Career Development Awards Honoring Ruth Bader Ginsburg and John Robert Lewis
These awards were created to foster and grow the number of early-career women and underrepresented scientists receiving funding for pancreatic cancer research and to honor the lives and legacies of two iconic Americans lost to pancreatic cancer. These awards support trailblazing investigators committed to increasing our understanding and treatment of the disease. Each recipient is awarded a three-year, $300,000 grant for their pancreatic cancer research.
Recipients
Career Development Award in Honor of Ruth Bader Ginsburg
2024 -Tracy W. Liu, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology & Cell Biology at West Virginia University School of Medicine. Her project is titled “Expanding immunotherapy in pancreatic cancer by targeting myeloperoxidase.”
2023 -Ashley Kieman, PhD, is an assistant professor in the computational division of the Johns Hopkins Department of Pathology. Her project is titled “3D Morphological Analysis of Human Pancreatic Cancer Liver Metastases.”
2022 – Pingping Hou, PhD, an assistant professor at Rutgers University, is investigating an immune cell population called tumor-associated macrophages (TAMS) that has been shown to cause resistance in a therapy targeting KRAS, a key driver in pancreatic cancer.
2021 – Danielle Engle, PhD, an assistant professor at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, is investigating the role of pancreatitis and inflammation in the formation of pancreatic cancer.
We gratefully acknowledge Jeannette & Stephen Kordiak for supporting the 2022 Lustgarten AACR Career Development Award for Pancreatic Cancer Research in honor of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Career Development Award in Honor of John Robert Lewis
2024 – Christina Towers, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Molecular and Cell Biology Laboratory at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Her project is titled “Targeting metabolic adaptations to autophagy inhibition in PDAC.”
2023 – Christina M. Ferrer, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Pharmacology Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Her project is titled “Metastasis-Initiating Cells in Pancreatic Cancer.”
2022 – Edwin Manuel, PhD, an assistant professor at the Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope, is developing new methods to combat pancreatic cancer therapeutic resistance and adaptation, key components leading to disease progression.
2021 – Avery D. Posey, Jr., PhD, an assistant professor in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, is continuing his research to increase immune system effectiveness at attaching pancreatic cancer. Dr. Posey was the lead presenter at Lustgarten’s Juneteenth Webinar.
