The Conquer Cancer Foundation of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) has awarded Young Investigator Awards to two fellows from the UNC School of Medicine. Siddharth Sheth, DO, MPH, and Luis Malpica Castillo, MD.
These awards provide funding to early to mid-career oncologists conducting clinical research. Research projects conducted by this year’s awardees seek to provide additional insight into precision medicine, psychosocial and supportive care, use of digital technologies, and liquid biopsy application, according to a news release about the awards.
“Conquer Cancer is proud to support the next generation of clinical cancer researchers, who in the years to come, will advance our collective understanding of cancer and further propel progress against cancer,” said Thomas G. Roberts, Jr., MD, FASCO, chair of the Conquer Cancer Board of Directors.
Sheth received the Conquer Cancer Foundation of ASCO/The Hearst Foundation Young Investigator Award to support the project “Circulating Tumor DNA (ctDNA) in Locally Advanced Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma.” Sheth will be mentored by UNC Lineberger’s Gaorav Gupta, MD, PhD, assistant professor in the UNC School of Medicine Department of Radiation Oncology.
Malpica Castillo was awarded the Conquer Cancer Foundation of ASCO/Judith Salmon Kaur, MD, Young Investigator Award for the project “Antigenic and Immunogenic Evaluation of Afro-Caribbean Adult T-Cell Leukemia/Lymphoma for the Optimization of Interferon-Based Therapy.” He will be mentored by Juan Carlos Ramos, MD, and UNC Lineberger’s Benjamin Vincent, MD, assistant professor in the UNC School of Medicine Division of Hematology/Oncology.