KCA brings early-career clinicians together for new mentorship program

The Kidney Cancer Association’s newly launched KCA Mentorship Academy met for the first time ahead of the 2024 IKCS: North America meeting on November 6th in Louisville, Kentucky.

2024 Mentees, left to right: Dr. Allison May, Dr. Minas Platon Economides, Dr. Prateek Khanna, Dr. Adam Singer, Dr. Nazli Dizman. Dr. Wesley Yip was not present.

The Academy includes six mentees and a group of mentors who represent the top of the field spanning kidney cancer clinical practice, research and clinical trials, and advocacy. The mentorship program is designed to shape the next generation of kidney cancer clinicians, trialists, and thought leaders through unique learning opportunities and dedicated mentorship.

The meeting also included the Dr. Nizar Tannir Rare Kidney Cancer Scholar Program for one mentee with a passion for treating rare kidney cancers. Dr. Nizar Tannir of MD Anderson Cancer Center, a long-time KCA supporter, rare kidney cancer expert, and community advocate, is supporting this particular program as part of his extensive legacy in advancing rare kidney cancer research, clinical care, and improving quality and quantity of life for these patients and families.

The inaugural group of mentees are:

Dr. Nazli Dizman, MD Anderson Cancer Center
Dr. Prateek Khanna, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute#
Dr. Allison May, University of Virginia
Dr. Adam Singer, University of California Los Angeles
Dr. Minas Platon Economides, NYU Langone Health
Dr. Wesley Yip, City of Hope

#Dr. Nizar Tannir Rare Kidney Cancer Scholar

The mentors are:

Dr. Ron Bukowski, Cleveland Clinic (emeritus)
Dr. Dan George, Duke University
Dr. Raquibul Hannan, UT Southwestern Medical Center
Dr. Eric Jonasch, MD Anderson Cancer Center*
Dr. Jose Karam, MD Anderson Cancer Center
Dr. Bradley Leibovich
Dr. Pavlos Msaouel, MD Anderson Cancer Center*#
Dr. Sumanta Pal, City of Hope*†
Dr. Brain Rini, Vanderbilt University*
Dr. Brian Shuch, University of California Los Angeles*†
Dr. Eric Singer, Ohio State*†
Dr. Walter Stadler, University of Chicago
Dr. Nizar Tannir, MD Anderson Cancer Center*#
Dr. Chad Tang, MD Anderson Cancer Center*
Dr. Tian Zhang, UT Southwestern Medical Center*†

*Present at the November 6 meeting

†Academy co-chairs

#Dr. Nizar Tannir Rare Kidney Cancer Scholar mentors

Dr. Nazli Dizman traces her career path.

The mentees will spend the next year receiving one-on-one mentorship from their assigned mentor and participate in Academy meetings and workshops, receive funding to attend kidney cancer-focused conferences, learning about advocacy, and developing a strong network that will be foundational in their careers as next-generation kidney cancer experts. Dr. Khanna is the Dr. Nizar Tannir Rare Kidney Cancer Scholar recipient because of his research focus in translocation renal cell carcinoma and he will collaborate with Dr. Tannir and Dr. Msaouel during his mentorship year.

To kick off the inaugural meeting, mentees introduced themselves and described their personal journey and life events that led them to their current research interests and clinical practice. Over the 2-day meeting, the group had informal discussions about how to have a successful clinical research career. Mentors shared their own best and worst clinical trial experiences and what they learned from them. Several invited speakers highlighted clinical trials from the industry perspective, with Dr. Dharanija Rao from Pfizer, the nuances of publishing research in journals and how to do it successfully with Dr. Zach Churcher and Dr. Andy Tran from the open-access journal publishing group MDPI, and a broad look at the effects of “off-label” medication use in people with cancer who have certain gene alterations as part of the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s Targeted Agent & Profiling Utilization Registry (TAPUR) Study, presented by Dr. Richard Schilsky of the University of Chicago and former Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President of ASCO.

More mentors are expected to be included over the course of the year as the program continues and expands. Learn more about the KCA Mentorship Academy and the Dr. Nizar Tannir Rare Kidney Cancer Scholar Program at the application page. Applications for the next class of mentees will open in late 2025.