{"id":514643,"date":"2026-06-23T16:53:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T16:53:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/514643\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T16:53:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T16:53:08","slug":"fred-hutch-names-8-recipients-of-the-dr-eddie-mendez-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/514643\/","title":{"rendered":"Fred Hutch names 8 recipients of the Dr. Eddie M\u00e9ndez Award"},"content":{"rendered":"

SEATTLE \u2014 June 23, 2026 \u2014 Fred Hutch Cancer Center announced eight recipients of this year\u2019s Dr. Eddie M\u00e9ndez Scholar Award. The annual award recognizes the work of exceptional early-career scientists who are studying cancer, infectious diseases and basic sciences.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s awardees hail from research institutions across the United States, with areas of expertise including the tumor microenvironment, T-cell differentiation and cancer metastasis.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe offer our enthusiastic congratulations to this year\u2019s awardees, who are moving the needle forward on science that will improve lives across the world,\u201d said Christina Termini, PhD, MM<\/a>, who co-directs the awards program. \u201cEach year we choose from a competitive pool of applicants, and these recipients impressed us with their drive to make critical new discoveries with their innovative research.\u201d<\/p>\n

Termini is an assistant professor in the Translational Science and Therapeutics and Human Biology Divisions at Fred Hutch. She received the M\u00e9ndez award in 2020.<\/p>\n

The namesake award honors Dr. Eddie M\u00e9ndez, a beloved physician-scientist at Fred Hutch who died of cancer in 2018.<\/p>\n

A specialist in head and neck cancers, M\u00e9ndez worked to save as many patients as possible and aimed to minimize negative side effects of cancer treatments. Born in Puerto Rico, he completed his residency at the University of Washington and joined Fred Hutch in 2000. He spent his career spearheading robotic surgery for head and neck tumors and was the first provider in Washington to perform the surgery.<\/p>\n

\u201cDr. M\u00e9ndez\u00a0embodied our mission to improve the lives of our patients, not just through treating disease, but by ensuring that their health, safety and comfort was prioritized throughout their treatment experience,\u201d said Christopher Li, MD, PhD, who co-directs the awards program alongside Termini. \u201cThis year\u2019s recipients embody his curiosity and diligence in expanding our knowledge of treatments and patient care.\u201d<\/p>\n

Li is currently the vice president and associate director of Faculty Development and Advancement for the Fred Hutch\/ University of Washington\/ Seattle Children\u2019s Cancer Consortium and holds the Helen G. Edson Endowed Chair for Breast Cancer Research. Starting July 1, he will assume the role of senior vice president and director of Fred Hutch\u2019s Public Health Sciences Division.<\/p>\n

Fred Hutch faculty created the namesake award in his honor one year after his death. To date, it has recognized and supported 70 postdoctoral researchers.<\/p>\n

Fred Hutch will host this year\u2019s recipients for the M\u00e9ndez symposium on July 16 in Seattle, where recipients will present their research to Fred Hutch faculty and senior leaders and build their professional networks.<\/p>\n

2026 Dr. Eddie M\u00e9ndez Award Recipients:<\/p>\n

Rachael Chanin, PhD

\nStanford Medicine<\/p>\n

Mohamed El-Brolosy, PhD

\nWhitehead Institute<\/p>\n

Amy C. Fan, PhD

\nUC San Francisco<\/p>\n

Mario Palma, PhD

\nHarvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health<\/p>\n

Simone Park, PhD

\nUniversity of Pennsylvania<\/p>\n

Carolina Rodriguez Tirado, PhD

\nAlbert Einstein College of Medicine<\/p>\n

Madeline Rollins, PhD

\nUniversity of Chicago<\/p>\n

Zeda Zhang, PhD

\nHoward Hughes Medical Institute<\/p>\n

###<\/p>\n

Media contact:

\nShayla Ring

\nsring@fredhutch.org<\/a><\/p>\n

Fred Hutch Cancer Center unites individualized care and advanced research to provide the latest cancer treatment options while accelerating discoveries that prevent, treat and cure cancer and infectious diseases worldwide.

\nBased in Seattle, Fred Hutch is an independent, nonprofit organization and the only National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center in Washington. We have earned a global reputation for our track record of discoveries in cancer, infectious disease and basic research, including important advances in bone marrow transplantation, immunotherapy, HIV\/AIDS prevention and COVID-19 vaccines. Fred Hutch operates eight clinical care sites that provide medical oncology, infusion, radiation, proton therapy and related services. Fred Hutch also serves as UW Medicine\u2019s cancer program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SEATTLE \u2014 June 23, 2026 \u2014 Fred Hutch Cancer Center announced eight recipients of this year\u2019s Dr. Eddie…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":107446,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[30003,219688,55936,219689,72476,103,51377,61,2757,60,72475,22731,219690],"class_list":["post-514643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-basic-science-research","tag-cancer-metastasis","tag-cancers","tag-christina-termini","tag-christopher-li","tag-health","tag-human-biology","tag-ie","tag-infectious-diseases","tag-ireland","tag-public-health-sciences","tag-solid-tumors","tag-translational-science-and-therapeutics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=514643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514643\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=514643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=514643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=514643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}