Please join us the week of November 2-6, 2020 for the 2nd Dr. Eddie Méndez Postdoctoral Symposium which recognizes outstanding diverse postdoctoral fellows through out the United States who are conducting cancer, infectious disease or basic science research.
Click here for more info and links to each session
SEATTLE – May 5, 2020 – Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center has announced nine recipients of an award honoring the late Dr. Eddie Méndez, a physician-scientist and cherished colleague at Fred Hutch.
Fred Hutch leaders created this award last year to recognize Dr. Eddie Méndez and his commitment to supporting early-career scientists, particularly those from underrepresented racial and ethnic backgrounds. Méndez, who died of cancer two years ago at age 45, is remembered as an advocate for young scientists and for being committed to cancer research.
“The Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion is deeply proud of this year’s awardees. We are excited to see the Méndez Award expand the recognition of postdoctoral scientists from diverse communities and the Hutch’s capacity to engage with them,” said Dr. Paul Buckley, administrative director of the Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, or ODEI, at Fred Hutch. “This program is one of the Hutch’s efforts to expand the pipeline of diverse scientists here and other institutions like our own. This is a high priority for us to achieve our mission,” he added.
“We have been able to increase the number of awardees, and this year we are recognizing an outstanding group of nine postdoctoral fellows whose research spans basic sciences to public health sciences and focuses on various cancers and infectious diseases,” added Dr. Christopher Li, the Faculty Director for the Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and who chaired this year’s award selection committee.
Méndez, a native of Puerto Rico, attended Princeton University and then obtained a medical degree from University of Maryland at Baltimore. He later came to University of Washington as a resident, where he became known for expertise in head and neck cancers. Méndez was known for being passionate about developing new therapies to help prevent cancer treatment side effects and save his patients’ lives.
Solicited from universities and cancer research centers around the U.S, this year’s awardees reflect the spirit of Méndez and represent a breadth of topics and fields. Their research interests include T cell therapies, cancer outcomes among HIV-positive patients, health disparities in American Indians, and acute myeloid leukemia therapies.
Of the award recipients, Li said, “Each awardee has made substantial contributions to both research and to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in science. We deeply appreciate support from center leadership to continue this important program aimed at recognizing outstanding early-career, underrepresented minority scientists as we work to develop a more diverse workforce.”
The award includes an honorarium for the recipients, and they are usually honored at a symposium where they give presentations on their research findings. While originally scheduled to be held later this month, the symposium has been postponed to the fall.
2020 Dr. Eddie Méndez Award recipients
Daniel Arango, Ph.D.
National Cancer Institute
Pau Castel, Ph.D.
University of California, San Francisco, Helen Diller Comprehensive Cancer Center
Marc A. Emerson, Ph.D., M.P.H.
UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center
Jami R. Erickson, Ph.D.
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Melissa V. Fernandez, Ph.D., M.Sc.
National Cancer Institute
Nicholas C. Gómez, Ph.D.
The Rockefeller University
Jessica Yasmine Islam, Ph.D., M.P.H.
UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center
Yadira M. Soto-Feliciano, Ph.D.
The Rockefeller University
Christina Marie Termini, Ph.D.
University of California, Los Angeles
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At Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, home to three Nobel laureates, interdisciplinary teams of world-renowned scientists seek new and innovative ways to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer, HIV/AIDS and other life-threatening diseases. Fred Hutch’s pioneering work in bone marrow transplantation led to the development of immunotherapy, which harnesses the power of the immune system to treat cancer. An independent, nonprofit research institute based in Seattle, Fred Hutch houses the nation’s first cancer prevention research program, as well as the clinical coordinating center of the Women’s Health Initiative and the international headquarters of the HIV Vaccine Trials Network.