Fletcher Scholars Program

In 1988, the Cancer Research Foundation received $710,264.68 from the estate of Eugene and Dorothy S. Fletcher. Under the terms of their trust, this money was "to be held as a permanent fund to be known as the Eugene and Dorothy Fletcher Memorial Endowment with income only to be used for laboratory research."

This generous gift was used to establish the Cancer Research Foundation Fletcher Scholars Program, which provides funding to individual senior cancer scientists doing cancer research of exceptional import, using income earned from the endowment.

The first recipient, Richard Schilsky, M.D., received a Young Investigator Award from the Foundation in 1986. The $100,000 Fletcher Scholars Award in 1989 supported Dr. Schilsky's work in developing drugs to be used against cancer. Dr. Schilsky, Professor of Medicine at the University of Chicago, is considered to be one of the leading Midwest authorities on cancer drug development and toxicity. Dr. Schilsky serves as chairman of the Cancer and Leukemia Group B and chairman of the FDA Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee through June, 2000. In 1999, Dr. Schilsky was appointed associate dean for clinical research at the University of Chicago. In this role, Dr. Schilsky is responsible for the development and oversight of all clinical research activities in the Biological Sciences Division and the Pritzker School of Medicine.

The 1991 Fletcher Scholar was Janardan Reddy, M.D., professor of pathology at Northwestern University Medical School. His award allowed him to expand on his research into the causes and treatments of liver cancer.

Michelle M. LeBeau, Ph.D., the 1993 Fletcher Scholar, is an associate professor in the department of medicine at the University of Chicago Medical Center, and director of the Cancer Cytogenetics Laboratory. Dr. LeBeau's work focuses on identifying the genetic mutations that are involved in the pathogenesis of human tumors, with an emphasis on chromosomal abnormalities. She has made significant contributions to the study of chromosomal and genetic abnormalities in cancer cells. Her research characterizes chromosomal abnormalities at the molecular level, and identifies the genes whose altered function results in malignant transformation.

Daniel E. Gottschling, Ph.D., associate professor in the department of molecular genetics and cell biology at the University of Chicago, was the 1995 recipient of the Fletcher Scholar award. A former Cancer Research Foundation young investigator, Dr. Gottschling has made a major breakthrough that may help unlock one of the key mysteries of cancer: how malignant cells become indestructible and divide uncontrollably until they overwhelm a person's body.

Michael D. Weiss, M.D., Ph.D., professor of biochemistry & molecular biology and medicine, and director of the Center for Molecular Oncology at the University of Chicago, was the 1996 Fletcher Scholar. His research involves the structural mechanism of a human suppressor gene product, focusing on the ways in which suppressor genes operate in the formation of Wilms' tumor.

Mark Hochstrasser, Ph.D., University of Chicago associate professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, was awarded the 1998 Fletcher Scholar Award. His research will study protein breakdown in cells, crucial in designing strategies to correct or ameliorate the defects in protein degradation that can lead to cancerous growth in humans.