Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) announces the following awards and appointments:
Tania Bubb Elected President of The Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology
Tania Bubb, PhD, RN, Senior Director of Infection Control, has been elected president of The Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC), a 15,000-member, national organization that advances the science and practice of infection prevention and control and is the leading professional association for infection preventionists. Dr. Bubb will serve as president- elect on the board of directors in 2023 and president in 2024.
James Flory, MD, endocrinologist, received a Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) funding award. PCORI is an independent, nonprofit organization authorized by Congress in 2010. Its mission is to fund research that will provide patients, their caregivers and clinicians with evidence-based information needed to make better informed decisions.
Ghassan Abou-Alfa, MD, medical oncologist, was honored with a Presidential Order of Merit of the Lebanese Government called the National Order of the Cedar, of the Officer Order. It is the highest state order of Lebanon and was bestowed in recognition of the exceptional contributions he has made to medical and humanitarian societal efforts, including contributing to the development of six FDA-approved treatments, successfully collaborating with oncology organizations worldwide to further patient care, and work in global cancer disparities, especially in areas of conflict.
Wendy Lichtenthal, PhD, psychologist, received the American Psychosocial Oncology Society (APOS) Outstanding Clinical Care Award for 2023. The mission of APOS is to advance the development and delivery of equitable and evidence-based psychosocial oncology care through research, practice, education, and advocacy. The award is presented to a clinician in recognition of outstanding clinical contributions to the field of psychosocial oncology.
MSK Tops Prestigious List of Highly Cited Researchers 2022
MSK was ranked among the top 15 organizations with the greatest number of highly cited scientific researchers worldwide, according to the annual list of Highly Cited Researchers published by the Institute for Scientific Information at Clarivate. Forty-one researchers from MSK and the Sloan Kettering Institute (SKI) are recognized on this year’s list for demonstrating significant influence in their chosen fields by publishing multiple highly cited papers in their areas of expertise during the past decade. These papers are deemed to be the most scientifically impactful and are ranked in the top 1% by citations for their field and year.
MSK Awarded a Specialized Programs of Research Excellence Grant for Prostate Cancer Research
MSK has again been awarded a prestigious Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) grant for prostate cancer research by the National Cancer Institute. Howard Scher, MD, Head of the Biomarker Development Program, and Yu Chen, MD, PhD, will serve as Principal Investigators of the grant, which was renewed for five years from 2022 to 2027. The program was initially established at MSK in 2002 to support prostate cancer research.
MSK Legal Department Achieved Mansfield Rule 2.0 Certification by Diversity Lab
MSK’s Legal Department has achieved Mansfield Rule: Legal Department (MRLD) 2.0 Certification Plus status by Diversity Lab. MRLD is a rigorous, two-year certification program that aims to implement, promote and sustain multiple diversity initiatives throughout an organization’s in-house legal department. Certification Plus status is achieved by legal departments that are not only successful in meeting these goals, but also achieve significant diverse representations in key leadership positions during this progress.
The David H. Koch Center for Cancer Care at MSK Received the Urban Land Institute New York Award for Excellence in Institutional Development
The David H. Koch Center for Cancer Care at MSK was awarded the Excellence in Institutional Development award by the Urban Land Institute (ULI) New York. The award recognizes stand-out projects in private, public and nonprofit sectors across New York State that reflect ULI’s commitment to shaping the future of the built environment for transformative impact in communities worldwide.
The David H. Koch Center for Cancer Care at MSK Received 2022 American Architecture Award
The David H. Koch Center for Cancer Care at MSK received the 2022 American Architecture award from The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies. The American Architecture award pays tribute to new developments in design and underscores the direction and understanding of current cutting-edge processes consistent with today’s design thinking. This year’s program honors new corporate, intuitional, commercial, residential architecture, interiors, and urban planning, designed for both built and unbuilt projects alike since January 1, 2019.
OncoKB® Listed among Project Management Institute’s 2022 Top 10 Most Influential Projects
OncoKB®, a pathbreaking precision oncology knowledge base powered by the clinical expertise of MSK, is featured on Project Management Institute’s (PMI) 2022 Top 10 Most Influential Projects list. PMI’s most influential projects in 2022 aim to tackle the problems of the present for a more ideal future. Each project listed is back by teams delivering inspiring solutions for the world’s most pressing issues which can lead to making the way we live, work, and play a lot easier, better and interesting.
Omar Abdel-Wahab, MD, hematologic oncologist, was named the new Chair of the Molecular Pharmacology Program at Sloan Kettering Institute. Dr. Abdel-Wahab spends his time in the laboratory investigating the underlying causes of hematologic malignancies by studying the genes of patient samples as well as in vitro and in vivo models. He holds the Edward P. Evans Endowed Chair for MDS and his clinical expertise is in Leukemia and Myeloid Malignancies (myeloproliferative neoplasms, myelodysplasia, acute myeloid leukemia.
Maria Jasin, PhD, molecular biologist in the Sloan Kettering Institute, was honored with the 2022 Jill Rose Award by BCRF. Every year BCRF honors one investigator with their Foundation’s highest honor. Dr. Jasin was recognized for her outstanding contributions to science and breast cancer research. Her research seeks to understand how BRCA-related breast cancers evolve to develop ways to prevent the disease particularly in BRCA gene mutations carriers. A member of the Developmental Biology Program, Dr. Jasin is a pioneer in DNA repair research, and her work is considered a basis for several breakthroughs including CRISPR gene editing.