Young Investigator Award
in memory of Barbara Berlanti
Researching new ways to prevent and find lung cancer early
More people in the United States die from lung cancer than any other type of cancer. While researchers and doctors have a good understanding of what causes lung cancer, they’re still searching for new ways to prevent it, or find it early when it is most treatable.
Unfortunately, lung cancer research is still underfunded because it is viewed as a preventable disease due to its link to smoking. In the US, cigarette smoking is linked to approximately 80-90% of lung cancer deaths. But lung cancer can affect anyone, regardless of smoking history.
The F Cancer Young Investigator Award in Memory of Barbara Berlanti provides funding to young researchers to find new approaches to lung cancer prevention and early detection. By focusing on this, our researchers are making a difference for those most at risk for lung cancer. We’re proud to fund this research that may include examining genetic predispositions and testing, health service research, or new screening methods.
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Researchers Funded
Dr. Allison Chang is a Medical Oncology fellow specializing in Thoracic Oncology at Mass General Cancer Center. She earned her MD and PhD at Harvard Medical School, where her thesis work focused on describing the mechanisms underlying neural computations in the fruit fly mechanosensory system. She then completed residency in Internal Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital before beginning Hematology/Oncology fellowship in the Dana-Farber/Mass General Brigham combined program. Dr. Chang’s research leverages her dual expertise in neural processing and clinical oncology to develop and deploy novel technologies in lung cancer early detection, with the ultimate goal of diagnosing lung cancer at an earlier, curable stage.
Dr. Jaclyn LoPiccolo is a Medical Oncology fellow specializing in Thoracic Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. She received an MD and PhD in Molecular Biology and Pharmacology from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine as part of the Medical Scientist Training Program, and subsequently completed a residency in Internal Medicine at the Johns Hopkins Hospital as part of the Physician-Scientist Pathway. Her research focuses on germline predisposition to the development of oncogene-driven lung cancer, and translating these findings into improvements in screening, prevention, and treatment.
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