It is our pleasure to announce Gary Starling, PhD, Assoc. VP, and Merck as the winner of DANS Excellence Clinical Development Award in regards to KEYTRUDA. Dr. Starling’s career has been focused on the discovery and early development of biologic therapeutics. He held key positions at Bristol-Myers Squibb, CuraGen, PDL BioPharma, Facet Biotech (acquired by Abbott Labs) and Merck. He heads the Protein Science Department at Merck that drives the discovery of Biologics for all of Merck’s disease areas including Immuno-Oncology. Join us in congratulating Merck and Dr. Starling on this wonderful recognition.

It is our pleasure to announce Ira Mellman, VP, Cancer Immunology, Genentech, Roche, as the winner of AAPM Leadership Award in Cancer Immunology. Ira came to Genentech in the Spring of 2007 as VP of Research Oncology, after more than 20 years as a faculty member at the Yale University School of Medicine, where he was a department chair, scientific director of the Yale Cancer Center, and Sterling Professor of Cell Biology and Immunobiology. Dr. Mellman is a thought leader, who has made seminal contributions to the field of cancer immunology. Join us in congratulating Ira Mellman, Genentech and Roche on this wonderful recognition.

It is our pleasure to announce Bhargava, MD, VP, Oncology TA Head, Gilead Sciences with the AAPM Excellence in Transformative Therapy Award in regards to the development of CART immunotherapy -Yescarta™, which is at the forefront of precision medicine for the treatment of lymphoid cancers. Dr. Bhargava also currently serves as a faculty at UCSF, and was previously a faculty member at Harvard Medical School and Attending Physician at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. Please join me in congratulating Dr. Bhargava, Kite Pharma (a Gilead subsidiary), and Gilead Sciences on this wonderful recognition.

It is our pleasure to announce Dinesh Kotak, MD, Chair, Departmental Technology Leads and Kaiser Permanente with the AAPM Excellence in Oncology Care Award in regards to their commitment to provide the highest quality compassionate care, in their 125+ oncology groups, to over 4.25 million members. Dr. Kotak is an innovator, physician and health IT-leader at Kaiser, responsible for a group of physicians/technology leaders from 17 centers, who are at the forefront of using technology to better serve cancer patients. Join us in congratulating Dr. Kotak and Kaiser Permanente on this wonderful recognition.

Thrilled to share that Gordon Theilen DVM, ACVIM-Oncology, Emeritus Professor UC Davis as the winner of Distinguished Emeritus Award for Excellence in Veterinary Oncology. He and his colleagues isolated retroviruses causing sarcomas: Reticuloendotheliosis, Snyder-Theilen Feline and Simian Sarcoma Virus (SSV). Leukemogenesis has been the main focus of his research career. He is a founding member Veterinary Cancer Society (VCS) and an author of a book “One Medicine War on Cancer.” Join us in congratulating Gordan Theilen and UCDavis, on this wonderful recognition.