NEWS
OKLAHOMA CITY – Min Li, Ph.D., a George Lynn Cross Professor of Medicine, Surgery and Cell Biology at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine and Associate Director for Global Oncology at OU Health Stephenson Cancer Center, will receive the 2024 Palade Prize from the International Association of Pancreatology.
The Palade Prize, the IAP’s most distinguished award for research excellence, recognizes Li’s contributions to the field of pancreatology, which is dedicated to discovering new methods of identifying, diagnosing and treating diseases of the pancreas such as pancreatic cancer. The award is named after George E. Palade, who won the Nobel Prize in 1974 for his pioneering work involving a specialized pancreatic cell type. Li will receive the prize during the IAP annual meeting Dec. 9-12, and he will give a lecture on cancer cachexia and metabolic reprogramming.
Li has been continuously funded by the National Cancer Institute, a component of the National Institutes of Health, for the past 15 years, including three active R01 grants. His contributions to science focus on three areas:
Li has published 216 articles in high-impact peer-reviewed journals and has given presentations on his research around the world. He has also mentored more than 30 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, who have gone on to research careers in academia and industry, as well as junior faculty members who are beginning their careers.
Li is immediate past president of the American Pancreatic Association and is a standing member of the NIH Developmental Therapeutics study section and an ad hoc member of many other NIH study sections. He is editor-in-chief for the journal Cancer Letters and is an editorial board member for several other prestigious journals, including Clinical Cancer Research and BMC Medicine. He is also a member of the American Association for Cancer Research and the Association for Academic Surgeons.
He holds several other titles at OU Health Sciences, including Assistant Dean for International Research Collaboration in the OU College of Medicine; Vice Chairman for Research in the Department of Medicine and Department of Surgery, OU College of Medicine; and co-leader of the Cancer Biology Program at OU Health Stephenson Cancer Center. He also holds the Virginia Kerley Cade Endowed Chair in Cancer Treatment.
About the University of Oklahoma
Founded in 1890, the University of Oklahoma is a public research university with campuses in Norman, Oklahoma City and Tulsa. As the state’s flagship university, OU serves the educational, cultural, economic and health care needs of the state, region and nation. In Oklahoma City, OU Health Sciences is one of the nation’s few academic health centers with seven health profession colleges located on the same campus. OU Health Sciences serves approximately 4,000 students in more than 70 undergraduate and graduate degree programs spanning Oklahoma City and Tulsa and is the leading research institution in Oklahoma. For more information about OU Health Sciences, visit www.ouhsc.edu.
Doris Benbrook, Ph.D., a Presbyterian Health Foundation Presidential Professor at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, has been named Associate Director for Translational Research at OU Health Stephenson Cancer Center, the only National Cancer Institute-Designated Cancer Center in Oklahoma.
The Harold Hamm Diabetes Center at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences will gain a new deputy director, Matthew Potthoff, Ph.D., effective January 1. Potthoff will also hold the title of Harold Hamm Endowed Chair in Clinical Diabetes Research and professor of biochemistry and physiology, with a secondary appointment in the division of neurology in the OU School of Medicine.
James George, M.D., and Jennifer Holter-Chakrabarty, M.D., were recognized by the American Society of Hematology (ASH) during its annual meeting Dec. 7-10.
