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AACI to Honor Kaelin With Distinguished Scientist Award
Photo credit: Steve Marsel Studio
William G. Kaelin, Jr., MD, will receive AACI's Distinguished Scientist Award on October 12, during the 2020 AACI/CCAF Annual Meeting. Dr. Kaelin will also deliver the keynote address at the virtual meeting.
AACI is recognizing Dr. Kaelin, the Sidney Farber Professor of Medicine in the Department of Medicine at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School; and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, for his long-term research on how cells sense and adapt to changing oxygen levels.
The 2019 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded jointly to Dr. Kaelin, Sir Peter J. Ratcliffe, and Gregg L. Semenza. Dr. Kaelin and his collaborators delineated the molecular events used by almost all multi-cellular animals to attune themselves to varying quantities of oxygen. These findings are leading to new therapeutics for disorders ranging from cancer to cardiovascular disease. For example, they provided the rationale for the development of drugs that inhibit the HIF transcription factor, or HIF-responsive growth factors such as VEGF, for kidney cancer.
Recent AACI Distinguished Scientist honorees include Drs. Douglas R. Lowy, Charles Perou, Carl June, James Allison, and Lewis Cantley.