Michaele C. Christian Oncology Development Lectureship and Award

This award was established by the Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program in 2007 to honor the twenty year NCI career of Michaele C. Christian. Dr. Christian was appointed Associate Director of the Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program of DCTD in 1997 after serving as head of the Investigational Drug Branch overseeing the clinical development of novel anticancer agents. In 1995, she established the NCI Clinical Trials Monitoring Branch, which oversees quality assurance and compliance for hundreds of NCI clinical trials. Her tenure as Associate Director of CTEP was marked by significant advances in electronic toxicity reporting and compliance monitoring as well as the introduction of novel phase I/ II trial designs into CTEP-sponsored studies. Another important initiative led to multiple early phase clinical studies that successfully combined targeted agents from different companies.

The award is intended to recognize the contributions of individuals, particularly those in mid-career, to the development of novel agents for cancer therapy. The award consists of a plaque and a lectureship. The award and presentation are made at the annual fall NCI Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program Early Drug Development meeting. Selected lectures may be published in the journal Clinical Cancer Research.

Selection Committee:

The award recipient is chosen by a committee of investigators with expertise in the area of oncology drug development. Members of the committee include:

Selection Process:

Members of the NCI Investigational Drug Steering Committee (IDSC) are asked each year to submit the names of candidates for the Michaele Christian Oncology Development Lectureship and Award. Nominations can be sent to the Investigational Drug Branch liaison to the Scientific Meetings Working Group of the IDSC. Nominators are asked to provide the nominee’s Curriculum Vitae and a letter of support providing their perspective on the nominee’s professional contributions and accomplishments that merit receipt of the award. The nominators may as well provide any additional comments about the nominee that should be considered by the selection committee. All of the submitted information is held in confidence and is shared only with the members of the Selection Committee.

Selection criteria for the Award:

1. Academic investigator: M.D., Ph.D., Pharm. D., or equivalent
2. North American investigator (reflecting NCI CTEP research focus)
3. Mid career: independent scientist/investigator above the rank of assistant professor and no more than 5 years as a professor
4. Government employees not eligible
5. Has demonstrated innovation or introduced/investigated new concepts or technologies in conception, design or performance of early phase clinical trials

Award Recipients:

2007: Merrill J. Egorin, M.D., University of Pittsburgh
2008: Patricia M. LoRusso, D.O., Karmanos Cancer Center
2009: John C. Byrd, M.D., Ohio State University
2010: Lillian L. Siu, M.D., Princess Margaret Hospital
2011: Michael A. Carducci, M.D., Johns Hopkins University
2012: Afshin Dowlati, M.D., Case Western Reserve Medical Center
2013: Geoffrey I. Shapiro, M.D., Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
2014: Carol A. Aghajanian, M.D., Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
2015: Keith T. Flaherty, M.D., Massachusetts General Hospital
2016: Glenn Liu, M.D., University of Wisconsin
2017: Michele A. Rudek, Pharm. D., Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University
2018: Wells A. Messersmith, M.D., University of Colorado
2019: Timothy Yap, MBBS, Ph.D., F.R.C.P., MD Anderson Cancer Center
2020: Taofeek Owonikoko, M.D., Ph.D., Emory--Winship Cancer Institute
2021: Jan Beumer, Pharm.D., Ph.D., UPMC--Hillman Cancer Center