food Science and Technology, College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences; and Christopher Weghorst, PhD, professor and associate dean for research, Division of Environmental Health Sciences, College of Public Health, have received a five-year, $3.1 million NCI grant (CA188250) to investigate the interactions between black raspberry phytochemicals and tobacco on the oral microbiome and how they influence early oral carcinogenesis.
Awards and Honors
Donald Benson, MD, PhD, associate professor, Division of Hematology, has been elected a member of the Henry Kunkel Society, which is dedicated to fostering patient-oriented research, particularly in the field of immunology.
Clara D. Bloomfield, MD, Distinguished University Professor, and cancer scholar and senior adviser to the OSUCCC – James, has been honored as one of 50 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Oncology Luminaries. Bloomfield was recognized for her years of “practice-changing leukemia and lymphoma research.”
Bloomfield and Carlo Croce, MD, professor and chair of the Department of Molecular Virology, Immunology and Medical Genetics, and director of Human Cancer Genetics at the OSUCCC – James, are among 14 faculty and staff at Ohio State’s Wexner Medical Center to appear on the 2014 list of Highly Cited Researchers presented by Thomson Reuters, a mass media and information firm.
John C. Byrd , MD, director, Division of Hematology, has been chosen clinical advisory editor for hematology/oncology for Oncology Times. In addition, Byrd has been appointed chair of the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology Leukemia Correlative Science Committee.
Deliang Guo, PhD, assistant professor of Radiation Oncology, has received the 2014 Scholar Award from the American Cancer Society. It includes a four-year, $792,000 grant that will help support Guo’s examination of cholesterol metabolism in promoting glioblastoma.
Ehud Mendel, MD, FACS, professor of Neurological Surgery and of Orthopaedics, is listed among “230 Spine Surgeons to Know – 2014,” compiled by Becker’s Spine Review. Mendel directs Ohio State’s Spine Oncology Program and is clinical co-director of the university’s Spinal Biodynamics and Ergonomics Laboratory.
Ashley Rosko, MD, assistant professor, Division of Hematology, has received an NCCN Foundation Young Investigator Award. Presented by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Foundation, it includes a $150,000 grant over two years for a study titled “NCCN Senior Adult Oncology: Myeloma Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment and Biomarkers of Aging Investigation.”
The OSUCCC – James Blood and Marrow Transplant Unit has been awarded a Bronze Beacon Award by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN). Beacon Awards recognize exceptional care of patients and a positive and supportive work environment for nurses.
Ohio State's Wexner Medical Center has been recognized as a “Best in Class” hospital by the Institute for Diversity in Health Management, an American Hospital Association affiliate. The recognition came following a national survey called “Diversity and Disparities: A Benchmarking Study of U.S. Hospitals.” More than 1,100 hospitals responded to the survey.
Faculty and Programs
Ohio State's Center for Retrovirus Research in the College of Veterinary Medicine has awarded its 2015 Distinguished Research Career Award to Paul Bieniasz, PhD, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, head of Rockefeller University’s Laboratory of Retrovirology, and a faculty member at the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center. His Distinguished Seminar will be held April 30.
The OSUCCC – James has awarded the 21st Herbert and Maxine Block Memorial Lectureship Award for Distinguished Achievement in Cancer to Carol Greider, PhD, a Nobel Laureate and the Daniel Nathans Professor and director of the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Greider helped discover telomerase, an enzyme that maintains telomeres, which form the ends of chromosomes.
Leadership Activities and Appointments
Pierre Giglio, MD, former director of neuro-oncology at the Medical University of South Carolina, has joined Ohio State’s College of Medicine as an associate professor in the Department of Neurological Surgery, Division of NeuroOncology.
Theodoros (Ted) Teknos, MD, a professor and surgical oncologist at Ohio State since 2008, has been named chair of the Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery in the College of Medicine.
Jeff Walker, MBA, senior executive director of the OSUCCC – James, has been elected treasurer of the Association of American Cancer Institutes (AACI), which comprises 93 leading cancer research centers in the United States. They include NCI-designated centers and academic-based cancer research programs that receive NCI support.