Announcing the 2026 HICCC Pilot and Career Development Awardees

The Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center (HICCC) is proud to announce the 2026 recipients of its pilot and career development awards, an annual investment designed to support the next generation of cancer researchers. This year, HICCC is awarding more than $450,000 to 14 early-career investigators whose work spans basic, translational, clinical, and population science. From advancing precision medicine in glioblastoma, to expanding equity in cancer prevention and fertility preservation, to developing new tools in machine learning and immunotherapy, this year's awardees represent the full breadth of innovative cancer research at Columbia. 

These grants provide crucial early support for faculty, instructors, research scientists, and postdoctoral fellows on the path toward becoming clinical investigators and principal investigators of future clinical trials. All awardees will be mentored by established leaders and HICCC members across the cancer research continuum, reinforcing HICCC’s commitment to rigorous scientific training and multidisciplinary career development.  

Congratulations to this year's awardees:

Clinical Trialist Scholars Award 

Funding: $50,000 per year for two years, with an additional $25,000 per year in departmental support (total: $150,000). This award supports innovative clinical trial proposals designed to advance treatment and increase access among underrepresented groups. 

• Adomas Bunevicius, MD, PhD 
  • Project: “Precision biology for newly diagnosed glioblastoma – a translational pilot clinical trial.”
  • Mentor: Andrew B. Lassman, MD, FAAN, FASCO (POSB) 
• Lanyi Chen, MD (POSB) 
  • Project: “Imaging Biomarkers and MEK Inhibition for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Cancer Cachexia in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.” 
  • Mentor: Catherine Ann Shu, MD (TBM) 
• Michael Hughes, MD 
  • Project: “A Foundational Model for Transfer Learning of Cardiac Recovery Prediction in AL Amyloidosis.” 
  • Mentor: Andrew Francis Laine, DSc 
  • Co-Mentor: Suzanne Lentzsch, MD, PhD (TBM) 
• Sheila Rustgi, MD 
  • Project: “Novel approaches to early detection of GI cancers in BRCA carriers.” 
  • Mentor: Fay Kastrinos, MD (CPS) 
  • Co-Mentor: Chin Hur, MD (CPS) 

2026 Paul Calabrese K12 Career Development Award 

Funding: $100,000 per year for two years, plus $30,000 per year for research and career development support. 

• Ron Gejman, MD, PhD 
  • Project: “Precision Base-Edited T Cell Therapy for Organ Recipients with Cutaneous Cancers.” 
  • Mentor: Benjamin Izar, MD, PhD (TBM) 
• Jeong Yun Yang, MD 
  • Project: “Gastric Cancer Prevention: Benefits and Harms of Screening and Management of Helicobacter pylori in the U.S.” 
  • Mentor: Chin Hur, MD (CPS)
  • Co-Mentor: Timothy Cragin Wang, MD (TBM) 

2026 TAM Predoctoral and Postdoctoral Pilot Awardees 

Funding: $5,000 (predoctoral) or $10,000 (postdoctoral) for one year. The TAM program provides rigorous training and career development for trainees across diverse areas of biomedical cancer research. 

• Arjun Adapa, MD 
  • Project: “Engineered probiotic bacteria for therapeutic immune modulation in glioblastoma.” 
  • Mentor: Jeffrey Bruce, MD (TBM) 
  • Co-Mentor: Tal Danino, PhD (TBM) 
• Claudia Aiello, MD-PhD student 
  • Project: “Tissue-resident memory T cells in the human colon and their functionality during homeostasis and in colorectal cancer.” 
  • Mentor: Donna Farber, PhD (TBM) 
• Marcela Algave, PhD student 
  • Project: “Advancing Equity in Fertility Preservation for Female Adolescents and Young Adults with Cancer.” 
  • Mentor: Melissa Beauchemin, PhD (CPS) 
• Hiroki Kobayashi, MD, PhD 
  • Project: “Reciprocal interaction between cholinergic nerves and NTN1+ cancer-associated fibroblasts drives colorectal carcinogenesis.” 
  • Mentor: Timothy Cragin Wang, MD (TBM) 
• Huiyi Liang, PhD 
  • Project: “Machine-Learning–Guided Oral Gene-Silencing Strategies for the Targeted Treatment of Colorectal Cancer.” 
  • Mentor: Kam W. Leong, PhD (TBM) 
• Sunyeop Lee, graduate student 
  • Project: “Unmasking Epidemiologic Transition: Disaggregating Cancer Trends and Etiological Drivers in Asian American Subgroups.” 
  • Mentor: Rebecca Kehm, PhD (CPS) 
  • Co-Mentor: Jeanine Genkinger, PhD (CPS) 
• Constanza Nicole Tapia Contreras, MD, PhD 
  • Project: “Targeting Plasticity: Unraveling Transcriptional and Epigenetic Drivers of Pancreatic ADM and Cancer.” 
  • Mentor: Anil Rustgi, MD (TBM) 
• Esha Uddin, graduate student 
  • Project: “Engineering a Precision Hydrogel-Organoid Model to Uncover Matrix-Driven Tumorigenesis.” 
  • Mentor: Ricardo Cruz-Acuna, PhD (TBM)