HPV vaccine co-inventor presents his vision for cancer prevention
The Irish Cancer Society and the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland were delighted to host a talk Dr Douglas Lowy, Deputy Director of the US-based National Cancer Institute (NCI), on Friday, December 1. Key figures in the Irish cancer research and healthcare fields were in attendance for his talk, ‘A Vision of the Future of Cancer Prevention’.
Dr Lowy is a co-inventor of the HPV vaccine, and recently won the prestigious 2017 Lasker Prize. The NCI is by far the largest single institution dedicated to cancer research, prevention, care and outcome improvement in the world.
Dr Lowy’s talk (above) focussed on cancer prevention and his views on where research might lead us in the near and medium term future. He also focussed on the role and significance of HPV vaccine in reducing the cancer burden.
We are very grateful to Dr Lowy for taking the time in his short trip to Ireland to join us for this special event.
Picture at the event in the Winter Hall, No. 6 Kildare Street Dublin, is Dr Robert O’Connor, Head of Cancer Research, the Irish Cancer Society; Professor Mary Horgan, President, RCPI, and Dr Douglas Lowy.
About Dr Lowy
Douglas R. Lowy, M.D., is Chief of the Laboratory of Cellular Oncology and, since 2010, has also been the Deputy Director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI). From April 2015 until October 2017, he served as the Acting Director of NCI. Dr Lowy received his medical degree from New York University School of Medicine in 1968, and trained in internal medicine at Stanford University and dermatology at Yale University. He has directed a research laboratory at NCI since 1975, after receiving training as a Research Associate in the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Dr Lowy is a member of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and of the Institute of Medicine of the NAS. For his research with John Schiller on technology that enabled the preventive HPV vaccines, he and Dr Schiller have jointly received numerous honours, including the 2007 Federal Employee of the Year Service to America Medal from the Partnership for Public Service, the 2011 Albert B. Sabin Gold Medal Award, the 2012 National Medal of Technology & Innovation (awarded in 2014), and the Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award, the country’s most prestigious honour for biomedical research. Dr Lowy has also received the National Medal of Honor for Basic Research from the American Cancer Society.
