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Cancer Answers: Sowell-Huggins Endowment

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The Andrew Sowell/Wade Huggins Endowed Scholarship Fund was established in 1991 by Joann Sowell and Marcia Huggins Jahncke in appreciation for the successful treatment of their sons at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and in recognition that the hope of defeating cancer lies in those dedicated to research. The scholars, chosen from outstanding students at the MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBS), are engaged in research at UTHealth and MD Anderson Cancer Center. In 1996, Joann and Marcia formed Cancer Answers to be the fundraising arm of the endowment.

Among the faces of UTHealth, our students stand out. They are the reason for so much of what we do. We are grateful that through your tremendous support, they will have the resources to reach their fullest potential and help solve the greatest health challenges of our time. - Kevin J. Foyle, Vice President for Development and Public Affairs, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

Current Recipients:

2020-2021 Andrew Sowell-Wade Huggins Professors and Fellow:

Walaa Kattan and John Hancock, MB, BChir, PhD

2020-2021 Andrew Sowell-Wade Huggins Scholars in Cancer Research:

Swetha Anandhan - (Advisor: Padmanee Sharma, MD, PhD)
Rumi Lee (Advisor: Ronald DePinho, MD)
Ye Li (Advisor: Katy Rezvani, MBBS, PhD)
Ziqiao Wang (Advisor: Peng Wei, PhD)
Mikayla Waters (Advisor: Melinda Yates, PhD)
Yao Zhao (Advisor: Jinzhong Yang, PhD)

2020-2021 Cancer Answers/Sylvan Rodriguez Scholar:

Iman Sahnoune (Advisor: George Calin, MD, PhD) 

2020-2021 Sylvan Rodriguez Foundation Scholars honoring George M. Stancel, PhD:

Angel Garces (Advisor: David Grosshans, MD, PhD)

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Select the Designation: GSBS Cancer Answers Endowment Fund

For more information, please contact Susan M. Simon, Director of Development, Office of Development, representing GSBS

Susan M. Simon

Susan M. Simon

Phone: 713.500.3118

  • History

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    The Andrew Sowell/Wade Huggins Endowed Scholarship Fund was established in 1991 by Joann Sowell and Marcia Huggins Jahncke in appreciation for the successful treatment of their sons at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and in recognition that the hope of defeating cancer lies in those dedicated to research. The scholars, chosen from outstanding students at the MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBS), are engaged in research at UTHealth and MD Anderson Cancer Center. In 1996, Joann and Marcia formed Cancer Answers to be the fundraising arm of the endowment.

    The first Andrew Sowell/Wade Huggins Cancer Answers scholarships were awarded in 1992. The recipients are chosen by GSBS faculty for their contributions to research in cancer biology. In 2001, the first Sowell/Huggins Professorship and Graduate Fellowship award was presented. This full stipend is a one- to three-year award given to a professor
    and student team who combine experience, innovation and excellence in their laboratory.

    In 1999, The Sylvan Rodriguez Foundation, created to recognize the beloved media personality and community leader, chose Cancer Answers as a beneficiary of its philanthropy. In 2000, a significant gift was given which lead to the establishment of the Sylvan Rodriguez/Cancer Answers Scholarship to honor Sylvan who succumbed to pancreatic cancer in April of that year. This award takes into consideration community service as well as academic excellence.

    Over 100 Cancer Answers Scholarships have been awarded providing much needed support to the students and faculty at GSBS. The Cancer Answers team will maintain undeterred focus and drive along with the school and the next generation of scientists who are committed to finding Cancer Answers.

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  • Timeline

    1992: The first two Andrew Sowell-Wade Huggins Scholarships were awarded to students working in cancer research.

    1993: The Christmas Letters start as an annual gift campaign.

    1996: The first Cancer Answers gala fundraising event, Fiesta Grande, was held.

    1997: Cancer Answers received IRS 501(c)(3) charitable organization status, which enabled it to receive tax-deductible gifts and fundraising.

    1998: The Texas Water Safari event raised support for the endowment.  As a result of annual fundraising events, generous Foundation grants, and personal letter-writing campaigns, the endowment grew substantially, increasing the number of scholarships.

    1999: Sylvan Rodriguez Charity chose Cancer Answers to be one of the beneficiaries of the Sylvan Rodriguez Golf Tournament and Gala.

    2000: The first Cancer Answers/Sylvan Rodriguez Scholarship was awarded.

    2001: The original FindingCancerAnswers.org website came to life.

    2002: The Andrew Sowell-Wade Huggins Professorship/Graduate Fellowship Award was established.

    2004: The Inaugural Valentine's Art Program celebrated cancer survivors.

    2005: Unique art emblem was installed at MD Anderson UTHealth Graduate School to honor all those challenged with cancer. Size of the endowment grew to increase the amount of each scholarship to $2,500 to cover the yearly expense of tuition for five scholars.

    2006: At this point, 36 students had received the prestigious honor of the Andrew Sowell-Wade Huggins Endowed Scholarship; seven students were named Cancer Answers/Sylvan Rodriguez Scholars, and three professor/student teams received full stipend support ($20,000-$23,000 yearly) through the Andrew Sowell-Wade Huggins Professorship/Fellowship joint award. The website was revitalized as CancerAnswersEndowment.org.

    2007: A letter sent to friends and family requesting contributions brought more than 100 generous gifts, which helped to make possible an annual donation to the endowment of $100,000. Scholarships increased in value to provide $3,000 for each honoree.

    2008: At this point under the Cancer Answers umbrella, more than 50 graduate students had received tuition or full stipend support.

    2009: Through the growth of the Endowment, two of the Andrew Sowell-Wade Huggins Professorship/Fellowship teams were named. Scholarships increased to $5,000.

    2010: 70 graduate students had received scholarships or full stipend support under Cancer Answers.

    2011: The organization celebrated their 20th anniversary of funding and supporting those who will be finding Cancer Answers! Cancer Answers reached the original goal of providing $1,000,000 for the Andrew Sowell/Wade Huggins Endowed Scholarship. The first Cancer Answers/Bobby Smith Cohn Scholarship was awarded.

    2012: 61 Andrew Sowell/Wade Huggins Scholars, 13 Cancer Answers/Sylvan Rodriguez Scholars, and six Sowell/Huggins Professor/Fellow teams were named. The Sylvan Rodriguez Foundation Endowed Scholarship was established in honor of George M. Stancel, Ph.D. The 20-20 Vision of Cancer Answers provided vision for the next generation and increased necessary support for these young scientists.

    2013: The first Sylvan Rodriguez Foundation Scholarship honoring George M. Stancel, Ph.D., was awarded.

    2015: Cancer Answers reviewed the website and reached out to new friends.

    2016: The Cancer Answers team planned an aggressive campaign to use technology and social media in fundraising endeavors.

    2017: Cancer Answers has provided more than 25 years of continued support to the graduate students at MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Graduate School. Together, we continue to make leading-edge discoveries that will one day end cancer.

  • Past Recipients

    Andrew Sowell-Wade Huggins Endowed Scholars

    1992-1993
    Angabin Matin
    William Pierceall

    1994-1995
    Peter Chen
    Kendra Woods-Francis

    1995-1996
    Gerald Horan
    Ping Tang
    Youming Xie

    1996-1997
    Paul Hardenbol
    Steven Lott

    1997-1998
    Dawn Chandler
    Joya Chandra
    Patricia Wong
    Xiangming Xing

    1998-1999
    Michael Bieda
    Elizabeth Bruckheimer
    Weidong Jiang
    Gurvaneet Randhawa
    Nianhua Xu

    1999-2000
    Darren Davis
    Ming Tan

    2000-2001
    Elizabeth Lafleur

    2001-2002
    Geetha Achanta
    Leta Nutt

    2002-2003
    Jerry Lu
    Leisa T. Peschel
    Kun Zhang

    2003-2004
    Gregory Aune
    Steffan Nawrocki
    Jiangong Niu

    2004-2005
    Jennifer Carew
    Aditi Hazra
    Meghan Minard
    Ilyssa Okrent Gordon

    2005-2006
    Melissa Adams-Singh
    Krishna Reddy
    Yasmine Valentin-Vega

    2006-2007
    Lingchen Fu
    Yen-Michael Hsu
    Dung-Fang Lee

    2007-2008
    Jheri Dupart
    Brian Grabiner
    Hsu-Ping Kuo
    Taichun Qin

    2008-2009
    Kari Brewer Savannah
    Gustavo Martinez
    Wen-Wei Tsai
    Jer-Yen Yang

    2009-2010
    Lenka Hurton
    Aman Mann
    Sumaiyah Rehman
    Erika Spaeth
    Brian Taylor
    Rui Zhang

    2010-2011
    Denise Crossland
    Alessandra Di Lorenzo
    MyLinh Duong
    Wei-Lei Yang

    2011-2012
    Chien-Hung Chen
    Mo Liu
    Christa Manton
    Caitlin May

    2012-2013
    Drew Deniger
    Brian Pickering
    Daniel Robertson
    Andria Schibler

    2013-2014
    Vida Chitsazzadeh
    Ting-Hsiang (Richard) Huang
    Joshua S. Niedzielski
    Avinashnarayan Venkatanarayan

    2015-2016
    Ngoc Bui
    Xenia Fave
    Kshipra Gharpure
    Archana Sidalaghatta Nagaraja

    2016-2017
    Jaeil Han
    Nicolas Veland 
    Smruthi Vijayaraghavan 
    Sarah Wu 

    2017-2018
    Lisa Becker 
    Carlos Cardenas 
    Ashvin Jaiswal 
    Alexander Perakis 

    2018-2019
    Abdallah Mohamed 
    Sahil Seth 
    Hieu Van 
    Ruoji Zhou

    2019-2020
    Caitlin Creasy 
    Naveen Ramesh 
    Er-Yen Yen 
    Daniel Zamler 

    Andrew Sowell-Wade Huggins Professors/Fellows

    2000-2001
    William Plunkett, PhD, Professor
    Zheng (Jane) Shi, Fellow

    2001-2004
    Sharon Dent, PhD, Professor
    Yvonne Evrard, Fellow

    2005-2007
    Gary Gallick, PhD, Professor
    Jing Zhang, Fellow

    2007-2009
    Timothy McDonnell, MD, PhD, Professor
    Nicole Pinaire, Fellow

    2008-2011
    Cheryl Walker, PhD, Professor
    Angela Alexander, Fellow

    2011-2014
    Mien-Chie Hung, PhD, Professor
    Aarthi Goverdhan, Fellow

    2015-2016
    David McConkey, PhD, Professor
    Andrea Ochoa, Fellow

    Dihua Yu, MD, PhD, Professor
    Lin Zhang, Fellow

    2016-2019
    Sharon Dent. PhD, Professor
    Aimee Farria, Fellow

    Cancer Answers/Sylvan Rodriguez Scholars

    Michael Davies, 1999-2000

    Julie Cerrato, 2000-2001

    Maribelis Ruiz, 2001-2002

    Simon Williams, 2002-2003

    Shreya Kant, 2003-2004

    Stacey Ruiz, 2004-2005

    Regina Weaks, 2005-2006

    Stephen Kry, 2006-2007

    Claudia Miller, 2007-2008

    Svitlana Kurinna, 2008-2009

    Liem Phan, 2009-2010

    Hillary Caruso, 2010-2011

    Tamara Laskowski, 2011-2012

    Qingshan (Carly) Yang, 2012-2013

    Lindsey Minter, 2013-2014

    Michelle Martinez-Rivera, 2015-2016

    Jolie Schafer, 2016-2017

    Marimar de la Cruz Bonilla, 2017-2018

    Shelley Herbrich 2018-2019

    Merve Dede, 2019-2020

    Iman Sahoune, 2020-2021

    Sylvan Rodriguez Foundation Scholars honoring George M. Stancel, Ph.D.

    Marco Leung, 2012-2013

    David Fried, 2013-2014

    Vincent Bernard, 2015-2016

    Rachel Dittmar, 2016-2017

    Sarah Glazer and Carolina Garcia-Garcia, 2017-2018

    Mary Esmeralda Fuentes, 2018-2019

    Suman Shrestha, 2019-2020

    Angel Garces, 2020-2021

  • Photos