Ten young Italian researchers, five women and the same number of men, were among the winners of the Merit Award, the $ 10 million prize that the Foundation of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) assigns to the most promising researches. Complete the ‘team’ of awarded Italians Antonio Di Meglio who won the ‘Special Merit Award’ for his studies on the management of symptoms and cancer pain.
Innovative research: from immunotherapy to palliative care
A few days before the start of the world congress of oncology that this year will take place online from 4 to 8 June, the names of the winners arrive, this year there are 164 and come from all over the world. This prestigious award aims to support young oncologists who have signed the selected abstracts as first authors to be presented at the Asco Annual Meeting. This year’s projects span many areas including immunotherapy, precision medicine, palliative care, genetic mutations and even “frontier” oncology topics such as the role that the microbiota can play in both cancer development. than in the effectiveness of the therapies. “The Conquer Cancer Foundation is proud to be able to award these researchers. Their unique ideas will fuel scientific breakthroughs and help patients everywhere, “he says Howard A. Burris III, chairman of the board of Conquer Cancer. “We are particularly grateful to the generous donors who made funding possible for these researchers, even during a global health crisis, thus ensuring the possibility of continuing to study new and increasingly effective therapies for all types of cancer.”
Asco, who are the most promising Italian researchers
Eleven under 40s have been awarded this year for their studies with the Merit Awards of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. Some are in their fourth recognition
Award-winning Italians
Six of the eleven Italians – Francesca Battaglin, Antonio Di Meglio, Alberto Puccini, Biagio Ricciuti, Vincenza Conteduca and Lisa De Rosa (now in its fourth Merit Award) – they are multi-award-winning, a sign that for them research has become a life mission. Some now live and work permanently abroad, perhaps cultivating the idea of one day returning to work in Italy. The pandemic hasn’t deterred them, but it has given some an extra boost if possible. As in the case of Elisa Agostinetto which arrived in Brussels in March 2020, as soon as the pandemic began and therefore dedicated itself entirely to research without other distractions given the health emergency. He did so by dealing with predictive tools of response to therapies for HER2 positive breast cancers.
Not just science
And woe to think that these are boring researchers who have nothing in mind but formulas and theories: it may be the generation or the experience of a pandemic, but almost everyone cultivates an artistic passion, like music (Lucrezia Raimondi she graduated in transverse flute and Alberto Puccini in piano), dance and yoga (the passions of Antonio Di Meglio) or love to get lost in the woods practicing Hiking as it does Biagio Ricciuti.
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