Cancer Researchers Win Funding
By Caroline Lewis (Crain’s New York Business) – The Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Research Alliance will announce Thursday the second class of early-career cancer researchers to win funding and support through its program. Chosen in part for their high-risk, explorative research proposals, the six winners will receive $200,000 of funding annually for up to three years and will be matched with mentors at pharmaceutical companies. Olivia Flatto, the alliance’s executive director, said fostering collaboration between industry and academia is central to her group’s mission. “Academia understands best how things work at the molecular level, and what pharma does best is create molecules that can be engineered to work in the human body,” said Ms. Flatto. Last year’s winners have been working with mentors at Eli Lilly, Pfizer and Sanofi. Ms. Flatto said the foundations are in talks with other pharmaceutical companies about creating partnerships for this year’s winners.