A NETRF Researcher Honored
A NETRF-funded researcher earned the highest honor from the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) on June 3, 2017 as part of its Annual Meeting in Chicago. Carl June, MD, University of Pennsylvania, received the David A. Karnofsky Memorial Award for outstanding contributions to cancer research, diagnosis, and treatment.
Dr. June co-leads an ongoing and very promising NETRF-funded investigation: “Developing Novel Treatments for Neuroendocrine Tumors using CAR T-Cell Technology.” The study explores a personalized immunotherapy approach, called CAR T-cell therapy, in which a person’s immune cells are engineered to recognize and attack tumors. Dr. June’s co-principal investigator, Xianxin Hua, MD, PhD, updated NETRF at its April scientific symposium, sharing preliminary data on the use of this novel approach in NETs.
“This is a wonderful recognition of Dr. June’s pivotal discoveries in the use of CAR T-cell therapy,” said Effie Tzameli, PhD, Director of Research, NETRF. “This technology shows great promise in hematologic malignancies and look forward to seeing similar success in NETs, in our work with Dr. June and his collaborators at the Perelman School of Medicine.”
NETRF carefully selects the most innovative and successful researchers to pursue improvements in current NET treatment approaches. An external Board of Scientific Advisors conducts rigorous reviews of research proposals and NETRF staff monitor studies’ progress.
“We are proud to work with some of the world’s most talented scientific minds, said Dr. Tzameli. “To have a member of our research community honored by such a high-profile award affirms our aspiration to change the course of NET treatment by partnering with the brightest and best.”
About Carl June, MD
Carl June, MD, is the Richard W. Vague Professor in Immunotherapy in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine, the Director of the Center for Cellular Immunotherapy in the Abramson Cancer Center, and the Director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at Penn.
Dr. June has published more than 350 manuscripts and has received numerous prizes and honors, including election to the Institute of Medicine in 2012 and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2014. In April, he was named a fellow of the American Association for Cancer Research Academy. Dr. June is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, as well as Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.