Steele Children’s Research Center Researcher Dr. Emmanuel Katsanis Named ‘Leading Edge Researcher’ at the University of Arizona
March 24, 2009
Emmanuel Katsanis, MD, professor of pediatrics and chief of the Section of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology and at The University of Arizona College of Medicine, has been named one of five “Leading Edge Researchers” at the UA.
Dr. Katsanis, also the Louise Thomas Endowed Chair in Pediatric Cancer Research at the UA Steele Children’s Research Center, was honored today at the UA’s sixth annual Innovation Day celebration, which recognized research achievements of students, faculty and staff.
Dr. Katsanis was recognized for his ground-breaking research in the development of a novel cancer vaccine – CRCL, which is nearing human clinical trials. Extending the CRCL research, Dr. Katsanis recently was awarded a five-year R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to explore how combining certain drugs (known as tyrosine kinase inhibitors) with the CRCL vaccine will make the CRCL vaccine even more effective.
“We’re very happy for Dr. Katsanis,” said Fayez K. Ghishan, MD, professor and head of the UA Department of Pediatrics and director of the Steele Center. “His discovery and development of the CRCL cancer vaccine will ultimately lead to novel treatments for patients with leukemia and other blood cancers, with the ultimate goal of saving lives. We are extremely proud of this pioneering researcher.”
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The University of Arizona, University Physicians Healthcare and University Medical Center work together to care for patients, educate medical students, train resident-physicians and conduct clinical and basic research. The UA Steele Children’s Research Center and UMC are working together to build Diamond Children’s Medical Center (www.diamondchildrens.org), now under construction and scheduled to open in 2010. Diamond Children's will be Arizona’s only pediatric inpatient medical center connected to an academic research facility – the Steele Center (www.steelecenter.arizona.edu).