The CNF Scientific Award is two-year
research grant for work in the field of child neurology. This
award recognizes the work of a young researcher, who is a
child neurologist early in his/her career. The selected investigator
will receive a two-year grant of $50,000 per-year.
2007
CNF Scientific Award Winner
Timothy Gershon, M.D.
Dr. Timothy Gershon has been awarded the Child Neurology Foundation’s 2007 Scientific Award. This research award, which provides $50,000 per year for a two-year period, will be presented to Dr. Gershon at the 2007 Annual Meeting of the Child Neurology Society in Quebec City.
Dr. Gershon states, "My goal as a physician and scientist is to gain insight into tumors of the nervous system in children by drawing on our growing understanding of molecular mechanisms of neural development. As a physician-scientist caring for children with brain tumors, I often face the limitation of having inadequate technology to treat the diseases afflicting my patients. Improved understanding of tumor biology offers the promise of improved treatment. My research focuses on the stem cell regulator NUMB and its role in the molecular pathways governing cell proliferation and differentiation. During development, neural stem cells deactivate their proliferation program at appropriate, regulated moments and differentiate, in part through the actions of NUMB. In contrast, in tumors of the nervous system, undifferentiated cells proliferate excessively and destructively. My goal is to understand how proliferation and differentiation become dysregulated in tumor cells. The support of the Child Neurology Foundation Scientific Award will allow me to further my scientific program."
"The 2007 Child Neurology Foundation Scientific Award is an honor for which I am extremely grateful. Simultaneously conducting basic scientific research and clinical practice is challenging, but it presents the opportunity for each effort to inform the other. This award is unique in supporting research efforts of rigorously trained clinicians with specific expertise early in their careers. The award will support my independent research efforts, enabling me to complete promising initiatives and to compete for public funding. Many children with tumors of the nervous system cannot be cured by current technology, and these children are in desperate need of new treatments. It is my goal to develop new insights into the biology of the nervous system tumors that afflict my patients, in hope of improving the care available to them. The support of the Child Neurology Foundation will allow me to maintain and expand my efforts to help children with nervous system cancer."
