Hopper-Belmont Foundation 2020 Award Winners

William L. Hwang is a radiation oncologist at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Instructor of Radiation Oncology at Harvard Medical School, and Andrew L. Warshaw, MD Institute for Pancreatic Cancer Research Fellow. As a physician-scientist, William specializes in the treatment of gastrointestinal cancers and his research program is focused on investigating the interactions among pancreatic cancer cells and their microenvironment at high resolution using single-cell omics and multiplexed imaging techniques. William is particularly interested in the synergy between cancer cells and nerves, pathways by which therapies reprogram the tumor microenvironment and foster the development of resistance, and the mechanisms underlying tumorigenesis to foster early detection and preventative strategies.William holds bachelor’s degrees in Biomedical Engineering, Electrical & Computer Engineering and Physics from Duke University, where he was an Angier B. Duke Scholar. He received a master’s degree in Chemistry at the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. He earned his MD (summa cum laude) at Harvard Medical School as a Paul and Daisy Soros Fellow and PhD in Biophysics at Harvard University. William completed his internship in Internal Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital where he received the Resident Teaching Award in Medicine, and residency training in the Harvard Radiation Oncology Program. 

  Jacquelyn Zimmerman, M.D., Ph.D. is a Medical Oncology Fellow in the Division of Gastrointestinal Cancers at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer at Johns Hopkins. She graduated summa cum laude with a BS in biological sciences and a concentration in secondary education from Louisiana State University in 2007. She then went on to receive her medical degree and Ph.D. from the University of Alabama School of Medicine in 2014 as part of their Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP). She completed her internship and residency in the Johns Hopkins Osler Residency Program where she also served as chief resident in 2018-2019. She remained at Johns Hopkins for medical oncology fellowship where she has benefited from the mentorship of Dr. Elizabeth Jaffee with additional mentorship from Dr. Richard Burkhart and Dr. Elana Fertig.She has a primary interest in pre-clinical and translational models of gastrointestinal malignancies and is specifically interested in patient-derived models of pancreatic cancer. She is using these models to answer mechanistic questions about tumor-stromal interactions in pancreatic cancer. Pancreatic cancer remains a challenging cancer to treat, in part due to the dense stromal tumor microenvironment that comprises a significant portion of the tumor. Cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are an integral part of the tumor microenvironment. We hypothesize that these cells play a dynamic role in tumorigenesis and progression. Further, we hypothesize that these cells impact and are impacted by surrounding tumor epithelial cells. The project proposed in her Inspiration Award application will test this hypothesis using a co-culture model of patient-derived organoids and CAFs.