HSC NEWS - UT Health Science Center San Antonio

Six from HSC receive 2011 AACR cancer research awards

Posted: Tuesday, April 05, 2011
Contact: Will Sansom, 210-567-2579

Among the UT Health Science Center faculty members and students receiving awards at the American Association of Cancer Research annual meeting were Valerie Cortez, a Ph.D. student in cellular and structural biology (left), and her mentor, Ratna Vadlamudi, Ph.D., professor of obstetrics and gynecology.
Among the UT Health Science Center faculty members and students receiving awards at the American Association of Cancer Research annual meeting were Valerie Cortez, a Ph.D. student in cellular and structural biology (left), and her mentor, Ratna Vadlamudi, Ph.D., professor of obstetrics and gynecology.

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SAN ANTONIO (March 9, 2011) — Six investigators from The University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio received awards from the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) at its annual meeting April 2-6 in Orlando, Fla.

This equates to one of every seven national awards going to the Health Science Center, including its Cancer Therapy and Research Center (CTRC), School of Medicine and basic science departments.

The five faculty honorees from the Health Science Center are studying the initiation and progression of prostate, breast and pancreatic cancers. These scientists will receive AACR Minority-Serving Institution Faculty Scholar in Cancer Research Awards:

Ibtissam Echchgadda, Ph.D., instructor of molecular medicine
Addanki Pratap Kumar, Ph.D., associate professor of urology
Pothana Saikumar, Ph.D., associate professor of pathology
Chung-Seog Song, Ph.D., assistant professor/research of molecular medicine
Ratna Vadlamudi, Ph.D., professor of obstetrics and gynecology

Valerie Cortez, a Ph.D. student in cellular and structural biology at the Health Science Center, is one of 50 students nationwide to be selected for the AACR Minority Scholar in Cancer Research Award. Her faculty mentor is Dr. Vadlamudi.The AACR awards are sponsored by a grant from the National Cancer Institute’s Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities.

The AACR is a partner with the CTRC and Baylor College of Medicine in the annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, an international scientific symposium for interaction and exchange among basic scientists and clinicians in breast cancer.

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The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, one of the country’s leading health sciences universities, ranks in the top 3 percent of all institutions worldwide receiving U.S. federal funding. Research and other sponsored program activity totaled $228 million in fiscal year 2010. The university’s schools of medicine, nursing, dentistry, health professions and graduate biomedical sciences have produced approximately 26,000 graduates. The $744 million operating budget supports eight campuses in San Antonio, Laredo, Harlingen and Edinburg. For more information on the many ways “We make lives better®,” visit www.uthscsa.edu.