People

Kanti R. Rai, MB (Medicinae Baccalaureus), chief of the chronic lymphocytic leukemia research and treatment program at North Shore–Long Island Jewish (LIJ) Health System, received the David A. Karnofsky Memorial Award on June 2 at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2012 Annual Meeting in Chicago. The award recognizes his outstanding achievements in cancer research and his influence on cancer treatment. A professor of both medicine and molecular medicine at Hofstra North Shore–LIJ School of Medicine and an investigator with The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in New York City, he is known for establishing the Rai clinical staging system for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) in the 1970s. He is currently studying new agents for the treatment of CLL. [Photo courtesy of North Shore–LIJ Studios]

Rai is a founding member and co-chair of the International Workshop on CLL and has served as president of the American Society of Hematology.

Rakesh K. Jain, PhD, a professor of radiation oncology (tumor biology) at Harvard Medical School and director of the E.L. Steele Laboratory of Tumor Biology at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, received the Science of Oncology Award at ASCO's 2012 Annual Meeting on June 3. By combining his expertise in engineering, mathematics, tumor biology, and physiology, he has developed mathematical models, genetically engineered mice, and imaging technologies that provided molecular, cellular, anatomical, and functional insights into how cancers evade treatment. His discoveries suggesting that antiangiogenic drugs “normalize” abnormal tumor vasculature are changing the thinking about how these drugs work.

Jain is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine, and the National Academy of Sciences.

For more news on cancer research, visit Cancer Discovery online at http://CDnews.aacrjournals.org.