2026 Career Development Awards Announced 

2026 Lustgarten Foundation-AACR Career Development Award recipients an Announced at 2026  AACR Annual Meeting

UNIONDALE, NY, June 25, 2026 – The Lustgarten Foundation, in collaboration with the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), has announced the 2026 recipients of the Lustgarten Foundation-AACR Career Development Awards for Pancreatic Cancer Research, in honor of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and John Robert Lewis. Grants were awarded to Sandra Misale, PhD, Johns Hopkins University, and Dig B. Mahat, PhD, Columbia University. The awards were presented at the AACR Annual Meeting 2026 in San Diego, California and highlight Lustgarten’s ongoing commitment to advancing innovative research and creatively approaching the complexities of this devastating disease.  

2026 Lustgarten Foundation-AACR Career Development Award for Pancreatic Cancer Research, in Honor of Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Recipient: Sandra Misale, PhD, Assistant Professor of Oncology at John Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
Project Title: “HER2 targeting in KRAS mutant pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma”
Dr. Misale’s research focuses on why some pancreatic cancers stop responding to KRAS inhibitors. Her work aims to better understand how cancer cells interact with their surrounding environment and identify the best way to combine KRAS inhibitors with targeted chemotherapy.

2026 Lustgarten Foundation-AACR Career Development Award for Pancreatic Cancer Research, in Honor of John Robert Lewis
Recipient: Dig B. Mahat, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Systems Biology, Columbia University, New York, NY
Project Title: “Targeting immune cell enhancers propagating immunosuppression in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma”
Dr. Mahat’s research focuses on how certain immune cells help pancreatic tumors avoid the body’s immune response. His work aims to identify what drives these cells, with the goal of guiding new immunotherapy approaches for pancreatic cancer. 

“We are proud to support Dr. Misale and Dr. Mahat through the Lustgarten Foundation-AACR Career Development Awards,” said Andrew Rakeman, PhD, Vice President of Research at the Lustgarten Foundation. “These investigators are pursuing innovative approaches to some of the most pressing challenges in pancreatic cancer. Their work highlights the importance of supporting emerging scientific leaders who are driving the next wave of discovery and therapeutic progress.” 

The Lustgarten Foundation-AACR Career Development Awards support career advancement and the development of promising talent in pancreatic cancer research. Recipients are awarded a three-year, $300,000 grant for meritorious basic, translational, clinical, or population sciences research.