By: Deborah Johnson Wood
Last week the Van Andel Institute (VAI) honored two renowned researchers who were instrumental in investigating human papillomavirus (HPV) and its links to cervical cancer with the Daniel Nathans Memorial Award. The VAI's Board of Scientific Advisors presents the award each year for far-reaching contributions in biomedical and cancer research that have a significant benefit to public health.
Harald zur Hausen, M.D., Professor Emeritus of the German Cancer Research Center, headed up the team that identified infection by HPV as the main cause of cervical cancer. In the 1970s he proposed that papillomavirus is linked to cervical cancer, and proved it in the 1980s.
zur Hausen's research paved the way for Douglas R. Lowy, M.D., to study the virus further, which lead to the development of vaccines that prevent infection by the viruses. Lowy is Chief of the Laboratory of Cellular Oncology at the National Cancer Institute.
The award is a 9-1/2-inch-tall full-lead crystal Baccarat Architecture Vase. Both men also received the honor of presenting two prestigious lectures at the VAI.
A report released by the American Cancer Society in April states that an estimated 25 million US women between the ages of 14 and 59 have HPV. Of those, three million may have one of the four strains that cause cancer of the cervix. Some 11,000 US women will be diagnosed with invasive cervical cancer this year, and 3,600 will die from it. Current HPV vaccines prevent about 70 percent of the cervical cancers caused by two types of HPV.
Source: Van Andel Institute
Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth. She can be contacted at [email protected].
Enjoy this story?
Sign up for free solutions-based reporting in your inbox each week.