News
Karen Moody receives the 2024 Jack and Beverly Randall Prize for Excellence in Cancer Care Award
In August 2024, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center recognized over 100 faculty members at its annual Celebration of Faculty Excellence awards ceremony, acknowledging the compassionate care, exceptional contributions to their fields and the distinction these faculty members have brought to the institution.
The highest honor, the Jack and Beverly Randall Prize for Excellence in Cancer Research, was awarded to Karen Moody, M.D., professor, Pediatrics and Palliative, Rehabilitation & Integrative Medicine. She treats some of MD Anderson’s youngest patients, striving to make their cancer experience more positive. Moody and her colleagues developed a conversation guide and visual aids to help pediatric oncologists and nurses discuss treatment options and goals with parents of children facing a poor prognosis.
The award was created in 2011 by the MD Anderson Cancer Center Board of Visitors (BOV) member Jack Randall and his wife, Beverly. The Jack and Beverly Randall Prize for Excellence in Cancer Research fosters innovative thinking and groundbreaking ideas in cancer research and care. This $100,000 award honors
researchers and clinicians who demonstrate extraordinary foresight, ingenuity
and a commitment to excellence. The prize alternates annually between
supporting researchers and clinicians.
American Society of Clinical Oncology Recognizes Pediatrics Division Head for Body of Research in Childhood Cancer
In appreciation and observation of his impactful clinical and translational research in the field of pediatric oncology, the American Society of Clinical Oncology presented Richard Gorlick, M.D., division head and chair of Pediatrics and chair ad interim of Sarcoma Medical Oncology, with its Pediatric Oncology Award at the organization's 2024 Annual Meeting.
Gorlick is recognized for his dedication to advancing targeted therapies for childhood cancers and furthering the global study of osteosarcoma. Having published more than 325 peer-reviewed publications, he is best known for identifying the basis of resistance to antifolates in acute lymphocytic leukemia and osteosarcoma and for developing a national tissue resource for osteosarcoma in his role as director of the Pediatric Sarcoma Research Laboratory, previously known as the Bone Tumor Resource Laboratory.
The Gorlick Laboratory currently is focusing on antibody-drug conjugates as a means for rapid drug development in osteosarcoma, potentially also serving as a paradigm for other rare tumors. His clinical and researcher expertise has translated into multiple clinical trials conducted at MD Anderson, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, the Children’s Oncology Group and more. Fulfilling a longstanding vision at MD Anderson, he and colleagues established the institution’s Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) Program in 2018, which now sees over 1,000 new patients each year. He serves as the current chair of CPRIT’s Advisory Committee on Childhood Cancers.