Lauren Hamel (left) and Misako Nagasaka, M.D. (right)
Karmanos Cancer Institute congratulates Lauren M. Hamel, Ph.D., assistant professor and member of the Population Studies and Disparities Research Program at the Karmanos Cancer Institute and Wayne State University School of Medicine (WSU SOM) and Misako Nagasaka, M.D., member of the Thoracic and Head and Neck Multidisciplinary Teams at Karmanos Cancer Institute and assistant professor at WSU SOM for being named among the nation’s 40 Under 40 in Cancer Class of 2020. This award initiative identifies and recognizes the contributions being made by rising stars and emerging leaders under the age of 40 in the United States.
Awardees were selected by a panel of experts in the field of oncology. The award is sponsored by the Lynx Group, Upstream Partners, Swim Across America and the National Community Oncology Dispensing Association, Inc. (NCODA). Awardees were recently honored during an online ceremony.
Earlier this year, Dr. Hamel was awarded a five-year, $844,000 Research Scholar Grant from the American Cancer Society to test the effectiveness of a patient-focused intervention to improve patient-provider treatment cost discussions and other patient outcomes related to the financial consequences of cancer treatment. In 2017, she received a two-year National Institute of Health/National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities R21 research grant of $429,658 for her research, “Nonverbal Synchrony as a Behavioral Marker of Patient and Physician Racial Attitudes and Predictor of Outcomes of Clinical Interactions.” Dr. Hamel’s grant application received a perfect score of 10 by the NIH study section that reviewed it. Her work greatly contributes to the goals of the Population Studies and Disparities Research (PSDR) Program at Karmanos, which include identifying risk factors underlying disease onset and progression, and developing and testing intervention strategies to reduce risk and improve diagnosis, treatment and outcomes. These goals are aimed at decreasing race and ethnicity related disparities and overall disease burden.
Dr. Nagasaka’s clinical and research interests are in molecular targeted therapy for lung cancer and head and neck tumors. She is also interested in immunotherapy and ways to improve outcomes. Having cared for many advanced-stage lung cancer and head and neck cancer patients, many of whom are experiencing therapeutic complications, Dr. Nagasaka’s focus is in using more practical regimens and providing survivorship care to patients. In addition to her clinical work, Dr. Nagasaka has been heavily involved in clinical trials at Karmanos Cancer Institute. She has been a site principal investigator on more than 20 studies involving lung cancer.