Scientists honored for contributions to cancer fight

Recognizing that smoking is the number one cause of preventable death in the U.S., Sen. Kennedy has been a leader in the bipartisan effort to provide the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) with jurisdiction to regulate the sale, distribution, and advertising of tobacco products. After a historic victory in the U.S. House of Representatives, the Senate now has the opportunity to pass the legislation.

In recent months, Sen. Kennedy has inspired millions of people across the country with his own heroic battle against brain cancer. In the upcoming 111th Congress, Sen. Kennedy looks forward to introducing comprehensive cancer legislation that will address the entire spectrum of cancer care—from prevention to treatment to cure.

Mina J. Bissell, Ph.D., distinguished scientist at the Life Sciences Division of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and a faculty of the comparative biochemistry and a number of other groups at the University of California Berkeley, will receive the Society's Medal of Honor for Basic Research. With a professional career that spans more than three decades, Dr. Bissell is a pioneer in understanding the role of the microenvironment in cancer. While for years most researchers believed that gene mutation was the central cause of cancer, Bissell worked to prove that a cell's environment plays a critical role in cancer formation.

Dr. Bissell has authored in excess of 300 publications, is a member of five international scientific boards, and is on the editorial board of a dozen scientific journals, including Science magazine. She has given more than eighty 'named and distinguished' lectures. Her awards include the Lawrence Award and medal; the Mellon Award from the University of Pittsburgh; the Eli Lilly/Clowes Award from AACR; the first "Innovator Award" of the U.S. Department of Defense; the Brinker Award from Komen Foundation; the Discovery Health Channel Medical Honor and medal; the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center Ted Couch Lectureship and Award; the Pezcoller Foundation–AACR International Award for Cancer Research; and the 2008 Excellence in Science Award from FASEB. This year, the University of Porto created an award in Bissell's honor- the Mina J. Bissell Award, of which she was the first recipient.

Dr. Bissell has been elected as a Fellow of AAAS, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society. She served as President of the American Society of Cell Biology and the International Society of Differentiation. She has received honorary doctorates from Pierre & Marie Curie University in Paris and the University of Copenhagen.