VCU researcher honored by American Association for the Advancement of Science for work on anti-cancer drug discovery

By Sathya Achia Abraham

Steven Grant, M.D., professor of medicine, biochemistry, pharmacology and oncology at Virginia Commonwealth University, has been named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science for his research in developing promising new drugs to combat leukemia.

The award recognized Grant for his contributions to the discovery of the mechanisms of action of multiple anticancer drugs and the translation of this research for treating humans. The election as a fellow is an honor bestowed upon AAAS members by their peers.

Grant, who has been at VCU since 1987, is internationally recognized for his work on novel drug combinations to treat blood cancers. At VCU’s Massey Cancer Center, Grant and his colleagues are involved in various laboratory studies and National Cancer Institute-sponsored clinical trials to test new classes of anti-cancer drugs and combinations of drugs that target and disrupt the cell cycle and survival signaling pathways in cancer cells.

This year, the AAAS has awarded this honor to 376 members on the basis of their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science and its applications.  Fellows were announced in the AAAS News & Notes section of the Oct. 28 issue of the journal Science.

The tradition of AAAS fellows began in 1874. The AAAS is the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the journal, Science. AAAS was founded in 1848, and includes approximately 262 affiliated societies and academies of science, serving 10 million individuals.