THE PAUL MARKS PRIZE FOR CANCER RESEARCH IS NAMED FOR PAUL A. MARKS - The Paul Marks Prize for Cancer Research is named for Paul A. Marks, MD, President Emeritus of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC). Dr. Marks led MSKCC from 1980 to 1999 as its President and Chief Executive Officer. The Prize was created by MSKCC's Boards of Overseers and Managers at the time of Dr. Marks's retirement to honor his many contributions as a distinguished scientist and leader, as well as a teacher of young scientists. It is awarded to researchers who are no more than 45 years old at the time they are nominated.
The first Paul Marks Prize was given in December 2001. Winners of that Prize were:
Titia de Lange, PhD, of The Rockefeller University. Dr. de Lange was honored for her discoveries of the proteins that bind telomeres, the sections of DNA at the ends of chromosomes.
Stephen J. Elledge, PhD, of Baylor College of Medicine and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). Dr. Elledge identified two related but independent systems that have important roles in the cell cycle.
William G. Kaelin, Jr., MD, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the HHMI. Dr. Kaelin discovered the novel mechanism used by a normal protein, called VHL, to protect against tumors.
Xiaodong Wang, PhD, of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and the HHMI. Dr. Wang unveiled a key, previously unsuspected biochemical step in the process of programmed cell death in mammalian cells.
The Paul Marks Prize is presented every other year with a $125,000 award to be shared and a dinner and a scientific symposium in New York City.
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