BTC research awards recognize UB’s Epstein and Samudrala, Roswell’s Fenstermaker

The annual Buffalo Translational Consortium Clinical Research Achievement Awards recognize clinical researchers for their innovative work, their dedication to translational research, and the significance of their findings. The projects earning recognition this year made worldwide headlines.

The 2023 winners’ research:

• Demonstrated that family-based treatment for obesity conducted in the pediatrician’s office leads to improved weight-loss outcomes for the treated child and parent, and even extends to untreated siblings
• Illustrated the utility of using the previously developed Computational Analysis of Novel Drug Opportunities (CANDO), a multiscale therapeutic discovery platform, to identify compounds and cocktails that improve treatment in a synergistic manner
• Found that the brain cancer vaccine SurVaxM, when paired with the chemotherapy Temodal (temozolomide), represents a promising therapy for patients who are newly diagnosed with glioblastoma (nGBM), an aggressive form of cancer

The awards honor outstanding accomplishments in clinical research performed at a Buffalo Translational Consortium (BTC) institution, with investigators from the University at Buffalo or Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center serving as principal authors. Research findings must have been published or in press in the past 12 months.

This year’s Clinical Research Achievement Awards Top Award winner is Leonard H. Epstein, PhD, SUNY Distinguished Professor and Division Chief, Behavioral Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. He was selected for the study titled “Family-based Behavioral Treatment for Childhood Obesity Implemented in Pediatric Primary Care,” published in the June 13, 2023, issue of JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association.

Recognized as a Clinical Research Achievement Award Finalist is Ram Samudrala, PhD, Professor and Chief, Division of Bioinformatics, Department of Biomedical Informatics, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. He was selected for the study titled “Multiscale Analysis and Validation of Effective Drug Combinations Targeting Driver KRAS Mutations in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer,” published in the January 5, 2023, issue of the International Journal of Molecular Sciences.

Also recognized as a Clinical Research Achievement Award Finalist is Robert Fenstermaker, MD, Professor of Neurosurgery and Oncology, Chair, Department of Neurosurgery, Director, Neuro-Oncology Program, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. He was selected for the study titled “Phase IIa Study of SurVaxM Plus Adjuvant Temozolomide for Newly Diagnosed Glioblastoma,” published in the September 2, 2023, issue of Oxford Academic Neuro-Oncology.

The annual BTC awards competition aims to identify major advances resulting from the region’s investment in clinical research to benefit the health and welfare of the Western New York community. To be eligible for an award, the research should contribute to the understanding of human disease and physiology, and demonstrate an impact on the understanding, prevention, and diagnosis or treatment of disease.

“Innovative clinical research is being conducted throughout the Buffalo Translational Consortium,” says Awards Committee Chair Anne B. Curtis, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor, Department of Medicine, Jacobs School. “Our Clinical Research Achievement Awards highlight the most novel and impactful of these clinical research studies each year. We can see the results of this work in our community and beyond today and in the years to come.”

The top award winner and award finalists have been invited to present their research at the Clinical and Translational Science Institute Annual Forum on March 20, 2024. For a complete list of past awardees, see the CTSI website.