Young Investigator Awards

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network^® (NCCN^®) and the NCCN Foundation^®each year announce new recipients for the NCCN Foundation Young Investigator Awards (YIA) Program. The honorees will receive up to $150,000 in funding, over two years, to advance important research on important issues in oncology. These early-career investigators from NCCN Member Institutions represent tomorrow’s leaders for advancing cancer care. The NCCN Oncology Research Program (ORP) manages the selection process and provides guidance and oversight for the projects over the grant duration.

Recent YIA Recipients

	Julia Agne, MD, The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center - James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute Patient- and Caregiver-Triggered Palliative Referrals via an Electronic Symptom Monitoring Program
	Arnab Basu, MD, MPH, FACP, O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB Molecular Residual Disease (MRD) Guided Adjuvant Therapy in Renal Cell Carcinoma (RCC) - MRD GATE RCC
	Kimberley Lee, MD, Moffitt Cancer Center Understanding Racial Differences in Ovarian Function Suppression (OFS) Decision Making and Initiation Among Young Women with Breast Cancer
	Yuxuan Wang, MD, PhD, The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins Simultaneous Detection of Genetic and Epigenetic Changes for Diagnosis and Localization of Early-Stage Cancers

	Abhishek Chakraborty, PhD, Cleveland Clinic/Case Comprehensive Cancer Center Functional In Vivo Genetic Screens Identify Oncogenic Vulnerabilities in Kidney Cancer
	Christos Fountzilas, MD, FACP, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center Novel Combination Therapy for Colorectal and Esophagogastric Cancers
	Zachary Frosch, MD, MSHP, Fox Chase Cancer Center Developing Patient-Centered Strategies to Improve Equitable Access to Cellular Therapies
	Chad Tang, MD, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center Spatial Evolution of Immune Cell Dysfunction during Development of Oligometastatic RCC and its Perturbation by Radiation Therapy
	Ana I. Tergas, MD, MPH, City of Hope Genetic Ancestry, Cervical Cancer Outcomes, and Prevalence of Homologous DNA Repair Deficiency in a Diverse Multi-ethnic Population
	Richard Tobin, PhD, University of Colorado Cancer Center Enhancing MAIT Cell Antitumor Activity by Epigenetic Priming in Mucosal Melanoma
	Shuang (George) Zhao, MD, MS, University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center Liquid Biomarkers of Response to Radium-223 in Metastatic Prostate Cancer

	Esra Akbay, PhD, UT Southwestern Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center Activating Anti-Tumor Innate Immunity to Overcome Checkpoint Blockade Resistance in NSCLC
	William C. Jackson, MD, University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center A Phase II Randomized Trial of Moderate versus Ultra-Hypofractionated Post-Prostatectomy Radiation Therapy
	Everett Moding, MD, PhD, Stanford Cancer Institute Resolving Sarcoma Evolution During Tumor Development and Radiation Therapy
	Neelima Navuluri, MD, MPH, Duke Cancer Institute Intervention Mapping to Improve Lung Cancer Screening Among Black Veterans
	Ravi Parikh, MD, MPP, The Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania Machine Learning and Behavioral Nudges to Improve Palliative Care Utilization in Advanced Cancer
	Deborah Stephens, DO, Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah Non-melanoma Skin Cancer (NMSC) in Patients with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL): Biology and Prevention
	Caitlin Zebley, MD, PhD, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Epigenetic Reprogramming of CAR T-Cell Therapy

	Agnieszka Czechowicz, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine Development of anti-hKIT Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cells as a Dual Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT) Conditioning and Immunotherapeutic Agent for Cure of Pediatric Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML)
	Wade T. Iams, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center Quantifying Minimal Residual Disease in Patients with Small Cell Lung Cancer
	Shivan Mehta, MD, MBA, MSHP, Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Choice Architecture and Mailed Colorectal Cancer Screening Outreach in a Community Health Setting
	Omar Y. Mian, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor and Associate Staff, Case Comprehensive Cancer Center/Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute Modulating Intratumoral Androgen Biosynthesis to Selectively Sensitize Prostate Cancer to Radiotherapy
	Mustafa Raoof, MD, Assistant Clinical Professor, City of Hope Beckman Research Institute Targeting Transcription-Replication Conflicts in KRAS-driven Pancreatic Cancer
	Jennifer Y. Sheng, MD, Assistant Professor in Oncology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine An Adaptive Nutrition and Exercise Weight loss (A-NEW) Study for Breast Cancer Survivors

	Prasanna Ananth, MD, MPH, Yale Cancer Center A Modified Delphi Study to Refine Measures of End-of-Life Care Quality for Children with Cancer
	Jaehyuk Choi, MD, PhD, Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University Genomic Determinants of Responses to Immunotherapy in Merkel Cell Carcinoma
	Kedar Kirtane, MD, Moffitt Cancer Center Feasibility of a Digitized Peer-to-Peer Patient Support System for Patients with Locally Advanced Head and Neck Cancer Undergoing Chemoradiation
	Yanming Li, PhD, University of Michigan Network Genome-Wide Association Studies for Early Detection of Cancers

Past YIA Recipients

View the YIA Program Hall of Fame to learn more about the program.