Three early-career scientists at VP&S—X. Shawn Liu (Physiology & Cellular Biophysics), Xuebing Wu(link is external and opens in a new window) (Medicine), and Nikhil Sharma (Molecular Pharmacology & Therapeutics)—have been selected as 2021 Paul A. Marks Scholars.

Established in 2006, the Paul A. Marks Scholars Program honors the extraordinary legacy of the late Paul A. Marks, MD’49(link is external and opens in a new window), by supporting the recruitment and retention of outstanding early career scientists with a primary tenure-track assistant professor appointment in one of the basic science departments at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. The program funds up to three scientists at $100,000 per year for a period of three years.

Marks, who died in 2020, was an internationally renowned physician-scientist and an exceptional academic leader. Marks served as VP&S dean from 1970 to 1973 and vice president for medical sciences at VP&S from 1973 to 1980 before serving as president and CEO of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center from 1980 to 1999.

Through his pioneering investigations in cancer biology and genetics, Marks helped reveal how cancer cells arise. He developed new chemotherapy and chemoprevention agents, including suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid, which transformed the treatment of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma and is currently undergoing trials to treat an array of cancers.

Read full article in the HICCC Newsroom