The Cancer Research Institute (CRI) has awarded Ananda Goldrath, Ph.D., Executive Vice President and Director of the Allen Institute for Immunology, the 2023 Frederick W. Alt Award. This award is given to former Cancer Research Institute postdoctoral fellows who have achieved outstanding success in academia or industry for innovative research that has advanced knowledge and understanding in the field of immunology.

“The Cancer Research Institute has been supporting the training of young scientists and nurturing careers for decades. The CRI funded my training and research as a fellow and then again when I started my own lab. CRI funds helped us conduct some of our earliest experiments leading to key insights into how to induce ‘memory’ T cells that provide protective immunity and kill tumor cells,” said Goldrath. “To receive the CRI 2023 Frederick W. Alt Award for New Discoveries in Immunology is a thrilling honor and reflects the hard work and creativity of many brilliant trainees I have had the privilege of working with over the course of my career.”

Goldrath joined the Allen Institute as Executive Vice President and Director of the Allen Institute for Immunology in 2023 after 19 years at UC San Diego (UCSD). At UCSD, she was a Tata Chancellor’s Professor in the School of Biological Sciences in the Molecular Biology Department. Her research explored the mechanistic basis underlying memory T cell differentiation by driving or suppressing target genes essential for differentiation of protective T cell subsets, regulating metabolic pathway usage, or controlling access to and survival in tissues. This information has made it possible to beneficially manipulate the immune system to eliminate infections and malignancies.

“The Frederick W. Alt Award recognizes vital research that has had a major impact in the field of immunology and is awarded to those with bold and visionary goals of improving human health. Ananda Goldrath perfectly embodies the spirit of this honor and I join the entire Allen Institute in congratulating her for this significant achievement,” said Rui Costa D.V.M., Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of the Allen Institute.

Additionally, Goldrath is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Pew Scholar, a Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Fellow, and a member of the Immunological Genome Project.

The Frederick W. Alt Award is named after CRI Scientific Advisory Council member Frederick W. Alt, Ph.D. (Harvard Medical School, Immune Disease Institute) who has been deeply involved in cultivating the careers of emerging young scientists and who has made seminal contributions to the field of immunology.

Dr. Goldrath will receive the award at the 2023 CRI Annual Awards Dinner on Monday, November 6, in New York City.