Bella Kaufman, president of the Sheba Comprehensive Cancer Center, has been awarded the Basser Global Prize by Penn’s Basser Center for BRCA.
Kaufman was awarded the prize for her work at the Breast Oncology Institute at the Sheba Medical Center in Tel-Hashomer, Israel. The Basser Center for BRCA is part of Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center. Mutations in the BRCA gene make people more susceptible to breast cancer.
Kaufman’s research played a major role in the development of a treatment for hereditary cancer caused by BRCA, Penn Medicine News reported. The treatment uses PARP inhibitors, which prevent the body from repairing cancerous cells damaged by chemotherapy.
This is the eighth year that the Basser Center for BRCA has given out the prize, which aims to support and recognize advances in BRCA research. Kaufman will receive $100,000 for her research, $10,000 as a personal prize, and a sculpture, Penn Medicine News reported.
Kaufman also works with the non-profit Physicians for Human Rights-Israel to provide care to underserved cancer patients.
“I am very excited to receive the 2020 Basser Global Prize. It is indeed a great honor to be amongst the list of extremely talented people who have contributed so much to the advancement of breast cancer research and treatment,” Kaufman told Penn Medicine News.
The award will be presented to Kaufman on May 11, 2021, at the ninth annual Basser Center for BRCA Scientific Symposium, where she will also deliver a speech.
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