CCR Women Scientist Advisors
Representing and supporting our women scientists
CCR Women Scientist Advisors
About
The CCR Women Scientist Advisors (WSA) support and promote career development and address issues of concern to our women scientists. WSA representatives are elected every other year by their colleagues and serve four-year terms. Their activities include:
- Sponsor the Rosalind E. Franklin Award Lecture for Women in Cancer Research
- Host the Women Leaders in Science Lecture Series
- Organize informal, open “Brown Bag” meetings with CCR women scientists to listen to their concerns and update them on WSA activities
- Organize events around "International Day of Women and Girls in Science" and "Women in STEM"
- Bestow the WSA mentoring award to a CCR PI
- Nominate a speaker for the Anita B. Roberts Lecture Series
- Attend CCR Lab/Branch Chief meetings as WSA representatives
- Meet on a regular basis with the CCR Scientific Directors to discuss issues of interest to women scientists
- Represent CCR at NIH WSA meetings and activities
- Provide career development advice and/or resources to all CCR women scientists at all stages of their career
Representatives
CCR’s current WSA representatives are listed below.
CCR Office of the Director Liaisons
Beverly Mock, Ph.D., CCR Deputy Director
Meredith Metzger, Ph.D., Scientific Program Analyst
Kathy Easterday, Administrative Assistant
Contacts
General questions can be sent to the WSA’s mailbox at CCRWSA@mail.nih.gov.
CCR Staff Only: To learn more about WSA activities and events, visit CCR Women Scientist Advisors.
Rosalind E. Franklin Award
Annual Rosalind E. Franklin Award Lecture
Established in 2002, the Rosalind E. Franklin prize honors the commitment of women in cancer research. This award, given at the annual NCI Intramural Investigators Retreat, is a tribute to Dr. Franklin, an accomplished chemist and X-ray crystallographer who played a critical role in the discovery of the DNA double helix structure.
Past Award Winners
2023 - Elizabeth M. Jaffee, Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, "Converging on a Cure for Pancreatic Cancer"
2022 - Christine Friedenreich, Cancer Care Alberta, Alberta Health Services, “Physical Activity Across the Cancer Continuum: From Discovery to Recommendations”
2021 - Sara Courtneidge, Oregon Health & Science University, "Invadopodia-mediated Effects on Both Invasive Behavior and the Tumor Immune Microenvironment"
2019 - Flora E. van Leeuwen, Netherlands Cancer Institute, "Second Malignancy Risk After Cancer Treatment: From Old Medical Records to Survivorship Care Programs"
2018 - Suzanne Topalian, Johns Hopkins University, "Targeting Immune Checkpoints: A Common Denominator Approach to Cancer Therapy"
2017 - Silvia Franceschi, International Agency for Research on Cancer, “The Unequal Burden of Cancer Attributable to Infections Across the World”
2016 - Kornelia Polyak, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, “Breast Tumor Evolution”
2015 - Lisa M. Coussens, Oregon Health and Science University, “Inflammation and Cancer: Good Cells Behaving Badly”
2014 - Valerie Beral, University of Oxford, "Rosalind Franklin and Cancer in Women“
2012 - Titia de Lange, The Rockefeller University, "How Telomeres Solve the End-Protection Problem“
2011 - Kathyrn Bloch Horwitz, University of Colorado-Anschutz Medical Campus, "Origin of Luminal vs. Basal Breast Cancer Subtypes: Control by Steroid Hormones and Notch Signaling“
2010 - Leslie Bernstein, City of Hope National Medical Center, "Reducing Breast Cancer Risk Through Biology, Epidemiology, and Serendipity“
2009 - Carol Prives, Columbia University, "New Insights into p53 and Mdm2“
2008 - Nancy Davidson, Johns Hopkins University, "Epigenetics and Breast Cancer“
2007 - Alice Whittemore, Stanford University, "Preventing Deaths from Breast and Ovarian Cancer“
2006 - Joan A. Steitz, Yale University, "More Surprises of snRNPs“
2005 - Joan S. Brugge, Harvard Medical School, "Probing Mechanisms of Breast Epithelial Oncogenesis in a 3D Culture Model“
2004 - Janet Rowley, University of Chicago, "Analysis of Gene Expression in Leukemia in the 21st Century“
2003 - Margaret Spitz, MD Anderson, "An Approach to Studying Genetic Susceptibility of Lung Cancer“
2002 - Maxine Singer, Carnegie Institute