Ricardo Cruz-Acuña Awarded the Revson Fellowship in Biomedical Science

Ricardo Cruz-Acuña, PhD, postdoctoral researcher at the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center (HICCC), was recently awarded the 2021-2023 Charles H. Revson Senior Fellowship in Biomedical Science. Established in 1981, the Charles H. Revson Senior Fellowship in Biomedical Science supports New York City postdoctoral scientists during their third and fourth years of training, when funding is frequently unavailable. Each year, 13 leading New York institutions are invited to submit nominations, with eight fellowships awarded annually.

Dr. Cruz-Acuña, who earned his PhD in biomedical engineering, joined the lab of HICCC Director Anil K. Rustgi, MD, in 2018 as a postdoctoral researcher. Dr. Cruz-Acuña's research concerns the integration of aspects of biomaterials, molecular biology, iPSC technology and 3D organoid models to understand how the tumor microenvironment contributes to cancer progression and identify key mechanisms in esophageal organogenesis.

Over the next two years, the Revson Fellowship will support Dr. Cruz-Acuña’s work with esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC), an aggressive form of esophageal cancer that often remains asymptomatic until relatively late in the disease process. Over the past 30 years, the incidence of EAC has increased by 300-600% in the U.S. Dr. Cruz-Acuña’s work will help lay the foundation for the consideration and application of new novel therapeutics in esophageal cancer.