Sosman Lands Award From American Cancer Society

Jeffrey Sosman, M.D., professor of Medicine, has received the first American Cancer Society Mary Hendrickson-Johnson Melanoma Professorship.

The $400,000 award, which runs through the end of 2013, is given to an outstanding investigator who has made a seminal contribution that has changed the direction of cancer research and who continues to provide leadership in the field of melanoma research. The award is based on a generous gift from the Mary Hendrickson-Johnson Foundation, named for Mary Hendrickson, who died from metastatic melanoma nearly 20 years ago.

Malignant melanoma is the most deadly form of skin cancer, accounting for almost 4 percent of cancers among men and women. The incidence of melanoma has increased significantly for both men and women in the United States in the last 10 years. While both hereditary and environmental risk factors have been identified in melanoma, the critical molecular events in disease onset and progression remain unknown.

Sosman – the Ingram Professor of Cancer Research and Medicine and co-leader of the Signal Transduction and
Cell Proliferation Program for Vanderbilt-Ingram – will continue his work in the development of new drugs and targets in the therapy of melanoma through clinical trials designed to benefit patients while asking important biologic questions.

– by Dagny Stuart

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