2023 — Dr. Rosevalentine Bosire

Bosire’s research focuses on unlocking the key to drug resistance in cancers carrying mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. Changes in those genes can affect cells’ ability to repair DNA, increasing the risk of developing breast, ovarian, prostate and other cancers. These mutations are rare — implicated in less than 10 percent of breast cancer and ovarian cancer cases, for example — but they can lead to cancers with fewer treatment options and higher recurrence rates.

Meet Dr. Bosire >>

2022 — Dr. Nick Salisbury

The fellowship will fund Salisbury’s research on Merkel cell carcinoma, a rare and aggressive form of skin cancer. Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is a NET (Neuroendocrine tumor) of the skin affecting around 1 in 100,000 people with approximately 2,500 new cases each year in United States.

Meet Dr. Nick Salisbury >>

2021 — Dr. Abir Arfaoui

Our 2021 Brave Fellow is Dr. Abir Arfaoui. Abir’s research involves a rare liver cancer called fibrolamellar carcinoma, or FLC. FLC is resistant to most chemotherapies, even drugs that target other forms of liver cancer. It kills nearly one out of three of the young people it typically strikes within five years after diagnosis. Arfaoui aims to change that.

Meet Dr. Abir Arfaoui >>

2020 — Dr. Alyssa Webster

The first recipient of the Brave Fellowship at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center is Dr. Alyssa Webster, a postdoctoral researcher studying acute myeloid leukemia (AML) which is a rare blood cancer that accounts for one percent of all cancer diagnoses in the U.S. Dr. Webster’s goal is truly extraordinary and a much-needed one: to develop targeted drugs that can cure more people with AML.

Meet Dr. Alyssa Webster >>

Postdoctoral researcher Rosevalentine Bosire is named fourth Brave Fellowship recipient

From an early age, Rosevalentine Bosire, PhD, was drawn to the medical field — inspired by her mother who works as a nurse. During her years at university she spent her summer investigating mosquito genomics to inform malaria policy in her home country of Kenya. She then completed her PhD in Hungary and afterward came here to Fred Hutch for her postdoctoral research.

“My research focuses on BRCA1- and BRCA2-deficient cancer subtypes. Mutations in these genes are associated with triple negative breast cancer and high-grade serous ovarian cancer subtypes, which are aggressive, difficult to treat and have a high recurrence rate. These cancers are sensitive to DNA-damaging drugs like cisplatin, which is a standard treatment option. Following treatment, however, BRCA-deficient cancer cells often rely on alternative DNA repair pathways for survival and thus become resistant.”

Dr. Bosire will be carrying out experiments to answer three main questions. First, how does the expression of the candidate lncRNA genes vary between normal cells and various cancer types? Second, does turning off the individual lncRNA genes make cancer cells more vulnerable to cisplatin and other DNA damaging agents? Third, what role does lncRNA play in DNA repair?

Answering these questions will inform the utility of these lncRNA genes as targets for anticancer drugs.  If the expression of these lncRNA genes is found to vary between normal cells and cancer cells, it will make specific targeting of cancer cells feasible.

“Creating effective cures for cancer will take the collective effort of many dedicated researchers. My goal is to contribute to the knowledge that will change cancer from a terminal condition to a treatable disease, not just for the wealthy but even for those in the remotest villages of Africa and the rest of the global south.

I also ultimately aim to help not just the common cancers affecting millions, but also the cancers afflicting only hundreds. The Brave Fellowship will enable me to achieve my mission.”

Quote excerpts from Fred Hutch interview with Rosevalentine

Brooks Running CEO, Jim Weber is in support of research at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center

“Gabriele “Gabe” Grunewald, a world-class athlete, ran professionally for Brooks for a decade while living with a rare salivary gland cancer. Just weeks before his own diagnosis, Weber visited Fred Hutch with Grunewald on behalf of her Brave Like Gabe Foundation. That visit planted the seeds of an idea that grew into the Brave Fellowship, which supports postdoctoral researchers who themselves have overcome challenges to study rare cancers. Since Grunewald’s death in 2019, Brooks Running, in partnership with the foundation, has donated $375,000 to Fred Hutch to support three Brave Fellows.”