 | | Dr. Larry Kwak addressed the audience |
The 2009 George Assimos Lectureship Presented by the Division of Hematology/Oncology and the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, the 2009 George Assimos Lectureship took place on Tuesday, May 12. Led by Leo I. Gordon, MD, FACP, Abby and John Friend Professor of Cancer Research and director of the Lymphoma Program at the Feinberg School of Medicine, the lecture featured an address by Larry W. Kwak, MD, PhD, professor and chair of the Department of Lymphoma and Myeloma, and Justin Distinguished Endowed Chair in Leukemia Research, at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. In welcoming attendees to the lecture, Dr. Gordon remarked on how wonderful an occasion it was to annually honor philanthropists’ contributions to science, and extended his heartfelt thanks to Helen, Dean, and Steven Assimos, George Assimos’s wife and two sons in attendance. “The George Assimos Lectureship is an exciting partnership between ideas, science, and philanthropy. As researchers and physicians, we are always energized when offered the opportunity to share groundbreaking discoveries, made possible through the support of private philanthropic funding,” Dr. Gordon shared. He then introduced the evening’s featured lecturer, Dr. Kwak as a leading lymphoma researcher, colleague, and friend.  | Drs. Leo Gordon and Larry Kwak with Helen, Dean, and
Steven Assimos (l to r) |  | | Mrs. Helen Assimos (r) with Mrs. Lee Stern, a family friend |
In his remarks, entitled “Translational Development of Therapeutic Lymphoma Vaccines: From Bench to Bedside,” Dr. Kwak discussed his pioneering work developing cancer vaccines from lymphoma antigens merged with chemokines, small proteins secreted by cells. Such vaccines activate the immune cells to kill only the antigen-bearing tumor cells.
A graduate of the Honors Program in Medical Education, Dr. Kwak earned both his bachelor’s and medical degrees from Northwestern University. In 1984, he was the first PhD graduate of the tumor cell biology program. Prior to his recruitment to M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in 2004, Dr. Kwak served as head of the Vaccine Biology Section, Experimental Transplantation and Immunology Branch, at the National Cancer Institute, where he championed the development of a therapeutic cancer vaccine for B-cell malignancies. Established in memory of George G. Assimos, the George Assimos Lectureship serves as an educational tool for clinician-scientists throughout the Northwestern University community who specialize in treating and researching hematological malignancies. With generous foresight, his wife Helen, sons Dean, Steve, and Billy, and friend Lee Stern established the George Assimos Lectureship in memory and celebration of his life in 2004.
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