Leora Horn, M.D., M.Sc., associate professor of Medicine and clinical director of the Thoracic Oncology Program at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC), has received a 2015 Cancer Clinical Investigator Team Leadership Award (CCITLA) from the National Cancer Institute (NCI).
Horn is one of 11 clinical investigators selected to receive a 2015 CCITLA, which were announced during a meeting of the NCI Clinical Trials and Translational Research Advisory Committee.
“I am very pleased to be chosen for this award from the NCI and honored to be in the company of so many other outstanding clinical research investigators,” said Horn, who also serves as assistant director of the Educator Development Program at VUMC.
Established in 2009, the two-year CCITLA awards are designed to recognize and support outstanding mid-career clinical investigators at NCI-designated Cancer Centers who are actively engaged in collaborative clinical research trials. These clinical investigators are recognized for their leadership activities and for their role as mentors for junior faculty and trainees interested in research that benefits cancer patients.
Horn specializes in treating lung cancer patients and has served as VICC principal investigator for several clinical research trials testing potential new drug therapies for patients.
“Lung cancer patients typically are diagnosed during late stages of their disease and for several decades we had very few treatments available. However, in the last five years, thanks to patient participation in clinical trials, we have seen more drugs approved — both targeted therapies and immunotherapies for non-small cell lung cancer — than in the decades prior. Many of these new therapies have been available prior to FDA approval through clinical trials here at VICC and are allowing many of our patients to live longer with a better quality of life,” Horn said.
“Leora Horn has exhibited tremendous leadership skills and stimulated collaborations with other cancer investigators on the design and implementation of many of our clinical trials for patients,” said Jennifer Pietenpol, Ph.D., B.F. Byrd Jr. Professor of Oncology and director of VICC.
“She is truly dedicated to her patients and is focused on testing new therapies that are based on the latest scientific findings of the drivers that cause cancer cells to multiply and metastasize.”
Horn received her Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Pharmacology from the University of Toronto, Canada, where she also attended medical school and trained in Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology. She completed a sub-specialty fellowship in Thoracic Oncology at Vanderbilt and joined the faculty in 2009.
