Fox Chase Cancer Center Junior Investigators Win Awards for Pilot Projects

PHILADELPHIA (January 2, 2020) – Fox Chase Cancer Center has announced the results of its Pilot Project Competition for Junior Investigators, which was held last fall. The competition is funded through an American Cancer Society Institutional Research Grant.

Joan Font-Burgada, PhD

This year’s awardees are:

  • Joan Font-Burgada, PhD, for his proposal, “A New Approach for Targeting Metastatic Disease by Understanding the Invaded Tissue.”
  • Christopher Manley, MD, for his proposal, “The Value of Robotic Bronchoscopy and Endobronchial Ultrasound in the Diagnosis and Staging of Lung Nodules in a Cancer Center.”
  • Rishi Jain, MD, MS, DABOM, for his proposal, “Improving Dietary Quality in Patients on Surveillance for Colorectal Cancer Using a Computerized Food Frequency Questionnaire,” which received the Special Interest Award.
Christopher Manley, MD

The purpose of the Institutional Research Grant is to provide seed money for the initiation of promising new projects by newer investigators so they can obtain preliminary results that will enable them to compete successfully for national research grants. The Special Interest Award, in particular, provides support for psychosocial and behavioral research, health policy or health services research, cancer in the poor and medically underserved, and childhood cancer. Each award provides funding of $60,000 over two years.

Rishi Jain, MD, MS, DABOM

The competition was open to eligible junior faculty at Fox Chase Cancer Center or Temple University. Applicants must have a formal appointment to one of Fox Chase’s CCSG Research Programs.

Jonathan Chernoff, MD, PhD, senior vice president and chief scientific officer at Fox Chase, serves as principal investigator of the American Cancer Society grant and chair of the review committee for the competition.

Fox Chase Cancer Center (Fox Chase), which includes the Institute for Cancer Research and the American Oncologic Hospital and is a part of Temple Health, is one of the leading comprehensive cancer centers in the United States. Founded in 1904 in Philadelphia as one of the nation’s first cancer hospitals, Fox Chase was also among the first institutions to be designated a National Cancer Institute Comprehensive Cancer Center in 1974. Fox Chase is also one of just 10 members of the Alliance of Dedicated Cancer Centers. Fox Chase researchers have won the highest awards in their fields, including two Nobel Prizes. Fox Chase physicians are also routinely recognized in national rankings, and the Center’s nursing program has received the Magnet recognition for excellence six consecutive times. Today, Fox Chase conducts a broad array of nationally competitive basic, translational, and clinical research, with special programs in cancer prevention, detection, survivorship, and community outreach. It is the policy of Fox Chase Cancer Center that there shall be no exclusion from, or participation in, and no one denied the benefits of, the delivery of quality medical care on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity/expression, disability, age, ancestry, color, national origin, physical ability, level of education, or source of payment.

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