The W. M. Keck Foundation of Los Angeles announced today the recipients of its 1999 Distinguished Young Scholars in Medical Research Program. Bruce Clurman, M.D., Ph.D., a researcher at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center was among the five recipients. Each grant recipient will receive $1 million to support research activities over the next five years.

The W.M. Keck Foundation, which focuses its resources on high-impact medical research, science, engineering and higher education, launched the five-year, $25 million young scholar program this year to support the research of the nation's best and brightest young biomedical investigators.

Clurman, who earned his degrees from Cornell University 10 years ago is appreciative of the award that will provide five years of solid support. "The great thing about this award is that they let us pursue new ideas that remain difficult to pursue under different funding sources," says Clurman, a member of the Hutchinson Center's Clinical Research and Human Biology divisions. Clurman's research straddles the esoteric world of basic research and the arena of applied clinical research. He aims to continue his efforts into the fundamental processes that control cell division, and develop new treatments for diseases.

"The tricky part is to take the explosion of knowledge from basic research into the cell cycle and design cell cycle-based treatments," says Clurman. "Putting it all together is enormously complex."

Robert A. Day, chairman and president of the foundation, said in announcing the awards that they are designed to help researchers at a critical juncture in their careers.

"This program was developed in response to the difficulty many extremely talented young investigators have securing sufficient funding for their pursuit of very promising but unproven new ideas," he said.

The 39-year-old New Jersey native credits the influence of his uncle with sparking his interest in medicine. A pathologist
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Contact: Susan Edmonds
sedmonds@fhcrc.org
206-667-2896
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
19-Jul-1999