Daley receives Burroughs Wellcome Fund Award

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The Burroughs Wellcome Fund (BWF) in Research Triangle Park, NC, has named Whitehead Fellow George Daley one of six physician-scientists to receive Clinical Scientist Awards in Translational Research for 2003. The $750,000 awards are intended to support established, independent physician-scientists who are dedicated to translational research—the two-way transfer between laboratory research and patient treatment—and mentoring physician-scientist trainees.

The new BWF Translational Awardees are working in areas ranging from breast cancer and leukemia to cardiovascular disease and HIV. Daley’s award is for chemotherapy and stem cell transplantation in leukemia.

BWF launched the Translational Awards program in 1997 and has made a total of 52 awards, an investment of approximately $39 million in the careers of physicians who bridge the gap between the bench and the bedside.

This year, BWF has awarded a total of $4.5 million to foster the development and productivity of these investigators. The awards give them the freedom and flexibility to explore scientific questions, apply the resulting knowledge at the bedside, and bring insights from the clinical setting back to the laboratory for further study.

The $750,000 Translational Research Award provides $150,000 per year over five years. Candidates must have an M.D. or M.D.-Ph.D. degree and hold an appointment or joint appointment in a subspecialty of clinical medicine. They must also be citizens or permanent residents of the United States or Canada.

"We hope these awards will lead to better understanding of the mechanisms of disease as well as new methods of diagnosing, treating and preventing disease," said BWF President Enriqueta C. Bond, Ph.D. "BWF is particularly interested in supporting physician-scientists who bring novel ideas and new approaches to translational research."

Daley studies stem cells of the blood in order to define the molecular basis of human leukemia and to gain insights into normal blood development. His research has provided important insights that have led to better treatments for chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). He also has testified before the U.S. Senate and on Beacon Hill to advocate for support of stem-cell research.

He received a PhD in biology from MIT in 1989 and an MD from Harvard Medical School through the Harvard/MIT Health Sciences and Technology Division in 1991. Following his residency and clinical fellowships in both adult and pediatric hematology/oncology, he served as chief resident in medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. In 1995, he was appointed a Whitehead Fellow and an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. Daley received a Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award in 1996, was named the 27th Mallinckrodt Scholar by the Edward Mallinckrodt, Jr. Foundation in 1997, and was named Birnbaum Scholar of the Leukemia Society of America in 1999.

Other recipients this year and their fields of award are Jane Koehler, M.D., University of California-San Francisco School of Medicine, genomic and clinical correlates of human Bartonella quintana infection; David M. Markovitz, M.D., University of Michigan Ann Arbor, new approaches to inhibiting HIV replication; Sofia D. Merajver, M.D., Ph.D., University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, genetic determinants of aggressive breast cancer phenotypes: translation to the clinic; Winston C. Patterson, M.D., University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, oxidative profiles in cardiovascular diseases; and Donald Small, M.D., Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, translating FLT3 inhibition into improved therapy for pediatric AML and infant ALL .

The BWF is an independent, private foundation dedicated to advancing the medical sciences by supporting research and other scientific and educational activities. It conducts the majority of its grant making through competitive programs designed to support the career development of young scientists and to build capacity in research areas BWF believes to be undervalued or in need of targeted support.