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The Inaugural Albert Szent-Gyorgyi Prize for Progress in Cancer Research Awarded to Harold F. Dvorak, M.D.

Posted on: Friday, 14 October 2005, 15:01 CDT

The National Foundation for Cancer Research (NFCR) today announced that Harold F. Dvorak, M.D., Mallinckrodt Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School and Chief of the Department of Pathology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, has been awarded the inaugural Albert Szent-Gyorgyi Prize for Progress in Cancer Research.

The Szent-Gyorgyi Prize Committee selected Dr. Dvorak based on his breakthrough discovery of vascular permeability factor/vascular endothelial cell growth factor (VPF/VEGF) and that contribution that has led to a series of discoveries which both elucidated the mechanisms of angiogenesis as well as the development of antibodies and small molecule therapies to inhibit VEGF.

"Without Dr. Dvorak's fundamental discovery we would probably not have had the therapeutic agent bevacizumab which has had a tremendous impact on improving survival for patients with advanced colorectal cancer, breast cancer, non-cell lung cancer and renal cell carcinoma," stated Chairman of the Szent-Gyorgyi Prize Committee Dr. Daniel Von Hoff, Vice President of the Translational Genomics Research Institute in Phoenix. "In addition, other small molecules which inhibit VEGF have also shown outstanding clinical antitumor activity with dramatic therapeutic effects for patients worldwide."

"Dr. Dvorak's seminal discoveries in basic science have led to significant clinical benefits for cancer patients, perfectly fitting the unique criteria of the Albert Szent-Gyorgyi Prize for Progress in Cancer Research," said Sujuan Ba, Ph.D., NFCR Chief Scientific Officer and Co-Chair of the Szent-Gyorgyi Prize Committee. "Dr. Dvorak's key VPF/VEGF discovery paved the way for researchers to better understand the mechanisms involved in tumor angiogenesis. His work is now being utilized in very real practical applications, offering hope for angiogenesis-centered treatments to halt and even reverse tumor growth."

The Albert Szent-Gyorgyi Prize for Progress in Cancer Research was established by the National Foundation for Cancer Research in honor of its co-founder, Dr. Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, recipient of the 1937 Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine for his study on Vitamin C and cell respiration. In 1973 he changed the face of cancer research funding by founding the National Foundation for Cancer Research with entrepreneur Franklin C. Salisbury.

The annual Albert Szent-Gyorgyi Prize for Progress in Cancer Research carries a $25,000 cash prize and was established to honor outstanding scientific achievement in the war against cancer and celebrate leading researchers who have made extraordinary contributions in the field of cancer research.

Source: Business Wire

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