The AHEPA Fifth District Cancer Research Foundation Board is pleased to announce it’s unanimous decision for the 2013 AXIOS AWARD recipient in Cancer Research. Dr. Yibin Kang, Ph.D is a Warner-Lambert/Parke-Davis Professor of Molecular Biology at Princeton University. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Fudan University in Shanghai in 1995. After completing his graduate study at Duke in 2000, Dr. Kang became an Irvington Institute postdoctoral fellow with Dr. Joan Massagué at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and pioneered a functional genomic approach to elucidate mechanism of breast cancer metastasis. Dr. Kang joined the faculty of Princeton University as an Assistant Professor of Molecular Biology in 2004. He was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2010 and to Endowed Chair Full Professor in 2012.
Dr. Kang’s research focuses on the molecular mechanisms of breast cancer metastasis. His laboratory applies a multidisciplinary approach to analyze the molecular basis of cancer metastasis, combining molecular biology and genomics tools with animal models and advanced in vivo imaging technologies. Dr. Kang has published over 90 original articles in leading journals including Cell, Cancer Cell, and Nature Medicine. His work discovered new genes that promote recurrence, metastasis and chemoresistance of breast cancer, delineated tumor-stromal interactions that are essential for metastatic growth, and identified novel regulators with dual functions in mammary gland cell fate determination and tumor progression. Dr. Kang’s outstanding achievements have been recognized by many prestigious awards, including a Department of Defense Era of Hope Scholar Award and the 2011 Vicek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Sciences, a prestigious award honoring foreign-born artists and scientists who have demonstrated exceptional creativity and originality in the early stages of their careers in the United States. Dr. Kang is also the recipient of the 2012 AACR Award for Outstanding Achievements in Cancer Research.
The “Axios Award” is presented by the AHEPA 5th District Cancer Research Foundation to an individual or individuals whose humanitarian purposes and endeavors have contributed in helping to find a cure for cancer, unselfishly and devoutly in the name of mankind.