NYC Gazette

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) has announced several awards and appointments recognizing achievements in medical research and institutional excellence.

Vinod Balachandran, MD, a surgeon-scientist and Director of the Olayan Center for Cancer Vaccines at MSK, has been awarded the Marcus Foundation Medical Research Award. This award will support his research into next-generation precision RNA vaccines for pancreatic cancer. Dr. Balachandran's project aims to address significant challenges in cancer vaccinology such as RNA vaccine accuracy, potency, clinical utility, and durability. He noted this marks "the beginning of a long-term partnership with the Marcus Foundation."

Oriana Miltiadous, MD, a fellow at MSK, has been selected for the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation and St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital Fellowship. This fellowship aims to bridge a funding gap that often diverts top talent towards adult care research or pharmaceutical opportunities. Dr. Miltiadous was chosen for her work on how the gut microbiome influences the immune system in children undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation.

Caleb Lareau, PhD, head of Sloan Kettering Institute's Computational and Systems Biology Program, received a Next Generation Grant for early-career immunology research from the Human Immunome Project and Michelson Medical Research Foundation. His research focuses on systems immunology in cancer and infection.

Lydia Finley, PhD, who holds the Geoffrey Beene Junior Faculty Chair at MSK, was awarded the Tsuneko and Reiji Okazaki Award by Nagoya University for her research on cellular energy use and its impact on stem cells and cancer cells.

MSK also received recognition from various institutions: Forbes named it one of America’s Best Large Employers 2025 after surveying 217,000 employees about their employers' salary structures, work environments, training programs, and advancement opportunities; Castle Connolly ranked it as the top hospital in cancer care in its 2025 Top Cancer Hospitals list; Newsweek included it among the World’s Best Hospitals of 2025; additionally, Newsweek recognized MSK as one of America’s Greatest Workplaces for Inclusion and Diversity 2025 based on data evaluated by Plant-A Insights.