Meet the 2023–2024 Andrew Sabin Family Foundation Fellows
Established in 2021, the Andrew Sabin Family Endowment and Initiative in Cancer Prevention at MSK provides support to young scientists with the goal of advancing environmental science as well as cancer research.
MSK is uniquely positioned to lead a transformative era in research in cancer genetics and genomics. Our scientific and clinical talent are paving the way to more cures that will change the way that patients everywhere live with and beyond cancer.
The Sabin Family Foundation Fellowships provide crucial funding at a stage in the recipients’ academic and research careers when such support can have the greatest impact on their transition to becoming independent investigators. “By investing in emerging talent, we hope to expand our programs in cancer genetics to discover new approaches to targeted prevention,” says Kenneth Offit, MD, Robert and Kate Niehaus Chair in Inherited Cancer Genomics and Chief of the Clinical Genetics Service, who oversees the program.
We are pleased to welcome our two selected 2023–2024 Andrew Sabin Family Foundation Fellowship recipients. These talented researchers are focusing on the prevention and early detection of cancers caused by genetic and environmental factors.
Matthew Buas, PhD
Dr. Buas received a master’s degree in epidemiology from the University of Washington and a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania. His research focuses on the molecular and genetic epidemiology of esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) and its precursor lesion, Barrett’s esophagus.
The number of EAC diagnoses is rapidly rising in the United States for unclear reasons that may be related to diet (causing reflux), environmental factors, as well as heredity. Dr. Buas uses a combination of statistical, computational, and experimental approaches toward the long-term translational goal of advancing new strategies for prevention, risk assessment, and early detection. Over the coming year, he will expand his scope to include other cancer types, working with Sabin Fellows Semanti Mukherjee, PhD, and Marie Will, MD, PhD, along with others.
Semanti Mukherjee, PhD
Dr. Mukherjee received a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in biology from Nagpur University and a PhD from the Gerstner Sloan Kettering Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. She is a mathematical geneticist who has initiated a program studying hereditary susceptibility to lung cancer.
Each year, there are more deaths due to lung cancer in the United States than due to colon, prostate, or breast cancer. Though lung cancer was previously thought to be caused entirely by environmental factors, such as cigarettes and pollution, Dr. Mukherjee’s research is finding genetic predispositions and demonstrating that the disease represents an interaction between exposure and inherited susceptibility.
Dr. Mukherjee will be expanding her research to include prostate and pancreatic cancers, both of which exhibit a dual nature influenced by both environmental and inherited components.