Every year, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society honors some of the nation's most promising blood cancer researchers with the Stohlman Scholar Award. These scientists are highly qualified investigators who have demonstrated their ability to conduct original research on leukemia, Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphoma or myeloma. They hold faculty-level or equivalent positions at major research institutions throughout the United States.

The award is given in memory of Frederick Stohlman Jr., M.D., a major figure in the research of stem cell physiology and widely regarded as a mentor to the many scientists who are in the forefront of blood cancer research and treatment today.

In 2002, the Society honored five researchers:

• James A. DeCaprio, M.D., of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA

• Susan Forsburg, Ph.D., of  the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, CA

• Mark A. Kamps, Ph.D., of the University of California, San Diego

• Hyam I. Levitsky, M.D, of the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD

• Pier Paolo Pandolfi, M.D., Ph.D., of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Cornell University, New York City

James A. DeCaprio, M.D.
Dr. DeCaprio is Associate Professor of Medicine at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School. He received his B.A. from Wesleyan University in 1977 and his M.D., with honors, from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1984. After an internship and residency at the University of Chicago, he continued his medical training as a clinical fellow in medical oncology and his post-doctoral research training with David M. Livingston at Dana-Farber. Dr. DeCaprio is a member of Alpha Omega Alpha and the American Society for Clinical Investigation.

Dr. DeCaprio's research has led the field of cell cycle regulation (how cells know when and how to divide) for the past decade. In addition to directing a research laboratory at Dana-Farber, Dr. DeCaprio teaches cancer cell biology at Harvard Medical School, where he received Teacher of the Year award in 2000. Dr. DeCaprio serves as an attending physician on the Leukemia Service at Brigham and Women's Hospital.

Susan Forsburg, Ph.D.
Dr. Forsburg is Associate Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology at the the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and is Adjunct Associate Professor, Division of Biology, at the University of California, San Diego, where she teaches in the Ph.D. program. She received her B.A. in English literature and molecular biology from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1984 and her Ph.D. in biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1989. Dr. Forsburg then moved to Oxford University, in England, where she joined the Imperial Cancer Research Fund to continue her training in the laboratory of Sir Paul Nurse, the 2001 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine and Director General of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund.

Dr. Forsburg studies the process of DNA replication. Defects during DNA replication can lead to a loss of fidelity (introduction of mistakes in the DNA sequence) or disrupt normal chromosome segregation (separation) during cell division. These defects are broadly termed "genome instability." Such abnormalities can cause, or contribute to, leukemia and lymphoma.

Mark A. Kamps, Ph.D.
Dr. Kamps, Associate Professor of Pathology at the University of California, San Diego, received his undergraduate degree from Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI. In 1987, he received his Ph.D. from the University of California, San Diego, in biochemistry. He had postdoctoral fellowships at the Salk Institute and the Whitehead Institute of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he was a Damon Runyon-Walter Winchell Cancer Research Fellow.

His research over the past decade has centered on understanding how mutations in cellular genes cause acute leukemia. Dr. Kamps has made pioneering discoveries in acute B-cell lymphocytic leukemia. He is currently a member of the California Cancer Research Coordinating Committee.

Hyam I. Levitsky, M.D.
Dr. Levitsky, a faculty member at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins University, received his undergraduate degree in engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and his medical degree in 1984 from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Following an internship and residency in internal medicine at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, he was chosen to serve as Assistant Chief of Service at the Osler Medical Service in the Department of Medicine. His post-graduate medical training continued at the Johns Hopkins Oncology Center, now called the Kimmel Cancer Center.

In addition to the basic research focus of his laboratory, Dr. Levitsky's work has been translated into the creation of novel therapeutic reagents that are being tested in patients with multiple myeloma, acute myelogenous leukemia, prostate cancer and lung cancer. His work has led to pivotal trials of tumor vaccines in the context of autologous stem cell transplantation.

Pier Paolo Pandolfi, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Pandolfi is a member and Professor of Molecular Biology, Pathology and Human Genetics at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Cornell University. In addition, he is head of the Molecular and Developmental Biology Laboratory at the Sloan-Kettering Institute. Dr. Pandolfi received his medical degree and doctorate at the University of Perugia, Italy, and did post-graduate training at the National Institute for Medical Research and the University of London.

The research carried out in Dr. Pandolfi's laboratory has been influential in defining the molecular mechanisms and the genetics underlying leukemias, lymphomas and solid tumors, as well as in modeling these cancers in mice. Dr. Pandolfi's novel therapeutic strategies are currently being tested in clinical trials.