The Basser Center for BRCA at Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center recently announced Douglas Easton and Antonis Antoniou as the recipients of the seventh annual Basser Global Prize. Drs. Easton and Antoniou are both professors in the department of public health and primary care at the University of Cambridge and members of the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Centre.

Each year, the Basser Global Prize recognizes a leading scientist who has conceptually advanced BRCA1/2-related research. Individuals with mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes are at an increased risk of breast, ovarian, pancreatic and other cancers. The Prize provides $100,000 in unrestricted support of the winner’s BRCA1/2-related research efforts, a Basser sculpture and a $10,000 personal prize, which will be awarded at the symposium.

Dr. Easton is currently the director of the Centre for Cancer Genetic Epidemiology at the University of Cambridge. Dr. Antoniou currently leads a research group within the department of public health and primary care at the University of Cambridge and he is the academic course director for the MPhil in epidemiology. 

Their research focuses on genetic susceptibility to common cancers with the goal of identifying and characterizing genetic variants associated with cancer risk, with a particular emphasis on hormone-related cancers. Much of their work has focused on characterizing the cancer risks for BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers, the analysis of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in breast and other cancers, and using this information to personalize cancer risk prediction.

They will receive the award and give the keynote address at the eighth annual Basser Center for BRCA Scientific Symposium on May 12, 2020.