Ohio Cancer Research Associates (OCRA) honored David Wald, an assistant professor in Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine’s Department of Pathology and a physician with University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center, with the 2012 “Seed Money Award” for his team’s novel research in leukemia drug development.
Wald received the award Friday, Nov. 30, at the Union Club in downtown Cleveland during an event benefitting OCRA, a Columbus-based nonprofit that provides seed money for cancer research to institutions statewide. Case Western Reserve President Barbara R. Snyder was among the event’s co-chairs.
A $60,000, two-year seed-money grant from OCRA enabled Wald and his research team to secure an additional $2.62 million in national funding—$1.9 million from the National Institutes of Health and $720,000 from the American Cancer Society—for his cancer drug development research.
The research centers on identifying and developing low-toxic therapies for acute myeloid leukemia, one of the most common forms of leukemia. Despite advances in treatment, most patients older than 56 survive less than a year, and even those who survive are forced to endure highly toxic chemotherapeutics.
“I’m really focused on nontraditional, cancer-fighting therapeutic strategies that I hope will lead to more tolerable and effective agents,” Wald said.