PICI awards $3 million to support early career cancer researchers

From improving immunotherapy response in childhood cancer patients, to better understanding how cancer’s spread to the liver affects the body’s immune system, to helping T cells stay energized to fight cancer, The Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy (PICI)’s 2021 class of early career researchers award recipients are pursuing ideas that have the potential to change the face of oncology.

The awardees, officially announced today, are now empowered to advance their boldest ideas thanks to almost $3 million in support, as well as guidance from and collaboration with PICI’s world-class network of immunotherapy experts.

The six recipients come from leading research institutions in PICI’s network, including Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center (Penn), the Stanford University School of Medicine, the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, and Gladstone Institutes.

They also come from a variety of backgrounds, both in terms of their training and their geography, as half of the awardees were born outside of the mainland U.S. – Hawaii, the United Kingdom and France.