Miriam Merad, MD, PhD, Receives Top Award for Contributions to Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy

Newswise — (New York, NY – October 25, 2018) — Miriam Merad, MD, PhD, Director of the Precision Immunotherapy Institute and the program leader of the Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy Group at The Tisch Cancer Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, has received the Cancer Research Institute’s top honor, one previously awarded to two Nobel laureates, for her contributions to cancer immunology and immunotherapy.

Dr. Merad received the 2018 William B. Coley Award for Distinguished Research in Basic and Tumor Immunology—including a $5,000 prize and a gold medallion bearing the likeness of Dr. Coley—at the Cancer Research Institute’s annual gala on Thursday, October 25, at The Metropolitan Club in New York City. The award was established in 1975 in honor of William B. Coley, MD, a pioneer of cancer immunotherapy, whose daughter, Helen Coley Nauts, founded the Cancer Research Institute 65 years ago.

Dr. Merad, who is also Director of Mount Sinai’s Human Immune Monitoring Center, earned the honor for her contributions to understanding the biology of macrophages and dendritic cells, which are important immune cells that orchestrate adaptive responses against cancer. Among her contributions are discoveries that revealed the embryonic origin of macrophages as well as the local factors that maintain their distinct populations within tissues. She has also provided groundbreaking insights into the mechanisms that control the development, stability, and function of macrophages and dendritic cells, including defining their roles in the context of immunotherapy and tumor development.

“Every year, the Cancer Research Institute recognizes outstanding achievements in immunology by bestowing the William B. Coley Award for Distinguished Research in Basic and Tumor Immunology,” the Cancer Research Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the discovery and development of immunotherapies for all forms of cancer, said to Dr. Merad in an award letter. “The Award recognizes your important contributions to the biology of myeloid immune cells. In particular, your discoveries that revealed the embryonic origin of macrophages as well as the local factors that maintain their distinct populations within tissues, and your groundbreaking insights into the mechanisms that control the development, homeostasis, and function of macrophages and dendritic cells will be celebrated.”

Past recipients of the William B. Coley Award have included James Allison, PhD, in 2005 and Tasuku Honjo, MD, PhD, in 2014. Drs. Allison and Honjo, who pioneered treatments that unleash the body’s own immune system to attack cancer cells, received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on October 1, 2018.

About Mount Sinai Health System

The Mount Sinai Health System is New York City’s largest integrated delivery system encompassing seven hospital campuses, a leading medical school, and a vast network of ambulatory practices throughout the greater New York region. Mount Sinai’s vision is to produce the safest care, the highest quality, the highest satisfaction, the best access and the best value of any health system in the nation. The System includes approximately 6,600 primary and specialty care physicians; 11 joint-venture ambulatory surgery centers; more than 140 ambulatory practices throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida; and 31 affiliated community health centers. The Icahn School of Medicine is one of three medical schools that have earned distinction by multiple indicators: ranked in the top 20 by U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Medical Schools”, aligned with a U.S. News & World Report’s “Honor Roll” Hospital, it is ranked as a leading medical school for National Institutes of Health funding, and among the top 10 most innovative research institutions as ranked by the journal Nature in its Nature Innovation Index. This reflects a special level of excellence in education, clinical practice, and research. The Mount Sinai Hospital is ranked No. 18 on U.S. News & World Report’s “Honor Roll” of top U.S. hospitals; it is one of the nation’s top 20 hospitals in Cardiology/Heart Surgery, Gastroenterology/GI Surgery, Geriatrics, Nephrology, and Neurology/Neurosurgery, and in the top 50 in six other specialties in the 2018-2019 “Best Hospitals” issue. Mount Sinai’s Kravis Children’s Hospital also is ranked nationally in five out of ten pediatric specialties by U.S. News & World Report. The New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai is ranked 11th nationally for Ophthalmology and 44th for Ear, Nose, and Throat, while Mount Sinai Beth Israel, Mount Sinai St. Luke’s and Mount Sinai West are ranked regionally. For more information, visit http://www.mountsinai.org/, or find Mount Sinai on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.