2026 Recipients
Duo Honored for Advancing the Development of Life-Saving Cancer Treatments
Tony Hunter, PhD, and Dennis J. Slamon, MD, PhD, have been awarded the 2026 Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research. The two distinguished recipients are being recognized for their breakthrough discoveries that have revolutionized our understanding of the molecular mechanisms of cancer cells and have led to the development of life-saving treatments for leukemia, breast, lung, kidney, thyroid, colon, and other cancers. More information on each recipient can be found below.
The Albany Prize is made possible by the Marty and Dorothy Silverman Foundation. Learn more.
Tony Hunter, PhD
American Cancer Society Professor
Renato Dulbecco Chair in Cancer Research
Salk Institute for Biological Studies
Dr. Tony Hunter is American Cancer Society Professor in the Molecular and Cell Biology Laboratory and holds the Renato Dulbecco Chair in Cancer Research at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California.
More than 40 years ago, Dr. Hunter made a pivotal discovery that would lead to the development of successful new cancer therapies that have saved lives. His research revealed what can best be described as an off/on switch for key proteins in cells.
Like creatures of habit, cells repeat the same cycle over and over, coordinating the timing of gene and protein activation with growth and division. When this cycle is disrupted, cells can begin copying the wrong genes, resulting in diseases such as cancer. They may turn on proteins at the wrong times or divide too quickly or too slowly. By understanding how a healthy cell controls its growth cycle, researchers can better understand what goes wrong in tumor cells when their growth spirals out of control. The most difficult part was pinpointing which genes and proteins are most important.
Dr. Hunter discovered that the addition and subtraction of phosphate molecules to proteins on tyrosine — one of the 20 amino acids — allows cells to control when key proteins are on standby and when they are active. He found that in cancerous cells, growth was switched to always-on mode by malfunctions involving these phosphate molecules.
Thanks to Dr. Hunter’s discovery, cancer drugs such as the leukemia therapy Gleevec have saved lives. Since making the finding more than four decades ago, his laboratory has led the field in understanding how chemical additions to proteins control the cell cycle and growth. Dr. Hunter also helped explain how cells mobilize their repair crews to fix damaged DNA, which can prevent cells from turning cancerous.
Traditional chemotherapy is effective at killing rapidly growing cancer cells, but it can come with harsh side effects, as the treatment does not distinguish between cancerous and healthy cells. That underscores why research for new treatments that can target specific cells is so important.
Also, some cancers find ways to get around traditional therapies. There is a cellular security system that should destroy some cancers, but the cancers find a loophole that helps them recover and resume dividing following treatment with DNA-damaging cancer drugs. In pancreatic cancer, for example, drugs cannot reach the tumor because of an inflammatory barrier created by crosstalk between the tumor and pancreatic cells. Dr. Hunter has found a way to intercept this communication using a signaling molecule called LIF. LIF could represent a breakthrough in pancreatic cancer as a useful biomarker or target for treatment.
Dr. Hunter earned his undergraduate degree, with first class honors, from University of Cambridge in England, where he also earned his doctoral degree. He served as a postdoctoral fellow at The Salk Institute and University of Cambridge.
Dr. Hunter’s work has earned him more than 30 international honors and awards, including the American Association for Cancer Research Lifetime Achievement Award in Cancer Research, Tang Prize in Biopharmaceutical Science, Sjöberg Prize for Cancer Research, Clifford Prize for Cancer Research, and Wolf Prize in Medicine.
Dennis J. Slamon, MD, PhD
Distinguished Professor, Department of Medicine
David Geffen School of Medicine
Endowed Chair, The Bowyer Professorship of Medical Oncology
Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center
University of California Los Angeles
Oncologist Dr. Dennis J. Slamon’s transformational research led to the development of Herceptin, the revolutionary breast cancer drug that has saved the lives of millions of women worldwide.
Working in his laboratory at UCLA, Dr. Slamon discovered that a mutation of the gene known as the HER2/neu oncogene was present in more than a quarter of all breast cancers and was associated with a particularly fast-growing form of the disease. Armed with this knowledge, Dr. Slamon led the extensive laboratory work and clinical trials that showed a monoclonal antibody could be targeted directly at the HER2 receptor to stop its growth. For 12 years, Dr. Slamon and his colleagues conducted the laboratory and clinical research that led to the development of Herceptin, which targets the specific genetic alteration found in approximately 25 percent of breast cancer patients. This discovery paved the way for continued development of treatment for additional types of cancers.
Dr. Slamon firmly believed in his laboratory’s research and spent more than a decade fighting relentlessly to develop Herceptin and secure its approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Throughout the process, he faced struggles with research funding, corporate skepticism and the emotional roller coaster of clinical trials.
His story was recounted in former NBC News’ science and health correspondent Robert Bazell’s book, HER-2: The Making of Herceptin, a Revolutionary Treatment for Breast Cancer, which later inspired the 2008 Lifetime original television movie Living Proof.
In recognition of Dr. Slamon’s accomplishments, President Bill Clinton appointed him to the three-member President’s Cancer Panel in June 2000.
Dr. Slamon serves as director of Clinical/Translational Research and director of the Revlon/UCLA Women’s Cancer Research Program at UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. He is a professor of medicine, chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology and executive vice chair for research for UCLA’s Department of Medicine. He also serves as director of the medical advisory board for the National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance, a fundraising organization that promotes advances in colorectal cancer research.
Dr. Slamon is an honors graduate of the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Medicine, where he earned both his medical degree and doctorate in cell biology in 1975. He completed his internship and residency at the University of Chicago Hospitals and Clinics and became chief resident in 1978. One year later, he became a fellow in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at UCLA.
Dr. Slamon is the recipient, among other awards, of the Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award; the Szent-Györgyi Prize for Progress in Cancer Research; the Sjöberg Prize awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the Sjöberg Foundation; Komen Brinker Award for Scientific Distinction; the Gairdner Foundation International Award; the Warren Alpert Foundation Scientific Prize, and the American Cancer Society Medal of Honor.
