The Leukemia Research Foundation is pleased to award $2.4M in research grants through its 2023 New Investigator Research Grant Program.

Grants of up to $150K, over a two-year period, were awarded to 16 new investigators worldwide.  

“Research is at the core of our mission,” said Kevin Radelet, executive director, “and providing the support for research break-throughs, continues to drive the best minds to discover even better treatments. We are especially proud this year, to be able to make our largest annual investment to date, in this important research.”

The competitive, peer-reviewed program funds early-career investigators of exceptional creativity. The projects are highly innovative, with the potential to impact broad, essential areas of leukemia research.

This year’s projects span a range of topics to advance discoveries in:

• Cancer cell biology
• Treatments, including CAR-T
• Relapse prevention after treatment

Grantees are evaluated by the Foundation’s independent Medical Advisory Board (MAB), comprised of 21 leading hematology/oncology experts from prominent medical research institutions.

The MAB is chaired by Justin Kline, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, University of Chicago Medicine and Associate Professor of Comprehensive Cancer Research Center, University of Chicago Medicine.

Using the same methodology employed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the MAB evaluates proposals from pioneering scientists and clinical investigators to identify which studies they recommend to the Leukemia Research Foundation for funding.

The 16 New Investigator Research Grant recipients for 2023 include:

• Robert Bowman, PhD, Assistant Professor – University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine
• Yu-Chiao Chiu, PhD, Assistant Professor – University of Pittsburgh
• Marta Derecka, PhD, Instructor – St Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Inc.
• Francesca Ferraro, MS, PhD, Assistant Professor – Washington University in St. Louis
• Zhaohui Gu, PhD, Assistant Professor – Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope
• Xue Han, PhD, Assistant Professor – The Ohio State University
• Tania Jain, MBBS, Assistant Professor – Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
• Qingfei Jiang, PhD, Assistant Professor – University of California, San Diego
• Theodoros Karantanos, MD, PhD, Instructor – Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
• Linde Miles, PhD, Assistant Professor – Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center
• Joshua Riback, PhD, Assistant Professor – Baylor College of Medicine
• Reona Sakemura, MD, Assistant Professor – Mayo Clinic Rochester
• Christian Schuerch, PhD, Professor – University of Tübingen, Germany
• Alan Shih, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor – Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
• Srividya Swaminathan, PhD, Assistant Professor – Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope
• Daniel Utzschneider, PhD, Laboratory Head – Peter Doherty Institute at the University of Melbourne, Australia

To learn more about the Leukemia Research Foundations’ research programs, and the deadlines for the 2024 grant program, visit leukemiarf.org/research

About the Leukemia Research Foundation

The Leukemia Research Foundation, headquartered in Northfield, Illinois, is committed to funding innovative leukemia research worldwide and supporting people affected by leukemia. Since its founding in 1946, more than $87M has been raised to pursue better treatments and the ultimate cure for leukemia. As the nation’s largest nonprofit focused exclusively on funding leukemia research, the Leukemia Research Foundation has invested millions in more than 600 research projects worldwide to accelerate the development of new and better treatments.