ASH Clinical News March 2015 | Page 11

UP FRONT The Society Pages LRF Awards Grants to Study Lymphoma in Adolescent, Young Adult Patients As part of a partnership with The Paul Foundation on Critical Adolescent and Young Adult Initiative, the Lymphoma Research Foundation (LRF) has awarded its first research grant focused solely on combating lymphoma in the adolescent and young adult (AYA) population. The two-year, $100,000 grant was awarded to David Scott, MD, MBChB, of the British Columbia Cancer Agency, who will serve as the grant’s principal investigator. Us- Theodore Lawrence Named Director of Michigan’s Comprehensive Cancer Center Theodore S. Lawrence, MD, PhD, has been named the director of the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Lawrence succeeds Max S. Wicha, MD, who founded the cancer center 27 years ago. “This is a tremendous program with talented and dedicated faculty and staff, a terrific research infrastructure and superb core facilities,” said Dr. Lawrence, who is also chair of radiation oncology at the University of Michigan Medical School. In addition to continuing to advance the Cancer Center’s research excellence, Dr. Lawrence plans to grow the center’s statewide presence as part of an effort to bring cancer care closer to home. Source: University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center press release NCI Awards UT Southwestern Funding to Establish First U.S. Center for Heavy Ion Radiation Therapy University of Texas (UT) Southwestern Medical Center is leading a Texas consortium of research- ing biopsies from 241 AYA patients who participated in a recently completed clinical trial, Dr. Scott and his collaborators will test the relationship between these tests – which were shown to identify patients at high risk of poor outcomes – and the PET scan to see whether choices between treatments can be made at diagnosis, resulting in a “risk-stratified” approach. Source: Lymphoma Research Foundation press release ers to establish the country’s first National Center for Heavy Ion Radiation Therapy that could provide clinical care and research using heavy particles for innovative new cancer treatments. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the National Institutes of Health awarded UT Southwestern a $1 million planning grant to develop research proposals for the center. Hak Choy, MD, chair and professor of radiation oncology at UT Southwestern, is principal investigator for the Texas award. “Heavy ion radiation therapy represents the next quantum leap forward in cancer care. It is not available in the United States, and our location would be the fir