2022 Faculty awards & honors

Several UChicago Comprehensive Cancer Center faculty and trainees were recognized for their outstanding contributions in the field of cancer.

National recognition

Everett E. Vokes, MD

Everett E. Vokes, MD, served as the president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) for the 2021-2022 term.

Wendy Stock, MD
Peter H. O’Donnell, MD

Wendy Stock, MD, and Peter H. O’Donnell, MD, were chosen to lead committees of the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology, a clinical trials network that promotes collaboration among approximately 10,000 cancer specialists across the U.S. and Canada.

Olwen Hahn, MD

Olwen Hahn, MD, was elected by her peers as Vice President of the Alliance NCTN Foundation.

Kunle Odunsi, MD, PhD

Kunle Odunsi, MD, PhD, was elected by the Association of American Cancer Institutes as a new member of its board.

Chuan He, PhD

Chuan He, PhD, was appointed as editor-in-chief for the American Chemical Society journal ACS Chemical Biology.

Promotions and appointments

M. Eileen Dolan, PhD

M. Eileen Dolan, PhD, became the Deputy Director for the Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dolan has spent the past eight years working as its Associate Director for Cancer Research Training and Education Coordination.

Peter H. O’Donnell, MD

Peter H. O’Donnell, MD, was appointed Chair of the Committee on Clinical Pharmacology & Pharmacogenomics.

Alex T. Pearson, MD, PhD

Alex T. Pearson, MD, PhD, was named the new Director of the Head and Neck Cancer Program as well as the inaugural Director of Data Sciences for the Section of Hematology/Oncology.

Jasmin A. Tiro, PhD, MPH

Jasmin A. Tiro, PhD, MPH, joined the University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center as the new Associate Director of Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences.

Blase Polite, MD

Blase Polite, MD, was appointed as Chief Physician for the forthcoming multispecialty care facility in Crown Point, Indiana.

Russell Szmulewitz, MD

Russell Szmulewitz, MD, was selected as the Interim Associate Director for Clinical Investigation for the University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Awards

Hans Schreiber, MD, PhD

Hans Schreiber, MD, PhD (right), received the inaugural David Jonas Memorial Award in recognition for his dedication and significant contributions to the field of cellular immunotherapy.

Gini Fleming, MD

Gini Fleming, MD, received the 2022 Richard L. Schilsky Cancer and Leukemia Group B Achievement Award.

Sonali M. Smith, MD

Sonali M. Smith, MD, was recognized by the Department of Medicine with the 2022 Arthur Rubenstein Faculty Mentorship Award.

Grants

Akash Patnaik, MD, PhD, MMSc, received a $2.6 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to study new immunotherapy strategies for treating aggressive prostate cancer.

Russell Szmulewitz, MD, was awarded a $1.9 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to establish the University of Chicago Prostate Cancer Clinical Research Program.

Shannon Elf, PhD, received a three-year, $225,000 Medical Research Award from the Gabrielle's Angel Foundation for Cancer Research, one of six awards given by the Foundation to top junior investigators.

Zhen Tian, PhD, received a $1.8 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to develop an artificial intelligence-driven treatment planning system of stereotactic radiosurgery for the management of multiple brain metastases.

New team members

We added 28 investigators to our roster in 2022. They were placed into one of four research programs according to their expertise.

Molecular Mechanisms of Cancer

Ayman Al-Hendy, MD, PhD

Matthew Brady, PhD

Brandon Faubert, PhD

Sonia Hernandez, PhD

Andrea Piunti, PhD

Simon Schwöerer, PhD

Christopher Weber, MD, PhD

Immunology and Cancer

Thinle Chodon, MD, PhD

Richard Koya, MD, PhD

Junko Matsuzaki, PhD

Takemasa Tsuji, PhD

Clinical and Experimental Therapeutics

Piyush Agarwal, MD

Daniel Appelbaum, MD

Bulent Aydogan, PhD

Diana Bolotin, MD, PhD

Nan Chen, MD

Marina Garassino, MBBS

Katherine Kurnit, MD

Patrick La Riviere, PhD

Mariam Nawas, MD

Daniel Olson, MD

Deric Park, MD

Cancer Prevention and Control

Adam DuVall, MD, MPH

Ian Foster, PhD

Guimin Gao, PhD

Parth Modi, MD

Eric Polley, PhD

Jasmin Tiro, PhD