7 recipients from Conquer Cancer have been awarded research funding

Conquer Cancer is proud to announce 7 recipients have been awarded research funding for their specific focus areas.

Here are all 7 recipients: Dr. Yara Abdou; Dr. David W. Lim; Dr. Hazim Ababneh; Dr. Dana Narvaez; Dr. Nataly Torrejon; Dr. Allison Chang; Dr. Adi Zoref-Lorenz.

Find more information about each of them below:

1. Yara Abdou specializes in the treatment of early stage and metastatic breast cancer. Her research focuses on the development of novel therapies, particularly immunotherapy, to treat different subtypes of breast cancer.

She received the 2024 Conquer Cancer – Breast Cancer Research Foundation Career Development Award for Diversity and Inclusion in Breast Cancer for the research project ‘Molecular Residual Disease in Triple Negative Breast Cancer: Detection and Therapeutic Interception.’

2. David Lim is a breast surgical oncologist at Women’s College Hospital, Medical Director of the Henrietta Banting Breast Centre and surgeon-scientist based at Women’s College Research Institute. He is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery, Division of General Surgery at the University of Toronto. He has an appointment at the University of Toronto Institute of Medical Science as an Associate Member and the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation as an Assistant Professor. He is also Research Director of the University of Toronto Breast Surgical Oncology Fellowship Program.

He received the 2024 Conquer Cancer – Breast Cancer Research Foundation Career Development Award for the research project ‘Understanding the impact of social marginalization, variability in care received, and treatment center and provider characteristics on lobular versus ductal breast cancer outcomes using population-based health services data.’

3. Adi Zoref-Lorenz is an internal medicine specialist and instructor at Tel Aviv University in Israel with expertise in hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH). Her career focus is to conduct clinical and translational studies of HLH in the context of hematologic diseases to improve the poor outcome of this syndrome. She leads the initiation of the INTO-HLH registry activities.

He received the 2024 Conquer Cancer – Israel Cancer Research Fund Career Development Award for the research project ‘Hyperinflammation in Hematologic Malignancies: Characterizing and Altering the Natural History of a Lethal Syndrome.’ 

4. Hazim Ababneh is a medical graduate from Jordan and has been a research fellow at the Department of Radiation Oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School since March 2021. Known for his enthusiasm for learning and advocacy for cancer patients, Dr. Ababneh has developed a clinical research protocol under the mentorship of Professor Alphonse Taghian, which focuses on assessing breast cancer patients’ awareness of breast cancer-related lymphedema in the Middle East, particularly in Jordan.

He received the 2024 Conquer Cancer – Endowed Young Investigator Award in memory of Evelyn H. Lauder for the research project ‘Breast Cancer-Related Lymphedema in the Middle East: Women’s Awareness, Screening Utilization Patterns, and Identifying Barriers and Challenges.’

5. Alison Chang is an oncologist in Palo Alto, California and is affiliated with multiple hospitals in the area, including Mills-Peninsula Medical Center and Stanford Health Care-Stanford Hospital. She received her medical degree from Emory University School of Medicine and has been in practice between 11-20 years.

She received the 2024 Conquer Cancer- F Cancer Young Investigator Award in memory of Barbara Berlanti for the research project ‘A deep learning image analysis tool for identifying individuals at risk for lung cancer.’

6. Dana Narvaez is an Argentine oncologist-in-training and researcher with a specialized focus on breast cancer. She graduated as a medical doctor from the National University of Litoral in Santa Fe and subsequently completed a specialization in Internal Medicine. Currently, she is concluding her residency in Clinical Oncology at the Alexander Fleming Institute in Buenos Aires, where she actively engages in research projects focused on breast cancer.

She received the 2024 Conquer Cancer – Breast Cancer Research Foundation Young Investigator Award for Diversity and Inclusion in Breast Cancer in honor of Susan Hirschhorn and in memory of her mother for the research project ‘Development of a prognostic score integrating pathological biomarkers to evaluate treatment response to immune checkpoint inhibitors in the neoadjuvant setting of triple negative breast cancer.’

7. Nataly Torrejon is currently a third-year fellow at Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Torrejon attended medical school at the Universidad Privada del Valle, Bolivia and completed her internal medicine residency at the Cleveland Clinic. During her fellowship, she was mentored by Dr. Valentina Hoyos at the Cell and Gene Therapy Department and will work in her lab investigating CAR-T cells for the treatment of metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer.

She received the 2024 Conquer Cancer – Breast Cancer Research Foundation Young Investigator Award for Diversity and Inclusion in Breast Cancer for the research project ‘TRAIL-R2 and HER2 Bi-Specific Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cells for the Treatment of Metastatic Breast Cancer.’

On this Occasion Conquer Cancer posted on X:

“We’re proud to announce 7 recipients have been awarded research funding for their specific focus areas. These grants are supported by the generosity of the following organizations: The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, Fuck Cancer Events and Israel Cancer Research Fund.”

Source: Conquer Cancer/X