People

James R. Downing, MD, was appointed CEO of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, TN, effective July 15. He succeeds William E. Evans, PharmD, who is retiring from the position after 10 years to pursue pharmacogenomics research full time.

Downing joined St. Jude in 1984 and became its scientific director and executive vice president in 2004 and deputy director in 2011. Richard J. Gilbertson, MD, PhD, who directs the institution's cancer center, has now assumed the role of scientific director as well.

A world leader in pediatric cancer research, Downing studies the genetic basis of cancer and has overseen the Pediatric Cancer Genome Project, which produced groundbreaking discoveries for four types of brain tumors, four subtypes of childhood leukemia, and other cancers.

The first Tang Prize for Biopharmaceutical Science has been awarded to James P. Allison, PhD, chairman of immunology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and Tasuku Honjo, MD, PhD, professor of immunology and genomic medicine at Kyoto University in Kyoto, Japan, for their research leading to cancer immunotherapy. Established in 2012, the biennial prize provides a cash award of about $1.3 million and a research grant of about $350,000.

Allison was one of two scientists who identified CTLA-4 as an inhibitory receptor on T cells, and he developed an antibody to block it. An FDA-approved drug based on his antibody (ipilimumab; Yervoy) is now used to treat melanoma. Honjo discovered PD-1, another immune checkpoint receptor on T cells. PD-1 inhibitors are under development for the treatment of cancer.

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