ThyCa Awards 8 Thyroid Cancer Research Grants

August 9, 2022—ThyCa is excited to announce five new thyroid cancer research grants, for projects that center on follicular cell thyroid cancer (papillary, follicular, poorly differentiated and anaplastic thyroid cancer), and medullary thyroid cancer.

The new ThyCa grants were awarded to researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA; Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA; Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, PA; and Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, NY.

This is the twentieth consecutive year of ThyCa research grants. The grants are funded through donations to ThyCa from thyroid cancer patients, family members, and friends. ThyCa grants are open to researchers and institutions worldwide. Independent expert panels of the American Thyroid Association (ATA) and American Association of Endocrine surgeons (AAES) reviewed applications and selected the recipients of these eight grants. One grant was co-funded with Bite Me Cancer.

The New ThyCa Grant Recipients through the ATA:

• Shoko Kure, M.D., Ph.D., Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA. His project is titled "Unraveling pericyte function and lineage in medullary thyroid cancer milieu." This grant is a collaborative grant from ThyCa: Thyroid Cancer Survivors’ Association, Inc., and Bite Me Cancer.

• Iñigo Landa, Ph.D., Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA. His project is titled "Therapeutic vulnerabilities of telomerase-reactivated thyroid cancers." This grant is the Ric Blake Memorial Thyroid Cancer Research Grant, named in honor of one of ThyCa's Co-Founders.

• Theodora Pappa, M.D., Ph.D., Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA. Her project is titled "Dissecting the immune programs driving thyroid cancer progression."

• Julio Ricarte Filho, Ph.D., Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA. His project is titled "Integrative Genomic and Transcriptomic Analysis of MEN2B-associated MTC."

The New ThyCa Grant Recipient through the AAES:

• Irene M. Min, Ph.D., Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, NY. Her project was titled "Investigation of CSP G4 Function and Targeting using Metastatic Thyroid cancer Models Applicant."

The Continuation ThyCa Grants Recipients through the ATA:

• Julien Hadoux, M.D., Ph.D., Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, France. His project is titled "PRIMAThyCCIO: Profiling Immune cells in Anaplastic Thyroid Carcinoma."

• Leila Shobab, M.D., Endocrinologist, Medstar Washington Hospital Center, Washington, DC. Her project is titled "Sex-Specific Immune Landscape of Differentiated Thyroid Cancer." This grant is the Ric Blake Memorial Thyroid Cancer Research Grant, named in honor of one of ThyCa's Co-Founders.

• Eman Toraih, M.Sc., M.D., Ph.D., Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA. Her project is titled "miR-145/MMP9 ratio for prediction of recurrence in thyroid cancer." This grant is the Ric Blake Memorial Thyroid Cancer Research Grant, named in honor of one of ThyCa's Co-Founders. This grant is a collaborative grant from ThyCa: Thyroid Cancer Survivors’ Association, Inc., and Bite Me Cancer.

“We are so grateful for the generous donations from the ThyCa supporters who make these grants possible,” said ThyCa Executive Director Gary Bloom, himself a thyroid cancer survivor. “We are extremely grateful to all our donors for your generosity and commitment to pursuing our mission of educating and supporting the global thyroid cancer community and investing in research so we can pursue a world free of thyroid cancer.”

Learn more about ThyCa’s research grant program. 

ThyCa has provided a wide array of free services and resources to everyone affected by a thyroid cancer diagnosis since 1995. These include thyroid cancer support groups in three countries; one-to-one support available worldwide; educational events including seminars, workshops, webinars, and the annual International Thyroid Cancer Survivors’ Conference; free publications including handbooks on all types of thyroid cancer, monthly online newsletter, downloadable low-iodine diet cookbook, a patient information packet, and thyroid cancer awareness materials; and pediatric sportpacks with information for children and teens with thyroid cancer and their families.

ThyCa’s comprehensive educational web site has content in 10 languages: English, Arabic, Chinese, French, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.

ThyCa receives guidance from its Medical Advisory Council of more than 50 world-recognized experts in the field of thyroid cancer. ThyCa sponsors Thyroid Cancer Awareness Month in September, a worldwide observance, plus year-round awareness campaigns. Details are available on ThyCa’s website www.thyca.org or by calling 1-877-588-7904 or emailing thyca@thyca.org.