In its mission to make "cure" a reality for cancer patients everywhere and support the development of early career investigators, the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) Forward Fund is pleased to announce the recipients of its 2024 fellowships totaling $640,000.

MILWAUKEE, Aug. 19, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- In its mission to make "cure" a reality for cancer patients everywhere and support the development of early career investigators, the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) Forward Fund is pleased to announce the recipients of its 2024 fellowships totaling $640,000.

"With the generous support of our industry partners, SITC is able to back the promising research of early career investigators and future leaders in cancer immunotherapy," said SITC President Leisha A. Emens, MD, PhD. "This investment in our field's future aims to develop new immunotherapy strategies and improve patient outcomes."

The 2024 fellowships are financially supported through the Forward Fund, which was established by SITC to stimulate the future of science, development, and application of cancer immunology and immunotherapy by financially supporting its education and research. Since 2014, SITC has awarded more than $6 million in funding to deserving early career scientists in the field of cancer immunotherapy. SITC will recognize the recipients during its 39th Annual Meeting, occurring in November at the George R. Brown Convention Center, Houston, TX.

The 2024 SITC Forward Fund fellowship recipients are:

SITC-Bristol Myers Squibb Postdoctoral Cancer Immunotherapy Translational Fellowship
Award Amount: $200,000 (two year)
Awardee: Elisa Bergaggio, PhD
Institution: Boston Children's Hospital
Project Title: "Enhancing ALK.CAR-T efficacy in solid tumors"

SITC-MRA Women in Melanoma Fellowship
Award Amount: $200,000 (two year)
Awardee: Arielle Elkrief, MD
Institution: University of Montreal
Project Title: "Identification of the next generation of microbiome therapeutics in combination with immune checkpoint blockade to improve outcomes for patients with melanoma"

SITC-Merck Cancer Immunotherapy Clinical Fellowship
Award Amount: $100,000 (one year)
Awardee: Benjamin R. Schrank, MD, PhD
Institution: The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Project Title: "Enhancing Tumor-Immune Interactions in Breast Cancer via an Immunostimulatory Antibody-Drug Conjugate"

SITC Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Fellowship
Award Amount: $100,000 (one year)
Awardee: Victor Arrieta, MD, PhD
Institution: Northwestern University
Project Title: "Leveraging DNA Methylation Signatures to Decode Clinical Responses to Immune Checkpoint Blockade in Glioblastoma"

SITC-Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals Adverse Events in Cancer Immunotherapy Clinical Fellowship
Award Amount: $40,000 (one-year)
Awardee: Gabriele Casirati, MD, PhD
Institution: Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Project Title: "Epitope edited Hematopoietic Stem Cells to Eliminate On-target/Off-tumor Toxicity"

The 2024 SITC Forward Fund fellowships were made possible through the generosity of Bristol Myers Squibb, Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, Melanoma Research Alliance and Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC, a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc.

To learn more about current and past SITC fellowship recipients, visit the SITC website.

About SITC
Established in 1984, the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) is a nonprofit organization of medical professionals dedicated to improving cancer patient outcomes by advancing the development, science and application of cancer immunotherapy and tumor immunology. SITC is comprised of influential basic and translational scientists, practitioners, health care professionals, government leaders and industry professionals around the globe. Through educational initiatives that foster scientific exchange and collaboration among leaders in the field, SITC aims to one day make the word "cure" a reality for cancer patients everywhere. Learn more about SITC, our educational offerings and other resources at sitcancer.org and follow us on X, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

Media Contact

Thomas Martin, Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC), 414-271-2456, tmartin@sitcancer.org, sitcancer.org 

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SOURCE Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC)