Christopher Logothetis honored with inaugural Finneran Family Prize

MD Anderson News Release February 27, 2015

$50,000 award bestowed through the Finneran Family Endowment in Translational Research

MD Anderson News Release 02/27/2015

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center has awarded the inaugural Finneran Family Prize to Christopher Logothetis, M.D., chair and professor of Genitourinary Medical Oncology. The $50,000 cash award will be given annually to a deserving faculty member through the Finneran Family Endowment in Translational Research at MD Anderson.

Christopher Logothetis, M.D., and Ethan Dmitrovsky, M.D.

“This is a very pleasant and quite moving surprise because I’ve had the pleasure of caring for Bill Finneran for a long time,” said Logothetis. “He’s a strong-willed, well-intentioned person who knows that his cancer experience has meaning for others as well. He’s allowed us to hone our skills and make sure we treat the patient as well as the cancer.”

In addition to his work in Genitourinary Medical Oncology, Logothetis is a co-leader of MD Anderson’s Prostate Cancer Moon Shot. Prostate cancer is one of eight cancers initially targeted by the Moon Shots Program, MD Anderson’s accelerated effort to dramatically improve survival rates and transform cancer care through innovations in research, prevention, early detection and treatment.

Logothetis has been a faculty member at MD Anderson for more than three decades, publishing more than 400 articles, abstracts and book chapters and serving as a principal investigator for a variety of National Institutes of Health and Department of Defense research grants.

“I’ll never be able to fully express how truly grateful I am for Dr. Logothetis and the entire MD Anderson staff,” said Finneran, an MD Anderson Cancer Center Board of Visitors member and a prostate cancer survivor who has been under Logothetis’ care for more than 20 years. “We created this endowment to honor faculty such as Dr. Logothetis who continue, year after year, providing hope to patients and their families for a future free of cancer.”

Making Cancer History®

The Finneran Family Endowment in Translational Research at MD Anderson was established with a surprise $1 million gift presented at the institution’s Making Cancer History® Award Gala in Palm Beach, Fla. in Dec. 2013. The endowment funds the Finneran Family Prize to honor leading faculty members who conduct of translational cancer research, which translates laboratory findings into clinical treatments benefiting patients.