Congratulations to Dr. Erin Schenk, recipient of the tenth annual LUNGevity Career Development Award.  The LUNGevity Foundation is the nation's leading lung cancer focused nonprofit organization and it's Career Development Awards for lung cancer fund critical lung cancer research projects while providing recipients with world-class mentorship by LUNGevity's Scientific Advisory Board.  Furthermore, LUNGevity is the only lung cancer organization with a programmatic focus on early detection.   Dr. Schenk was awarded the 2021 Career Development Award for her project entitled Innate immunity as a mechanism of TKI resistance in fusion-driven NSCLC.  Fusion-driven non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is a group of lung cancers that are driven by specific changes in oncogenes. These lung cancers tend to be addicted to these oncogenes. Such fusion-driven NSCLCs are treated with targeted therapies that block the effect of the oncogenes. However, the cancer inevitably comes back because the tumors become resistant. Traditionally, fusion-driven NSCLCs have not been successfully treated with immunotherapy. Dr. Schenk is testing how these cancers can be treated with immunotherapy through another immune pathway—the innate immunity pathway.

This three year award is $100,000 per year, renewable in the second and third years based on research progress.  As an awardee, Dr. Schenk will serve as a non-voting member of LUNGevity's Scientific Advisory Board for the term of her award and will be mentored by senior lung cancer experts at the University of Colorado and the Scientific Advisory Board.  

LUNGevity Press Release