These researchers dedicate their careers to finding new treatments and cures for people with cancer.
Dr. Ribas holds several prestigious positions at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), where he focuses on researching treatments for melanoma. His work explores combining immunotherapy with targeted therapies while investigating why some treatments stop working and their side effects. His first research grant, received in 2000, was a CDA.
"It was a crucial step in my career, and I'm thankful for it," he said.
With the support of his CDA grant, Dr. Ribas had dedicated time to study how well immunotherapy works for liver cancer. His discoveries in this area paved the way for his later work in melanoma.
"When I finished my scholarship at UCLA, the CDA was vital because it gave me time to build my research career as a doctor-scientist," Dr. Ribas explained. "That time allowed me to gather data, apply for more grants, and hire lab staff."
Dr. Ribas led studies on pembrolizumab, a PD-1 inhibitor. His research was groundbreaking, leading the FDA to fast-track the drug's approval in 2014. Since then, it has been approved for treating various cancers, including lung, head and neck, Hodgkin lymphoma, stomach, cervical, and certain types of breast cancer. His team also conducted research on targeted therapies for melanoma, such as the coBRIM trial, which combined vemurafenib and cobimetinib for patients with advanced melanoma due to specific genetic mutations.