NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Research Alliance (PSSCRA) today announced the opening of applications for the 2024 Pershing Square Sohn Prize for Young Investigators in Cancer Research. The prize of $250,000 per year for three years is awarded annually to at least six New York City area-based scientists. The Prize empowers researchers to pursue novel, high-risk/high-reward cancer research at a stage when traditional funding is lacking.
“As we launch the eleventh year of the prize, we could not be more delighted with the success of the last decade of prize winners who have made major contributions to cancer research,” said Pershing Square Foundation Co-Trustee Bill Ackman. “With this year’s prizes, we are thrilled to support another cohort of young scientists doing highly innovative research at the leading edge of cancer research and discovery.”
Applicants must have between two and six years of experience running their own laboratories by the award start date (July 2024), hold a PhD, MD, or MD-PhD (or degree equivalent), and be affiliated with a research institution in the greater New York City area. The greater New York City area includes New York City’s five boroughs, Long Island, Westchester County, New Jersey, and Western Connecticut (Fairfield and New Haven Counties). The deadline to submit a Letter of Intent is October 30, 2023, at 5:00pm ET. For more details on PSSCRA and the application process, including the full eligibility criteria, please visit: https://psscra.org/application/.
Now providing funding and support for 66 investigators at 13 academic research institutions, the highly competitive Pershing Square Sohn Prize underwrites the bold research of cancer scientists at a formative stage in their careers. In order to facilitate collaboration and innovation, each Prize winner is given access to leaders in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries and the opportunity to present his or her work to scientific, business, and philanthropic audiences.
“It is our greatest honor and aim to build a community of inspired and bold individuals in a variety of scientific fields and to support their exploration of the most exciting and revolutionary ideas,” said Olivia Tournay Flatto, PhD, President of The Pershing Square Foundation and Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Research Alliance. “As the Prize enters its second decade, we remain impressed and humbled by the quality of applicants and our steadfastly dedicated reviewers.”
“I truly appreciate PSSCRA’s vision in supporting ambitious and innovative cancer research with minimal restrictions and creating a community for sharing ideas and forming collaborations,” 2020 Prize winner Shixin Liu, PhD, Associate Professor and Head of the Laboratory of Nanoscale Biophysics and Biochemistry at The Rockefeller University remarked. “The impact of PSSCRA on my research program will last long after the conclusion of the award.”
“The funding from the Pershing Square Sohn Prize was crucial in our ability to go after something risky and innovative,” said 2021 Prize winner Lilian Kabeche, PhD, Assistant Professor at Yale School of Medicine. “It has been the catalyst to my success: helping me receive a favorable review for my reappointment and obtaining NIH funding for the lab. Additionally, the PSSCRA Prize has let my lab explore important aspects of biology that we never could have taken the chance to explore.”
“The PSSCRA was a pivotal catapult to my early career and has led to pioneering work in a range of blood cancers, computational algorithms, and new therapeutic directions for engineered cellular therapies,” remarked 2016 Prize winner Chris Mason, PhD, Professor of Physiology and Biophysics and Director of the WorldQuant Initiative for Quantitative Prediction at Weill Cornell Medicine. Dr. Mason concluded his project in 2019 and has since then participated in PSSCRA’s application process as a member of the Scientific Review Council.
About the Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Research Alliance
The Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Research Alliance was formed in 2013 by The Pershing Square Foundation, which has since committed more than $40 million to 66 scientists, in partnership with The Sohn Conference Foundation. The Alliance is dedicated to playing a catalytic role in accelerating cures for cancer by supporting innovative cancer research and by facilitating collaborations between academia and industry. Annually, the Alliance awards the Pershing Square Sohn Prize to early-career, New York area scientists who are engaged in cutting-edge cancer research. For more information, visit http://psscra.org/.
About The Pershing Square Foundation
The Pershing Square Foundation (PSF) is a family foundation established in 2006 to support exceptional leaders and innovative organizations that tackle important social issues and deliver scalable and sustainable global impact. PSF has committed more than $600 million in grants and social investments in target areas including health and medicine, education, economic development and social justice. Bill Ackman and Neri Oxman are co-trustees of the Foundation. For more information visit: www.pershingsquarefoundation.org.
About The Sohn Conference Foundation
The Sohn Conference Foundation supports cutting-edge medical research, state-of-the-art research equipment, and innovative programs. The Foundation raises its funds through the renowned Sohn Investment Conference in New York City and a number of premier investment conferences around the world.
The Sohn Conference Foundation honors the memory of Ira Sohn, a talented Wall Street professional whose life was cut short when he passed away from cancer at the age of 29. Ira’s friends and family founded The Sohn Conference Foundation in New York City in 1995. Since then, investment leaders from across the globe have been inspired to launch partner Sohn conferences and unite the financial community to support a number of charitable causes. To date, The Sohn Conference Foundation has raised over $95 million.
More information on The Sohn Conference Foundation is available at www.sohnconference.org.