The yearly presentation is held in honor of Charles Gordon Zubrod, M.D., who led the Division of Cancer Treatment at the National Cancer Institute, was a pioneer in the use of chemotherapy, and in 1974 became the founding director of what was then called The University of Miami Cancer Center.

There were 239 attendees at the virtual event held on May 8, which started with the announcement of the 2021 Faculty Awards:

OUTSTANDING BASIC SCIENTIST OF THE YEAR

Stephan Schürer, Ph.D.

Professor, Department of Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology | Program Director, Drug Discovery, Center for Computational  | Institute for Data Science & Computing

Dr. Schürer’s Systems Drug Discovery laboratory combines cheminformatics, computational biology, medicinal chemistry, and data science to prioritize precision cancer therapies, identify druggable targets, and develop novel small molecules with specific biological functions and mechanisms.

OUTSTANDING CLINICAL RESEARCHER OF THE YEAR

Marilyn Huang, M.D., M.S., FACOG

Associate Professor, Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences | Director of Translational Gynecologic Oncology Research | Co-Lead, Gynecologic Cancers Site Disease Group

Dr. Huang serves as the principal investigator of the precision medicine

NCI-MATCH Trial (Molecular Analysis for Therapy Choice), novel agent phase I, and cooperative group trials.

OUTSTANDING COMMUNITY-BASED RESEARCHER OF THE YEAR

Sophia George, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences

Dr. George is a native of the Caribbean and leads a multi-disciplinary team that studies the etiology and pathogenesis of breast and ovarian cancer in black women.

OUTSTANDING MENTOR OF THE YEAR - JUNIOR FACULTY

Jonathan Trent, M.D., Ph.D.

Professor, Department of Medicine | Associate Director, Clinical Research

As an internationally recognized sarcoma expert, Dr. Trent has mentored and continues to mentor junior faculty from all over the world, including many outside the field of medical oncology.

OUTSTANDING MENTOR OF THE YEAR - TRAINEES

Kerry Burnstein, Ph.D.

Professor and Chair, Department of Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology, Associate Director for Education and Training

In her lab, Dr. Burnstein has mentored numerous graduate students and post-docs who are pursuing successful careers in oncology research and education.

OUTSTANDING TEACHER OF THE YEAR

Matthew Schlumbrecht, M.D., M.P.H., FACOG

Associate Professor, Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences | Director, Gynecologic Oncology Fellowship

Dr. Schlumbrecht has participated in teaching for students in nursing, undergraduate, graduate, medical school, and doctoral programs, and has served on both master’s thesis and doctoral dissertation committees.

2021 LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Neil Schneiderman, Ph.D.

James L. Knight Professor of Psychology | Director, Behavioral Medicine Research Center | Director, Health Division, Department of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Miami

Dr. Schneiderman has been with the University of Miami for 56 years. His interest in relationships among biological regulation, psychosocial factors, and disease processes led him to join with colleagues early in the HIV/AIDS epidemic to study relationships between psychosocial variables and endocrine-immune regulations in HIV-infected patients.

2021 ZUBROD DISTINGUISHED LECTURER

In 1975, Dr. David Baltimore was one of three scientists who shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine “for their discoveries concerning the interaction between tumour viruses and the genetic material of the cell.”  He was at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) at the time.

“He is one of the most important scientific figures in the last 100 years,” said Dr. Nimer, who was an undergraduate at MIT when Dr. Baltimore won the Nobel Prize.  “He has been instrumental in launching scientific endeavors.”

Dr. Baltimore discovered that information in RNA can be transferred to DNA through an enzyme – reverse transcriptase.   He talked about his early work with viruses, their biological nature, and their role in the development of cancer.

“We are now in an era in which we are shifting our thinking to an immunologic attack on tumors. This is a remarkable change in the way cancer research is being done,” said Dr. Baltimore, who is President Emeritus at California Institute of Technology. “A combination of precision medicine and immunologic attack is going to be the way that we move in the next years.”

He described cancer as a very slippery disease. “You think you’ve got it and it finds a way around your approach.”

“Such a thrill to hear David Baltimore, who has contributed so much to science, cancer, biology, virology and academic medicine.  He was at MIT and founded the Whitehead Institute when I was an undergraduate,” Krishna Komanduri, M.D., chief of the Division of Transplantation and Cellular Therapy at Sylvester, said on Twitter.

TOP TRAINEE AWARDS

During the week leading up to the Zubrod Memorial Lecture, 73 Sylvester trainees each delivered three-minute talks on their specific research category:  basic science, clinical, translational and population-based.  

“One of the most important things that we do as a cancer center is to make sure that the next generation of cancer researchers have opportunities to present their work and to be asked critical questions about their work,” said Dr. Nimer.

Faculty reviewers selected the Top 5 Trainee Awards, which were presented prior to the lecture.