Pilot Grants Support Early Career Cancer Researchers

Osama Al Dalahmah, MD, PhD, and Ruth White, MD, PhD, are the two recipients of this year’s Early Career Development Pilot Grant, awarded by the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center (HICCC). 

The grants support senior fellows, instructors, and young investigators who are transitioning to a faculty position and who are in the early stages of cancer research projects. The HICCC funds two recipients, each with a one-year grant of $75,000. The winning projects are focusing on research in pancreatic cancer and glioma recurrence.

Grant awardees

Osama Al Dalahmah, MD, PhD

Instructor in Neuropathology
Mentors: Drs. Peter Cannoll and James Goldman
Department of Pathology and Cell Biology

Dr. Al Dalahmah’s project focuses on defining the niche of glioma recurrence using single nuclei RNA sequencing. In particular, he is investigating the key transcriptional signatures of astrocytes (glial cells) in the microenvironment of primary and recurrent glioblastoma. In his current work as a neuropathology resident/fellow, he investigates the relevance of astrocyte heterogeneity to human disease, including in Huntington disease and other neurodegenerative diseases.

Ruth White, MD, PhD

Instructor in Medicine
Mentor: Dr. Timothy Wang
Department of Medicine, Divison of Hematology/Oncology

Dr. White is investigating the mechanisms of nerve-cancer interactions in pancreatic cancer. She will marry her expertise working with genetically engineered mouse models of cancer with her clinical service, aiming to develop a translational research project that addresses promising new therapies and improved survival outcomes for patients with pancreatic cancer.