March 4, 2014, New York, NY—Ludwig researcher Jedd Wolchok has received the 38th Annual American Association for Cancer Research-Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Memorial Award for his significant and continuing contributions to the development of immunotherapy for melanoma and his application of the strategy to other malignancies. The Rosenthal Memorial Award recognizes researchers under the age of 50 years who have made significant contributions to cancer care through their research.
Wolchok, who is associate director of the Ludwig Center for Cancer Immunotherapy at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) in New York, N.Y., and director of the Ludwig Collaborative Laboratory at MSK and the CVC Trials Network, has established himself as a leader in the exciting field of cancer immunotherapy. Credited with establishing criteria commonly used today to evaluate treatment responses to cancer immunotherapy in clinical trials, he has played a leading role in the development of the therapeutic anti-CTLA-4 antibody ipilimumab, which has been approved for the treatment of advanced melanoma and has induced remarkably durable responses in some patients. Wolchok is today overseeing several preclinical and clinical studies evaluating this and other immunotherapies alone and in combination with both chemotherapy and other immune modulating strategies for the treatment of a wide spectrum of cancers.
Wolchok is a senior editor of Cancer Immunology Research, section editor of the Journal of Immunology and an editorial board member of the Journal of Clinical Oncology. He has received numerous awards for his contributions to cancer research and therapy. These include the Lloyd J Old/Ludwig Chair for Clinical Investigation at Memorial Sloan Kettering, Doctor of the Year Award from the Melanoma International Foundation (2012), the Humanitarian Award from the Melanoma Research Foundation (2010), the Julia Zelmanovich Young Alumni Award from New York University School of Medicine (2004), and the AACR Aventis Scholar-in-Training Award (2000).
Wolchok received his bachelor’s degree from Princeton University, and his master’s, medical, and doctoral degrees from New York University. He completed his residency at New York University Medical Center-Bellevue Hospital and a fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering, where he served as chief fellow.
The award will be officially presented to Wolchok during the opening ceremony of the AACR Annual Meeting 2014, on Sunday, April 6, at 8:15 a.m.
About Ludwig Cancer Research
Ludwig Cancer Research is an international collaborative network of acclaimed scientists with a 40-year legacy of pioneering cancer discoveries. Ludwig combines basic research with the ability to translate its discoveries and conduct clinical trials to accelerate the development of new cancer diagnostics and therapies. Since 1971, Ludwig has invested more than $2.5 billion in life-changing cancer research through the not-for-profit Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research and the six U.S.-based Ludwig Centers.