Roswell Park Graduate Student Honored by National Cancer Institute

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center graduate student Danielle Twum has received the prestigious Emerging Scholars Award from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), recognizing her among the distinguished alumni of its Continuing Umbrella for Research Excellence (CURE) programs. The CURE programs are supplemental funding mechanisms that support students from underrepresented minorities in their training in the cancer sciences.

Twum received the NCI award last month in Bethesda, Maryland, as part of the NCI’s Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities professional development workshop, at which she was invited to speak on career pathways.

Over the past decade, Roswell Park has hosted more than 90 students in its CURE summer research program for high school and college students. Twum received this national honor based on her scientific scholarly achievements and significant participation in science-related professional development activities as both an undergraduate intern in the Roswell Park Summer Research Experience Program and graduate student in the Institute’s Graduate Division Tumor Immunology Program. A graduate of Vassar College, she received training in oncology and immunology in the laboratory of Dr. Thomas Schwaab as a CURE scholar in the Roswell Park Summer Program in 2011. She is now working under the mentorship of Scott Abrams, PhD, to study the role of transcription factors in immune regulation of myeloid-cell function and how they affect breast cancer progression.

“Danielle has showed excellence in research, service and leadership through the years at Roswell Park and in my lab,” says Dr. Abrams, Professor of Oncology in the Department of Immunology. “Her recognition with this award is well-deserved.”

Twum is an author on peer-reviewed publications, a scientific conference presenter, invited TEDx presenter, lecturer in the high school summer program and mentor to junior students in the research laboratory. In April, she was named runner-up in the “Three-Minute Thesis” competition hosted by the University at Buffalo Graduate School.

###

Editor’s note: Photo caption: Danielle Twum, a graduate student at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. To receive a high-resolution .jpg version of this image by email, please send a request to annie.deck-miller@roswellpark.org.

The mission of Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center is to understand, prevent and cure cancer. Founded in 1898, Roswell Park is one of the first cancer centers in the country to be named a National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center and remains the only facility with this designation in Upstate New York. The Institute is a member of the prestigious National Comprehensive Cancer Network, an alliance of the nation’s leading cancer centers; maintains affiliate sites; and is a partner in national and international collaborative programs. For more information, visit www.roswellpark.org, call 1-877-ASK-Roswell Park (1-866-559-4838) or email AskRoswell@Roswellpark.org. Follow Roswell Park on Facebook and Twitter.