Rezvani wins American Cancer Society grant

The Clinical Research Division's Dr. Andrew Rezvani has received a four-year, $583,000 mentored research scholar grant from the American Cancer Society. The award supports his work in improving outcomes for patients who receive blood and bone marrow transplants to treat non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

"We are studying ways to integrate the monoclonal antibody rituximab into the transplant process in order to reduce the risk of lymphoma relapse," said Rezvani, a member of the Storb Lab. "We are also studying whether rituximab might help prevent graft-vs.-host disease, a major complication of blood and bone marrow transplantation. Ultimately, we hope that the funded research will lead to more effective treatments and cures for people with non-Hodgkin lymphoma."

The American Cancer Society, the largest non-government, nonprofit funding source of cancer research in the U.S., has awarded 135 national research and training grants totaling $51,965,000 to investigators at 93 institutions nationwide in one of two grants cycles for 2012. All the grants go into effect July 1.

[Adapted from an American Cancer Society news release]