Long story short
According to a news release, Elizabeth Wasmuth and Dr. Josephine Taverna were both awarded grants through the V Foundation for Cancer Research, which is a foundation founded in 1993 by ESPN sportscaster and NCAA basketball coach Jim Valvano, with the mission to achieve “victory over cancer.”
Wasmuth was named 2024’s V Foundation Abeloff Scholar for her proposal related to steroid receptor aberrations in prostate, breast, uterine and ovarian cancer. Due to her research, Wasmuth was able to develop a unique system that can test what current therapies are working, how resistance develops and what new drugs provide a more nuanced approach. The grant awards her $600,000 over a period of three years.
Taverna received the “A Grant of Her Own: The Women Scientists Innovation Award” Translational Research grant for her proposal on investigating checkpoint inhibitors for lung cancer treatment that can block cancer signaling within tumor habitats, halting growth, treatment resistance and metastasis. The grant will fund a second clinical trial with up to 20 patients with metastatic lung cancer. As one of six recipients of the award in the United States, she will receive an $800,000 grant over a four year period.
The context
The V Foundation for Cancer Research has awarded more than $353 million in research grants since its inception in 1993. Grants are awarded to scientists and physicians working on pioneering research and techniques that could transform approaches to cancer research.
The foundation’s endowment covers administrative expenses, which ensures that 100% of direct contributions support cancer research.
