This week, we were thrilled to learn that one of our very own funded researchers, Larry Kwak, M.D., Ph.D. was named as one of the world’s 100 most influential people on Time Magazine’s 2010 TIME 100 list. He received this honor for his work in advancing custom-made vaccines for patients with lymphoma.
In 2007 Dr. Kwak and his research team from M.D. Anderson received a five-year $6.25 million grant from The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) through the Specialized Center of Research (SCOR). He has focused his work on harnessing the power of the immune system of patients with follicular non-Hodgkin lymphoma to fight their cancer. The vaccines are developed by taking proteins from the patient’s own tumor, training them to find and kill lymphoma cells and then injecting them back into the patient. The vaccines are currently in late stage clinical trials and have been shown to extend disease-free survival for more than a year. The SCOR grant is also enabling him to focus on developing immunotherapies for leukemia and myeloma patients.
LLS president and CEO John Walter shared his congratulations: “Throughout his distinguished career, Dr. Kwak has been on the cutting edge of researching and developing novel immunotherapies that are already showing a clear benefit for patients with cancer. LLS is proud of Dr. Kwak’s well-deserved recognition, and honored to have played a role in helping to advance his and his team’s critical work.”
To read the 2010 Time 100 article on Dr. Larry Kwak, visit Time Magazine’s website, and to learn more about our Research programs visit www.LLS.org.
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