News and Congratulations
Congratulations to CTSC KL2 Scholar alumnus, Bishoy Faltas, MD, on achieving two recent prestigious awards: an R37 MERIT Award Extension by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and a grant from the Department of Defense (DOD).
The R37 Award provides grant support to Early Stage Investigators, extending Dr. Faltas’ award from 5 to 7 years for a total of $4.1 Million, to ultimately define targetable mechanisms of intratumoral heterogeneity (ITH) and treatment resistance to develop an effective precision strategy to achieve cures in patients with advanced urothelial carcinoma (UC). The R37 Award offers flexibility and opportunity for creativity and innovation. For early stage investigators, the additional time enables them to successfully launch their careers and to become more established before having to submit renewal applications.
The Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program's (CDMRP) Peer-Reviewed Cancer Research Program (PRCRP) Idea Award through the DOD is funding ($610,000) Dr. Faltas’ research to investigate the mechanisms causing DNA instability that potentially drives metastasis in bladder cancer. The PRCRP Idea Award was initiated in 2009 to provide support for research of exceptional scientific merit for the benefit of Service Members, their families, and the American public. The PRCRP is charged by Congress with the mission to investigate cancer risks and knowledge gaps that may be relevant to active-duty Service Members, their families, other military beneficiaries, and the American public.
Reflecting on the impact of the KL2 award, Dr. Faltas commented: "the KL2 award from the CTSC was an excellent mechanism for launching my career, seeding the work that ultimately led to subsequent independent funding including the recent NCI R37 grant and Department of Defense PRCRP Idea Award. It is critical to preserve and expand career development awards, such as the KL2, for early career scientists."
Dr. Faltas was appointed a KL2 Scholar in 2014 where his research focused on "Discovering Driver Mutations in Platinum-resistant Metastatic Urothelial Cancer". During his KL2 training, Dr. Faltas's mentoring team included Dr. Mark Rubin of Weill Cornell Medicine, Dr. Jonathan Rosenberg of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Dr. Scott Tagawa of Weill Cornell Medicine.
Dr. Faltas is currently the Director of Bladder Cancer Research at the Englander Institute for Precision Medicine, an Assistant Professor of Medicine and an Assistant Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at Weill Cornell Medicine and an Assistant Attending Physician at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. Dr. Faltas also serves as the Gellert Family-John P. Leonard, MD, Research Scholar at Weill Cornell Medicine.
The CTSC KL2 Career Development Core Program supports junior faculty and senior residents and fellows by providing salary support, protected time, advanced degree training, and practical skills necessary to conduct interdisciplinary Clinical Translational Investigation within a team research environment.