Yale Cancer Center leadership has selected Sarah Goldberg, MD, MPH, Associate Professor of Internal Medicine (Medical Oncology), Research Director, Center for Thoracic Cancers at Smilow Cancer Hospital and Yale Cancer Center, and Chief of Thoracic Oncology, and Nadya Dimitrova, PhD, Assistant Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, recipients of the 2023 Class of ‘61 Cancer Research Awards. The annual awards recognize significant accomplishments in cancer research at Yale Cancer Center by young members of the faculty, coupled with the expectation for future outstanding contributions to our understanding of the causes and cures for cancer.
“Dr. Goldberg and Dr. Dimitrova are exceptional selections for this important award,” said Daniel DiMaio, MD, PhD, Deputy Director of Yale Cancer Center, Waldemar Von Zedtwitz Professor of Genetics, and Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry and of Therapeutic Radiology. “These two outstanding scientists have already made a significant impact in their fields of cancer research, and we expect many more important contributions from them in the future.”
Dr. Goldberg received her medical degree from Mount Sinai School of Medicine and completed a Masters in Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health. She conducts clinical and translational research on lung cancer with a focus on investigating biomarkers and novel treatment strategies in non-small cell lung cancer. Her specific research interests include EGFR mutation positive lung cancer, immunotherapeutics for lung cancer, and brain metastases.
Dr. Dimitrova’s research focuses on the functional characterization of tumor suppressor and oncogenic long non-coding RNAs and their roles in the regulation of the cancer transcriptome. Originally from Sofia, Bulgaria, Dr. Dimitrova graduated with an Sc.B. in Biochemistry from Brown University in 2002. She joined the graduate program at The Rockefeller University and in 2009 received a PhD for her work on the signaling and repair of dysfunctional telomeres in the laboratory of Dr. Titia de Lange. For her graduate work, Nadya was awarded the Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award.
The Class of ’61 Cancer Research Awards are supported through the Yale Class of 1961 Cancer Center Endowment, which was established in 2016 by the Yale College class. The endowment has honored one or more Yale Cancer Center faculty members each year since its inception with a grant to support their highly promising cancer research.