DALLAS, Dec. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, the nation’s largest private source of funding for breast cancer research and community outreach programs, has announced the 2005 winners of its most prestigious honor, the Komen Foundation Brinker Award for Scientific Distinction.
The awardees will be recognized Dec. 8 at the Komen Foundation’s Brinker Dinner held during the 28th Annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS), Dec. 8 through 11 in San Antonio’s Henry B. Gonzales Convention Center.
The Komen Brinker Award for Scientific Distinction was established by the Komen Foundation in 1992 to recognize extraordinary achievement in breast cancer-related basic scientific research and in clinical applications in research, screening and treatment of the disease.
The 2005 co-awardees for basic research are long-time collaborators, Anita B. Roberts, Ph.D. of the National Cancer Institute and Michael B. Sporn, M.D. of Dartmouth Medical School. Honored this year in the area of clinical research is Trevor J. Powles, Ph.D. of Parkside Hospital, London.
Drs. Roberts and Sporn have collaborated for more than 30 years on research that focuses on TGF-Beta, or transforming growth factor beta, a messenger molecule integral to the activities of the cell cycle. Drs. Roberts and Sporn established roles for this protein in autoimmune diseases, fibrogenesis, carcinogenesis and wound healing. Their work together is now forming the basis of new therapeutic approaches in breast cancer. Dr. Roberts is chief of laboratory of cell regulation and carcinogenesis at the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health. Dr. Sporn is the Oscar M. Cohn ’34 Professor of Pharmacology and Medicine at Dartmouth Medical School.
Professor Powles is an endocrinologist and medical oncologist whose work focuses on the prevention, risk assessment, diagnosis and early treatment of breast cancer. In 1986, he started the first tamoxifen breast cancer prevention trial. Professor Powles also led one of the first groups to use aromatase inhibitors to treat metastatic breast cancer. This group continues to be at the forefront of research into the development and use of aromatase inhibitors. Work conducted by Professor Powles led to the use of bisphosphonates for the treatment and prevention of bone metastases. In fact, he led the first adjuvant trial using a bisphosphonate for patients with operable breast cancer. Professor Powles is a consultant breast oncologist and lead clinician at the Parkside Oncology Centre in London and Emeritus Professor of Breast Oncology at London’s Institute of Cancer Research.
The awardees will deliver the 2005 Komen Foundation’s Brinker Award for Scientific Distinction plenary lectures on their work on the opening day of SABCS, Dec. 8 from 3:30 to 4:40 p.m. in Exhibit Hall D at the Gonzales Convention Center. Symposium attendees are invited to attend the plenary lectures and the Brinker Award dinner, which follows. Complete information about the symposium is available at http://www.sabcs.org .
Past recipients of the Komen Brinker Award for Scientific Distinction include V. Craig Jordan, a pioneer in the use of tamoxifen; Dr. Mary-Claire King, whose research isolated the BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations associated with genetic forms of breast cancer; Dr. Larry Norton, whose dose-density approach to the administration of chemotherapy has revolutionized breast cancer treatment; and Dr. Leland Hartwell, winner of the 2000 Nobel Prize for medicine who was recognized for his achievements in understanding the cell cycle in the development of cancer. Awardees each receive a $20,000 honorarium and a special citation of this distinction.
About the Komen Foundation
The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation was established in 1982 by Nancy Brinker to honor the memory of her sister, Susan G. Komen, who died from breast cancer at the age of 36. Today, the Foundation is an international organization with a network of more than 75,000 active volunteers working through local Affiliates and events like the Komen Race for the Cure(R) to eradicate breast cancer as a life-threatening disease. A global leader in the fight against breast cancer, the Foundation fulfills its mission through support of innovative breast cancer research grants, meritorious awards and educational, scientific and community outreach programs around the world. Together with its Affiliate Network, corporate partners and generous donors, the Komen Foundation has raised $750 million for the fight against breast cancer.
For more information about breast health or breast cancer, visit the Foundation’s Web site at http://www.komen.org or call the Foundation’s National Toll Free Breast Care Helpline at 1.800 I’M AWARE(R) (1.800.462.9273).
Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation
CONTACT: Jean Maza, +1-972-701-2105, or jmaza@komen.org , or Jill CoodySmits, +1-972-855-1682, or jsmits@komen.org , both of Susan G. Komen BreastCancer Foundation