ASCO to honor 8 leaders

The American Society of Clinical Oncology and will honor eight leaders at the organization’s 2026 annual meeting in May. 

Award recipients include researchers, educators and patient advocates, according to a Jan. 20 news release from ASCO.

The award recipients are:

1. John Carpten, PhD, will receive the Allen Lichter Visionary Leader Award.
   
   Dr. Carpten is chief scientific officer of the Irell & Manella Cancer Center and director of City of Hope’s National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center and Beckman Research Institute. He also serves as the Irell & Manella Cancer Center Director’s Distinguished Chair and the Morgan & Helen Chu Director’s Chair of the Beckman Research Institute.
   
   
2. Eduardo Vilar-Sanchez, MD, PhD, will receive the ASCO-American Cancer Society Cancer Prevention Award.
   
   Dr. Vilar-Sanchez is professor and chair, ad interim, of the department of clinical cancer prevention at Houston-based University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
   

3. Enrique Soto Pérez de Celis, MD, PhD, will receive the BJ Kennedy Award for Geriatric Oncology Endowed by Dr. Tony and Mrs. Carrie Cheung.
   
   Dr. Soto is associate director for global oncology at the Aurora-based University of Colorado Cancer Center and associate professor of medical oncology at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.
   

4. Nancy Davidson, MD, will receive the David Karnofsky Science of Oncology Award.
   
   Dr. Davidson is executive vice president, chief academic officer, professor and the Raisbeck Endowed Chair in Collaborative Research at Seattle-based Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center.
   
   She previously served as director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and was the  founding director of the breast cancer program at Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center.
   
   
5. Sharon Giordano, MD, will receive the Gianni Bonadonna Breast Cancer Award.
   
   Dr. Giordano is Colin Powell Chair for Cancer Research, chair of the department of breast medical oncology and a professor in the department of health services research at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
   
   
6. Michael Kelley, MD, will receive the Humanitarian Award.
   
   Dr. Kelley is the executive director of the National Oncology Program at the Department of Veterans Affairs.
   
   
7. Harvey Jay Cohen, MD, will receive the Jamie Von Roenn Excellence in Teaching and Mentorship Award.
   
   Dr. Cohen is the Walter Kempner Professor of Medicine, emeritus chair of the department of medicine, and emeritus director of the Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development at Durham, N.C.-based Duke University School of Medicine.
   
   He was the founding principal investigator of the Duke Claude Pepper Older Americans Independence Center and founding director of the Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center at the Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
   

8. Louis Constine, MD, will receive the Pediatric Oncology Award.
   
   Dr. Constine is the Philip Rubin Professor of Radiation Oncology and Pediatrics and vice chair of radiation oncology at the University of Rochester’s James P. Wilmot Cancer Institute in New York.
   
   
9. Additionally, Frank Ferris, MD, and Charles Loprinzi, MD will receive Walther Cancer Foundation Supportive Oncology awards, and Beverly Canin and Diane Zipursky Quale will receive Patient Advocate awards.

Read more about the award recipients here.