UMass Cancer Center News

Global cancer cases have doubled since 1990. UMass Chan experts point to lifestyle, environmental and alcohol-related factors as key drivers.

PhD candidate Katherine Murphy received a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Individual Predoctoral Fellowship for her pancreatic cancer research.

Postdoc Nikita Bhalerao, PhD, received the 2025 Rising Star Award from the National Pancreas Foundation and a fellowship from the Pancreatic Cancer Alliance.

UMass Chan Medical School received a five-year, $4.4 million National Cancer Institute grant to study how transfer RNAs may fuel the spread of melanoma.

The 27th annual UMass Cancer Walk at Polar Park raised more than $450,000 to support cancer research and clinical trials at UMass Chan.

Roger J. Davis, PhD, FRS, has been awarded the 2026 Bert and Natalie Vallee Award in Biomedical Science from the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

PhD candidate Jessica Peura has earned a prestigious NIH grant to advance her research on pancreatic cancer. After the death of her mother, she’s determined to help prevent families from experiencing cancer-related loss. 

PhD candidate Favour Akabogu has earned a scholarship and an award to continue research developing new therapies for GIST, a rare type of cancer.

More than 1,330 research projects were submitted to the 2024 AMA Research Challenge for consideration.

Pranoti Mandrekar, PhD, professor of medicine, wrote an article for The Conversation explaining the link between alcohol consumption and cancer risk.

Research by Sharon Cantor, PhD, and Jenna M. Whalen, PhD, poses a new explanation for how cancer-fighting drugs attack and destroy BRCA1 and BRCA2 tumor cells.

More than $650,000 was raised for the 26th annual UMass Cancer Walk.

UMass Chan Medical School scientists Marcus Ruscetti, PhD, and Prabhani Atukorale, PhD, have developed a new, dual immunotherapy approach that may potentially change the way clinicians treat pancreatic cancer.  

Research aimed at identifying the mechanisms that promote resistance to radiation therapy in patients with triple negative breast cancer is underway at UMass Chan Medical School by Arthur M. Mercurio, PhD, thanks to a new $2.6 million cancer research award from the National Institutes of Health.

Faculty members from the three UMass Chan graduate schools were honored at the 2024 Educational Recognition Awards ceremony and Susan Zweizig, MD, delivered the annual honorary Last Lecture, titled “What You Don’t See.”

The two UMass Chan faculty members are among 500 scientists, engineers and innovators elected this year.

The UMass Cancer Walk presented by Harr Toyota returns to Polar Park on Sunday, Sept. 29. All proceeds support adult and pediatric cancer research and more than 150 clinical trials at UMass Chan Medical School.

Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences students Atinuke G. Oyinbo and Favour Akabogu discussed their research for the Black Excellence series.

Sharina Person, PhD, was honored with the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion at the annual tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. Keynote speaker Joan Reede, MD, MS, MPH MBA called on the medical community to move forward in values that promote diversity, equity and inclusion. 

Marcus Ruscetti, PhD, resisted following in his parents’ scientist footsteps but ended up in a career dedicated to cancer research in and out of the lab.

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Dohoon Kim, PhD, and colleagues have shown that blocking a specific detoxifying enzyme in lung cancer cells leads to cell death, making it a viable target for drug development.

Vaccination against COVID-19 was linked to reduced inflammation in response to SARS-CoV-2 infection, according to a paper co-authored by UMass Chan Medical School researcher Jonathan M. Gerber, MD.

The Research Scholar Grant will support Dr. Ruscetti’s research on senescent cells and their role in tumor progression and immune suppression in prostate cancer.

UMass Chan Medical School scientists Phillip D. Zamore, PhD, and Roger J. Davis, PhD, FRS, were elected to the National Academy of Medicine on Oct. 9 for their distinguished contributions to medicine and health.

More than a dozen of Michael Green’s former colleagues, trainees and others are scheduled to speak at the symposium.

These highly accomplished faculty members have been appointed to endowed chairs at UMass Chan Medical School: Dale L. Greiner, PhD; Danny G. Winder, PhD; Elinor K. Karlsson, PhD; Jeannette M. Wolfe, MD; J. Kevin Donahue, MD; and John E. Harris, MD, PhD’05.

More than 2,000 people took part in the 25th annual UMass Cancer Walk presented by Harr Toyota at Polar Park on Sunday, Sept. 24. Participants raised more than $700,000 to support adult and pediatric cancer research and clinical trials at UMass Chan Medical School.

The 2023 UMass Cancer Walk presented by Harr Toyota marks the 25th year of commitment to cancer research. Many participants and sponsors have a personal connection to cancer and have supported the event for years.

Four faculty members were honored with chancellor’s medals and four others were invested as endowed professors at the Convocation and Investiture ceremony at UMass Chan Medical School.

Nicholas Harper, a PhD candidate in the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program, has received a prestigious award from the National Cancer Institute to study cell death as it relates to cancer therapies.

The BRIDGE Fund supports critical research milestones for inventions and discoveries that have high potential to change the course of disease and continues to grow, increasing from approximately $1 million per year in 2019 to $3 million in 2024.

MD/PhD student Ayush Kumar has received a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Award from the National Cancer Institute to study the most aggressive type of breast cancer.

Craig Ceol, PhD, and his team recently discovered a new way in which melanocytes, a small subset of epidermal cells, regenerate. Dr. Ceol explains why zebrafish are good models to study melanocytes in this piece for The Conversation.

Jessica Spinelli, PhD, and members of her lab are leveraging the discovery of a new mammalian metabolite and mitochondrial pathway to develop tools to reprogram the electron transport chain.

Phillip D. Zamore, PhD, is one of 120 newly elected members of the National Academy of Sciences who were recognized for distinguished achievements in original research. Dr. Zamore is credited with identifying the biochemical machinery responsible for RNA silencing.

The Program in Innate Immunity is hosting Innate Immunity Day 2023: Mechanisms and Consequences of Cell Death on May 10 in the Albert Sherman Center Auditorium in the Sherman Center from 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Katherine Fitzgerald, PhD, and Phillip D. Zamore, PhD, were elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, which honors excellence and leaders from every field of human endeavor to examine new ideas, address issues of importance to the nation and the world, and work together to cultivate every art and science.

Athma A. Pai, PhD, was awarded a nearly $1 million CAREER grant from the National Science Foundation to use new high-throughput genomics approaches to study the regulation of mRNA splicing.

As the UMass Chan mourns the recent death of Michael Green, MD, PhD, two faculty have been appointed to fill positions that Dr. Green nobly held. Jonathan M. Gerber, MD, has been appointed director of the UMass Cancer Center, and Michelle A. Kelliher, PhD, will serve as interim chair of the Department of Molecular, Cell & Cancer Biology.

Breast cancer research pioneer V. Craig Jordan, PhD, will give the inaugural virtual lecture in a series on cancer drug discovery at UMass Chan Medical School on Thursday, Feb. 16.

In this Science for Living feature, colorectal expert Justin Maykel, MD, explains why colonoscopy is the best way to prevent colon cancer.

With a grant from the Dermatology Foundation, Morehouse School of Medicine student Sachi Desse is researching cutaneous T cell lymphoma, with Jillian Richmond, PhD, as her mentor.

Anastasia Khvorova, PhD, is one of 169 academic inventors selected as a 2022 fellow of the National Academy of Inventors.

UMass Chan Medical School and UMass Memorial Health partnered with DetecTogether to offer free cancer screenings for firefighters at an event at Polar Park in Worcester on Tuesday, Oct. 25.

Mary Munson, PhD, is one of 22 scientists named a fellow of the American Society for Cell Biology for 2022.

Participants in the 24th annual UMass Cancer Walk and Run presented by Harr Toyota proved that they were superheroes by raising money for cancer research and clinical trials at UMass Chan Medical School.

The University of Massachusetts Board of Trustees voted to approve one new endowed chair at UMass Chan Medical School and the appointment of two accomplished faculty members to endowed chairs.

Third-year medical student Colin Burnett was invited to present his research on LGBTQI+ cancer survivors at a national conference. Burnett and his co-authors discovered that most LGBTQI+ cancer survivors did not have access to health education resources tailored to their gender and sexual identities.

UMass Chan Medical School has announced Harr Toyota as the presenting sponsor of the 24th annual UMass Cancer Walk and Run to be held on Sunday, Oct. 2, at Polar Park. 

A study co-authored by UMass Chan Medical School researchers showed that a technology-assisted abstinence game may help smokers kick the habit. Rajani Sadasivam was principal investigator on the study.

Chancellor Michael F. Collins announced that the University’s Board of Trustees has approved the appointment of three of faculty members to endowed chairs. They join more than 60 named chairs at UMass Chan.

The 24th annual UMass Cancer Walk will take place at Polar Park, with all funds raised going to pediatric and adult cancer research at UMass Chan.

UMass Chan Medical School scientist Job Dekker, PhD, was elected to the National Academy of Sciences on May 3 for his contributions to the field of genomics.

In her preliminary studies, PhD student Megan Honeywell has found that cells can trigger a cell death even when they do not have the p53 protein, the so-called “guardian of the genome.”

UMass Chan faculty in rheumatology, biochemistry & molecular biotechnology and cancer biology are being supported by endowments.

The early months of the COVID-19 pandemic saw a net increase in smoking rates among a group of people who had previously participated in a study to quit smoking, according to a new study led Rajani S. Sadasivam, PhD.

A large, double-blind, randomized controlled trial found that outpatients who received convalescent plasma within nine days of onset of COVID-19 symptoms were significantly less likely to be hospitalized than those who received placebo control plasma.

In recognition of creative advances in the development of nanomaterials for biophotonic application, Gang Han, PhD, has been elected by the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering to its College of Fellows.

Jonathan Gerber, MD, discusses a therapy that has been around for at least a century and how it has helped in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Katherine A. Fitzgerald, PhD, has been named the 2022 recipient of the American Association of Immunologists - Thermo Fisher Meritorious Career Award.

UMass Chan Medical School researchers are embarking on a clinical trial of an mRNA vaccine by Moderna against the Epstein-Barr virus, a common cause of infectious mononucleosis. Katherine Luzuriaga, MD, is principal investigator for the study at UMass Chan.

Worcester Business Journal readers have chosen the UMass Cancer Walk and Run as the best nonprofit fundraiser event in Central Massachusetts.

Hyundai Hope on Wheels has awarded Jason Shohet, MD, PhD, a second $300,000 Scholar Hope Grant to continue his research on neuroblastoma, a deadly cancer in children that affects the peripheral nervous system.

Ann Moormann, PhD, MPH, is recognized for outstanding contributions to the development of science and career advancement of scientists in Africa.

Brian Lewis, PhD, is studying therapeutic resistance in pancreatic cancer cells, hoping to change the grim statistics for patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

William Flavahan, PhD, has received a four-year, $600,000 award from the Sontag Foundation to advance his studies of the genetic processes leading to brain tumors.

Gang Han, PhD, said newly developed nano-optogenetic immunotherapy represents a new generation of personalized cancer treatment, in which precise control of the timing, location and dosage of T cell activation could be tailored to an individual patient.

The UMass Cancer Center Pilot Project Program has awarded seed grants to five UMass Chan Medical School research projects to enable investigators to gather pilot data for external cancer-focused funding.

Research by Sharon Cantor, PhD, into how chemotherapy works in inherited breast and ovarian cancer overturned a long-held model in the field and will play a key role in developing successful therapies.

The 23rd annual UMass Cancer Walk and Run, held on Sunday, Oct. 17, at Polar Park in Worcester, is expected to bring in more than $700,000, exceeding fundraising goals.

In its most diverse class to date, the National Academy of Medicine has elected Job Dekker, PhD, and Katherine Fitzgerald, PhD, for their distinguished contributions to medicine and health.

The 23rd annual UMass Cancer Walk and Run will be held Sunday, Oct. 17, at Polar Park in Worcester. More than 2,300 participants have registered for the event. Gates open at 9:30 a.m.

Research from the lab of Sharon Cantor, PhD, provides a new understanding of a PARP inhibitor, a chemotherapy drug commonly used against breast and ovarian cancer.

Two UMass Medical School professors have been elected to the National Academy of Sciences in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.

Roger J. Davis, PhD, FRS, has been elected a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in recognition of his research on stress signaling pathways that are connected to a range of diseases, such as arthritis, cancer, stroke, heart disease and diabetes.

The Diversity Research Supplement Award Jillian M. Richmond, PhD, has received from the Dermatology Foundation covers the stipend for medical student researcher Jadé Olayinka.

The University of Massachusetts Board of Trustees approved two “accomplished and visionary” University of Massachusetts faculty as endowed chairs at its April meeting.

UMass Medical School has entered into a three-year, collaborative research agreement with Pfizer to evaluate determinants that influence the manufacturing quality and yield of viral vectors used in gene therapy. The research at UMMS is being performed under the direction of Guangping Gao, PhD, and Dan Wang, PhD.

Six UMass Medical School scientists are among the members of the National Institutes of Health’s Somatic Cell Genome Editing Consortium to publish a paper in Nature outlining the program’s goals.

PhD student Catherine Nagawa received a National Institutes of Health Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Individual Predoctoral Fellowship to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research.

Breast and prostate cancer screenings declined rapidly in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic compared with the same period a year earlier, according to a new study by UMass Medical School researchers working with Reliant Medical Group.

The journal Nature Medicine has published a study co-authored by Gopal Vijayaraghavan, MD, finding that an artificial intelligence model for computer-aided reading of mammograms may improve the detection of breast cancer.

In recognition of his unique contributions to UMass Medical School, Robert W. Finberg, MD, has been named a distinguished professor of medicine.

A multidisciplinary team of scientists led by Elinor Karlsson, PhD, has captured biodiversity at a genetic level, according to a new study published in Nature.

John Harris, MD, PhD, one of the nation’s foremost authorities on the treatment and study of vitiligo, has been appointed chair of the Department of Dermatology beginning Jan. 1.

Investigators at UMass Medical School have received two, five-year grants totaling $13 million to explore how the 4D genome structure influences gene expression, cellular function, development and disease as it reshapes itself. Job Dekker, PhD, and Paul Kaufman, PhD, to investigate architecture of genome as it changes over time.

Maira Castañeda Avila, PhD candidate in the Clinical & Population Health Research Program, received a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Individual Predoctoral Fellowship to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research, funded by the National Cancer Institute.

Gratitude, solidarity and hope were the themes of the day on Sunday, Sept. 13, at the 22nd annual—and first-ever virtual—UMass Cancer Walk and Run. Donors, fundraisers and sponsors maintained their steadfast support for cancer research and clinical trials at UMass Medical School.

Anne Carlisle, PhD candidate in the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, came to Massachusetts from Nebraska in 2015. She is studying in the Dohoon Kim lab, investigating the role of selenium in cancer cells.

Oluwabunmi Emidio, MD, MPH, is a PhD candidate in the Clinical and Population Health Research Program, and a postdoctoral fellow in a National Cancer Institute-funded training program Prevention and Control Cancer: Postdoctoral Training in Implementation Science.

On Sunday, Sept. 13, the quad on the UMass Medical School campus will be unusually quiet. Instead of thousands gathering in person to walk or run in support of cancer research, care and clinical trials at UMMS, supporters will be participating virtually in the 22nd annual UMass Cancer Walk and Run.

Medical device research projects by Gopal Vijayaraghavan, MD, MPH, and Mary Rusckowski, PhD, are among 11 projects that have received a total of $8.3 million in capital funding awards from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center.

The U.S. Department of Defense awarded a team of researchers led by Craig J. Ceol, PhD, a $963,903 three-year grant to test potential approaches to killing metastatic melanoma tumors.

A UMass Medical School research team has been awarded a National Cancer Institute grant to advance understanding of how hereditary breast and ovarian cancer genes work, and why tumors lacking these genes are sensitive to chemotherapy.

Discoveries made by Beth McCormick, PhD, and licensed by Bacainn Therapeutics, Inc. are heading to Phase I clinical trials for ulcerative colitis and other diseases associated with uncontrolled inflammation in the gut.

A new study by a team of UMass Medical School researchers, led by Jordan Smith, MD/PhD candidate, has identified a new therapeutic target in hepatoblastoma, a rare, primarily pediatric liver cancer.

UMass Medical School researcher and world-renowned immunologist Katherine A. Fitzgerald, PhD, has been named an honorary member of the Royal Irish Academy.

Jennifer A. Benanti, PhD, was recently awarded a federal Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award, or MIRA grant, to advance her lab’s study of molecular mechanisms of cell cycle control, a key factor in understanding cancer development. 

UMass Medical School RNA therapeutics expert Anastasia Khvorova, PhD, has been elected by the membership of the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy to a three-year term as director-at-large/scientific & research council chair, which will begin at the 2020 ASGCT virtual annual meeting.

A study by UMass Medical School researchers found that cigarette smokers who used both e-cigarettes and combustible cigarettes smoked more combustible cigarettes daily and had less success at abstaining than smokers who only used combustible cigarettes.