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Dr. Brendan Guercio received a 2023 Interdisciplinary RCC Focus Award for research on "Associations of diet with the gut microbiome among patients with advanced/metastatic RCC receiving immune checkpoint inhibition." This award was supported by a gift from the Michael and Ina Korek Foundation. Dr. Guercio is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Rochester Medical…

Dr. Niki Zacharias Millward, PhD,  received a 2023 KCA Chromophobe RCC Focus Award for research on “Leveraging patient-derived xenograft models to identify and therapeutically target metabolic hallmarks of chromophobe renal cell carcinoma.” Dr. Millward is an assistant professor in the Department of Urology - Research, Division of Surgery at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. We spoke with Dr.…

Dr. Shinji Ohtake received a 2023 Unclassified/Papillary RCC Focus Award for research on the "Development of Models of NF2 loss in papillary and unclassified variant of kidney cancer." This award was supported by a gift from Brandon Butera and Maggie Valdes. Dr. Ohtake is a project scientist at the UCLA School of Meidicine. We spoke with Dr. Ohtake about his…

Dr. Prateek Khanna received a 2023 KCA Translocation RCC Focus Award for research on "Therapeutic targeting of cell surface antigens in translocation renal cell carcinoma." This award was given in partnership with Joey's Wings Foundation, a KCA Affiliate Partner. Dr. Khanna is a Hematology/Oncology Fellow at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts. We spoke with Dr. Khanna about his…

Dr. Rana McKay received a 2023 KCA Trailblazer Award for research on “Dissecting predictors of response to immunotherapy in patients with renal cell carcinoma.” Dr. McKay is a medical oncologist at UC San Diego Health and Associate Professor of Medicine at the UC San Diego School of Medicine. We spoke with Dr. McKay about her research and the impact it…

Dr. Maria Carlo received a 2023 KCA Trailblazer Award for research on the “Role of germline and somatic variants in NRF2 pathway genes in renal cell carcinoma.” Dr. Carlo is a genitourinary oncologist and clinical geneticist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. We spoke with Dr. Carlo about her research and the impact it can have on…

The Kidney Cancer Association (KCA) awarded six grants to six investigators pursuing innovative kidney cancer research across a spectrum of focus areas. The KCA distributed a total of $412,500 in research funds. All the awards support early- to mid-career investigators but three of the six awards supported proposals focused on rare types of kidney cancer. Rare kidney cancer types include…

The KCA's 2023 Virtual Patient Symposium took place on September 9th with expert speakers presenting topics ranging from kidney cancer basics and breaking new research to discussions about nutrition, psychosocial support, and the patient experience. We collected questions from the audience and compiled the answers from the speakers below. You can find all the session recordings available to watch for…

This is a guest post by Liz Leff. Liz is a kidney cancer survivor, Senior Corporate Relations Director at the National Kidney Foundation, and a member of the International Kidney Cancer Coalition’s Board of Directors. Hi, my name is Liz Leff. It all started nine years ago. I had a simple urine test and microscopic traces of blood were found…

This is a guest post by Katie Coleman, a patient, advocate, and the founder of the Chromophobe and Oncocytic Tumor Alliance, a KCA Affiliate Partner. "ChRCC research, therefore, appears to be at an inflection point, with the potential for the first specific therapeutic strategies on the near horizon." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQJQVCUNW5c This exciting excerpt from a recently published paper on chromophobe renal…