To achieve its strategic visions, the IWMF recognizes it is vital to provide funding to support the career development of next-generation researchers for WM. The IWMF is therefore proud to announce the establishment of the Robert A. Kyle Career Development Awards for WM. The Awards recognize the 50+ years of impactful contributions by Dr. Robert Kyle to the field of plasma cell disorders and WM.
In 2021, the first year of these awards, the IWMF conferred research grants to two young investigators in the amount of $75,000 each year for a two-year project. A young investigator is defined as a junior faculty member (instructor or assistant professor) and/or postdoctoral fellow who has a focus in clinical research in the field of B cell or plasma cell malignancies. Their program must have a teaching curriculum and mentoring with well-established investigators with track records in the B cell malignancy or plasma cell malignancy field.
Two young investigators were selected this year, and will be recognized during the IWMF’s Virtual Educational Forum:
Maria Luisa Guerrera, MD,
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute,
Boston, MA
Isolation and spatial characterization of 6q deletions and CXCR4 mutations using novel biomarkers in WM
Romanos Sklavenitis-Pistofidis, MD,
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute,
Boston, MA
Genomic and immune biomarkers of progression from IgM MGUS to WM
Dr. Tom Hoffmann, IWMF Vice-Chair of Research and Chair of the Research Committee, said “The IWMF has a long history of finding the best WM researchers in the world to do WM basic science research projects. Many of the drugs we have now are due to our past projects. In order to find newer drugs and possibly find a cure, we need to inject Dr. Kyle’s work effort and excitement into the younger group of researchers. The Kyle award is an excellent way to do that. The two we have chosen are the cream of the top.”
Be sure to join us during this year’s Virtual Educational Forum and meet the recipients of the first ever Robert A. Kyle Career Development Awards.
For more information on these award recipients and their research projects, please CLICK HERE.