Yale Cancer Center Annual Conclave Awards Presented

Richard L. Edelson, MD

Yale Cancer Center held its annual Conclave award ceremony virtually on February 15 to celebrate scientific and caregiver accomplishments in 2021. Eric P. Winer, MD, Director of Yale Cancer Center and Physician-in-Chief of Smilow Cancer Hospital hosted the event. Clinical and research prizes included the Yale Cancer Center Lifetime Achievement Award, the Ruth McCorkle Oncology Advanced Practice Provider Award, the Class of ‘61 Cancer Research Award, and several annual teaching, clinical, and scientific awards.

Nominations were reviewed by Yale Cancer Center and Smilow Cancer Hospital senior leadership and selected in recognition of their outstanding contribution to cancer care and research. The 2021 Conclave awardees are:

• Yale Cancer Center Award for Lifetime Achievement: Richard L. Edelson, MD

The award is given annually to a YCC member who has impacted the field of oncology both nationally and internationally. Edelson has served as Chair of the Department of Dermatology at Yale School Medicine for 36 years, the longest serving Chair in Yale history, and from 2003-2008, Edelson served as Director of Yale Cancer Center. A leader in immunobiology, Edelson described and named Cutaneous T-Cell Lymphoma and later, devised Etracorporeal Photochemotherapy, which became the first U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved immunotherapy for any cancer.

• Yale Cancer Center Awards for Teaching Excellence: David F. Stern, MD, PhD and Aarti Bhatia, MD, MPH

Stern is a Professor of Pathology and Associate Cancer Center Director for Shared Resources, and Bhatia is an Assistant Professor of Medicine (Medical Oncology). Both were recognized as a faculty member who best exemplifies a culture of teaching and excellence and by ensuring trainees acquire the skills they need to develop as outstanding health practitioners, scientists, and researchers.

• Yale Cancer Center Award for Mentorship Excellence: Alfred I. Lee, MD, PhD

Lee is an Associate Professor of Medicine (Hematology) and Director of the Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Program. His colleagues described Lee as, “one of the most highly sought-after specialists in classical hematology, a stellar teacher, mentor and educational innovator.”

• Yale Cancer Center Awards for Clinical Excellence: Nikolai Podoltsev, MD, PhD and Jennifer Moliterno, MD, FAANS

Podoltsev is an Associate Professor of Medicine (Hematology) and colleagues described him as magnanimous, kind, brilliant, and a ‘triple threat’ in medicine. They also call Podoltsev a legendary educator with a depth of knowledge and willingness to share, but a clinician whose “real heart of his work lies with his dedication to his patients.” Moliterno is an Associate Professor of Neurosurgery and Clinical Director of the Chênevert Family Brain Tumor Center. She was recognized for her technical brilliance and dexterity and speed when operating, with a focus on optimal outcomes for her patients, while taking a wholistic, thoughtful, and compassionate approach to patient care.

• Yale Cancer Center Award for Leadership in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Faye Rogers, PhD

Rogers is an Associate Professor of Therapeutic Radiology and Vice Chair for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. She has distinguished herself through scientific accomplishments, commitment to enhancing the culture and basic sciences at Yale, and supporting trainees from backgrounds traditionally underrepresented in biomedicine.

• Class of 1961 Cancer Research Awards: Rong Fan, PhD and Shangqin Guo, PhD

Fan is a Professor of Biomedical Engineering and of Pathology, and Guo is an Associate Professor in Cell Biology. They were honored for their significant accomplishments in cancer research as young members of the faculty, coupled with the expectation for future outstanding contributions to the causes of cancer and the development of novel cancer treatments.

• Ruth McCorkle Oncology Advanced Practice Provider Award: Carol Staugaard, APRN-BC

The award is given annually to recognize the contributions of Advanced Practice Providers to oncology patient care. Staugaard has cared for patients since 1982 and has put patients with gastrointestinal (GI) cancers and their families at the forefront of her work since 2002, when she joined the Yale GI medical oncology team. Her colleagues described her as “compassionate, nurturing, stellar, calm and a voice of reason, and the unbreaking backbone of the nursing team.”

• Yale Cancer Center Population Science Research Prize: Elizabeth Claus, PhD, MD

Claus is a Professor of Biostatistics. She was given her award for her work on the study, “Environmental and sex-specific molecular signatures of glioma causation,” published in the Journal of Neuro-Oncology.

• Yale Cancer Center Translational Science Research Prizes: Faye Rogers, PhD

Rogers is an Associate Professor of Therapeutic Radiology. She was honored for her paper in the journal Nature Biotechnology, “Direct targeting of amplified gene loci for proapoptotic anticancer therapy.”

• Yale Cancer Center Clinical Science Research Prize: Lajos Pusztai, MD, DPhil

Pusztai is a Professor of Medicine (Medical Oncology). He was honored for his publication in the journal Cancer Cell, “Durvalumab with Olaparib and paclitaxel for high-risk HER2-negative stage II/III breast cancer: Results from the adaptively randomized I-SPY2 trial.”

• Yale Cancer Center Basic Science Research Prize: Marcus Bosenberg, MD, PhD and Qin Yan, PhD

Bosenberg is a Professor of Pathology, Dermatology, and Immunology and Director of the Yale Center for Immuno-Oncology. Yan is an Associate Professor of Pathology. Both were honored for their publication in the journal Nature, “KDM5B promotes immune evasion by recruiting SETDB1 to silence retroelements.”

A full list of past Conclave awardees can be found here at: https://www.yalecancercenter.org/research/excellence/awards/conclave/

About Yale Cancer Center and Smilow Cancer Hospital

Yale Cancer Center (YCC) is one of only 51 National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer centers in the nation and the only such center in Connecticut. Cancer treatment for patients is available at Smilow Cancer Hospital through 13 multidisciplinary teams and at 15 Smilow Cancer Hospital Care Centers in Connecticut and Rhode Island. Comprehensive cancer centers play a vital role in the advancement of the NCI’s goal of reducing morbidity and mortality from cancer through scientific research, cancer prevention, and innovative cancer treatment.