Name of Fellowship
The Kimberly Patterson Fellowship in Leukemia Research

Clinical trainee's name
Allen S. Yang

Clinical trainee's program
Medical Oncology Fellowship Program

Justification stating why your nominee has potential for excellence and unique contributions in the stated area/s (one paragraph).

It is my great pleasure to recommend Allen Yang for Kimberly Patterson Fellowship in Leukemia Research. I was Allen’s preceptor during his first year of medical oncology fellowship, and now I am his research mentor as he continues to pursue his interests in leukemia and DNA methylation in my laboratory. I first met Allen in 1995 at the annual AACR meeting and have had the opportunity to work with him closely since he came to MD Anderson in 2001. I cannot imagine a better candidate for this position. Allen graduated as a Dean’s scholar from the MD/PhD program at USC, and completed his graduate research work in the laboratory of Peter Jones who is one of the pioneers in the role of DNA methylation in cancer. Allen’s graduate thesis focused on the role of DNA methylation and tumor suppressor gene mutation as well as the role of methylation in the development of cancer. His previous experience will make him an excellent match to continue his work in my laboratory, which is also focused on the role of DNA methylation in cancer. Allen’s familiarity with the field of DNA methylation has allowed him to quickly contribute to the work being done in my laboratory. We have had a long interest in the drug 5-aza-2’-deoxycytidine (decitabine), which is a methylation inhibitor and has activity in hematological malignancies. Allen has developed a very sensitive assay to detect DNA methylation changes induced by this drug and should lead to better insight of how the drug works and how to use it in the future. In addition he has won the ASCO Young Investigator Award and the MD Anderson Division of Cancer Medicine Research Achievement Award for his laboratory research. Allen also has pursued clinical research interests and has written two clinical protocols that use a DNA methylation inhibitor, decitabine. The first is a phase II study combining Decitabine and Gleevec in patients with advanced CML, and the second is phase I study which combines Decitabine with Valproic Acid in patients with hematological mailignancies, which acts as a histone deacetylase inhibitor. Allen wrote the latter protocol as part of a fellowship to the AACR/ASCO Workshop on Methods in Clinical Cancer Research. Allen will be in the final year of his medical oncology fellowship in 2004. His previous experience prior to fellowship and his work during fellowship have shown great promise in developing a career based on the use of methylation inhibitors in leukemia therapy.

Dr. Jean-Pierre Issa
Professor, Leukemia

Name of Fellowship
The Kimberley Patterson Fellowship in Leukemia Research

Clinical trainee's name
Allen S. Yang

Clinical trainee's program
Medical Oncology Fellowship Program

Justification stating why your nominee has potential for excellence and unique contributions in the stated area/s (one paragraph).

It is my great pleasure to recommend Allen Yang for Kimberley Patterson Fellowship in leukemia Research. He has won the ASCO Young Investigator Award and the M.D. Anderson Division of Cancer Medicine Research Achievement Award for his laboratory research. Allen also has pursued clinical research interests and has written two clinical protocols that use a DNA methylation inhibitor, decitabine. The first is a phase II study combining Decitabine and Gleevec in patients with advanced CMl, and the second is Phase I study which combines Decitabine with Valproic Acid in patients with hematological mailignancies, which acts as a histone deacetylase inhibitor. Allen wrote the latter protocol as part of a fellowship to the AACR/ASCO Workshop on Methods in Clinical Cancer Research. Allen is currently in his final year of the fellowship serving as Chief Fellow. His previous experience prior to fellowship and his work during fellowship have shown great promise in developing a career based on the use of methylation inhibitors in leukemia therapy.

Dr. Waun Ki Hong
Professor
Division Head, Thoracic/Head & Neck Med Onc