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Top 9 Women in Cancer Research
By Taylor Mallory
Women have come a long way since 1898, when Marie Curie discovered radium. Today many female scientists are leading the international war on cancer – the second leading cause of death in the United States after heart disease.
Last year cancer killed 275,000 women and 295,280 men. Fifty percent of all Americans will develop some form of cancer during their lifetime.
"Thanks to knowledge amassed over the past decade, investments in cancer research are reaping tremendous rewards," says American Cancer Society (ACS) President Carolyn D. Runowicz, M.D. "Key research today includes therapies to help the body fight cancer, and nanotechnology, which uses extremely small particles to deliver drugs and radiation to kill cancer cells and to make detection tests more accurate."
PINK worked with the ACS to identify nine of the top female researchers. They talked to us about their work and exciting industry advances on the horizon.
JILL BARGONETTI-CHAVARRIA, Ph.D.
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF BIOLOGY AT HUNTER COLLEGE, NEW YORK
Awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers by President Bill Clinton and the New York City Mayor's Award for Excellence in Science and Technology, Bargonetti-Chavarria has made groundbreaking discoveries about genes that should help suppress tumor growth.
WHAT'S NEXT?
Based on her findings, she tells PINK she is developing new therapies that could kill "cancer cells that previously did not respond to chemotherapy."
JOAN BRUGGE, Ph.D.
CHAIR OF CELL BIOLOGY DEPARTMENT AT HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL
Recipient of a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Merit Award and the Senior Career Recognition Award from the American Society of Cell Biology, Brugge currently heads a Breast Cancer Foundation (BCF) project to clone more than 1,000 human genes associated with breast cancer so the cancer research community can better study them.
WHAT'S NEXT?
Based on "evidence that tumor cells are influenced by neighboring cells, we're now trying to understand how those cells promote or suppress tumor growth."
EUGENIA CALLE, Ph.D.
DIRECTOR OF ANALYTIC EPIDEMIOLOGY FOR THE ACS
Calle has published more than 100 articles on breast cancer risk factors, hormone replacement therapy, cancer in women, obesity and cancer mortality. Now she focuses on the impact obesity has on cancer and how excess body weight results in poorer prognoses.
WHAT'S NEXT?
"The global obesity epidemic we're in the middle of may cause a reversal of the tremendous gain we have made in preventing and curing cancer."
IMMACULATA DeVIVO, MPH, Ph.D.
VICE CHAIRMAN OF ACS PEER REVIEW COMMITTEE ON CLINICAL CANCER RESEARCH AND EPIDEMIOLOGY; HARVARD ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
At the Nurses' Health Study, she introduced modern genotyping methods – like cloning – to increase DNA samples for research. DeVivo investigates how cells become cancerous.
WHAT'S NEXT?
Soon we should "understand the origin of hormonal cancers – uterine, breast and ovarian." Using 33,000 samples at her disposal, she's "hoping to develop tests that can detect cancer in its early and most treatable stage."
SUSAN FORSBURG, M.D.
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Recipient of an American Association for the Advancement of Science fellowship and an ACS grantee, Forsburg researches cell division. Since an underlying cause of cancer is uncontrolled cell division, her work is the underpinning for other scientific pursuits.
WHAT'S NEXT?
Information from the NIH Genome Project will help differentiate among types of cancer. "Tumors that look the same to pathologists can actually be very different inside and will respond to different medications and therapies."
FRANCINE M. FOSS, M.D.
DIRECTOR, LYMPHOMA AND EXPERIMENTAL THERAPEUTICS, TUFTS MEDICAL CENTER; ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, IMMUNOTHERAPY, YALE CANCER CENTER
Foss conducted national clinical trials of two drugs used to treat lymphoma, both of which received subsequent FDA approval and are now widely used therapies. Her recent research in stem-cell transplantation during bone marrow transplants has dramatically reduced complications from marrow rejection.
WHAT'S NEXT?
In the coming years, scientists will be able to manipulate cancer patients' cells, "allowing us to attack cancer using a patient's own immune system."
CYNTHIA KENYON, Ph.D.
ACS RESEARCH PROFESSOR AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO
Recipient of the Association of American Medical Colleges Award for Distinguished Research in Biomedical Sciences, Kenyon has found that mutations in certain genes can increase the life spans of lab animals. "We've slowed down aging," explains Kenyon, "which allows us to fend off the onset of age-related diseases like cancer."
WHAT'S NEXT?
Based on her findings, "companies like the one I've just started, Elixir Pharmaceuticals, are now working on drugs that will prolong aging. With one pill, you might be able to avoid or postpone many age-related diseases."
MARY-CLAIRE KING, Ph.D.
ACS RESEARCH PROFESSOR OF GENETICS AND MEDICINE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
Winner of the BCF Jill Rose Award, King discovered the first gene for inherited susceptibility to breast and ovarian cancers. King has used her DNA expertise in other ways, too, as a former member of the Argentina National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons and during efforts to identify the remains of the Russian royal family.
WHAT'S NEXT?
As a member of the New York Breast Cancer Study, King will join her colleagues in extending the search for previously undetected breast cancer genes, hoping to spot cancer predisposition in families without previously known breast cancer detectors.
OLUFUNMILAYO OLOPADE, M.D.
FOUNDING DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR CLINICAL CANCER GENETICS, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MEDICAL CENTER
Olopade, a Nigerian oncologist, was named a MacArthur Fellow for translating findings on the genetic susceptibility for breast cancer among African and African-American women into effective clinical practices. She currently heads a West African trial for a pill form of chemotherapy as treatment for women with advanced breast cancer.
WHAT'S NEXT?
Expect more individualized medicine and personalized recommendations. "Soon we should be able to tell each person what she should do based on her specific biology."
