Dr. Eric Haura, newly appointed program leader of Experimental Therapeutics at Moffitt Cancer Center, has received the 2008 Caine Halter Hope Now Award for Lung Cancer Research.

The one-year, $25,000 award recognizes Haura and his team for their "demonstrated progress in seeking to develop novel treatment options for lung cancer survivors," according to Joan's Legacy: Uniting Against Lung Cancer, a New York-based foundation that funds innovative lung cancer research around the United States.

Haura is developing new drugs that will block mutated proteins that cause lung cancer. He is also studying how inhibiting certain signaling pathways may kill lung cancer cells.

The Hope Now Award for Lung Cancer Research was established by Chawla Hope Initiatives. Retired technology company CEO Prem Chawla, a lung cancer survivor and nonsmoker in Chicago, started the philanthropic fund.

About Joan's Legacy: Uniting Against Lung Cancer

Joan's Legacy: Uniting Against Lung Cancer is committed to fighting lung cancer by funding innovative research and increasing awareness of the world's leading cancer killer, including a focus on nonsmoking-related lung cancer.

In six years of funding, Joan's Legacy and its partners have awarded more than $5 million in direct research grants to researchers at top cancer centers and raised awareness of lung cancer across the United States. The first nonprofit in the United States to identify and cultivate lung cancer research, including in never smokers, Joan's Legacy has quickly become recognized as the "venture capital" source for lung cancer research in the United States.

Joan's Legacy is named for Joan Scarangello McNeive, a gifted writer, life-long New Yorker and nonsmoker, who died at age 47 in 2001 after a valiant nine-month fight with lung cancer.

About H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute

Located in Tampa, Florida, Moffitt Cancer Center is the only Florida-based cancer center with the NCI designation as a Comprehensive Cancer Center for its excellence in research and contributions to clinical trials, prevention and cancer control. Moffitt currently has 15 affiliates in Florida, one in Georgia and two in Puerto Rico. Additionally, Moffitt is a member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, a prestigious alliance of the country's leading cancer centers, and is listed in U.S. News & World Report as one of "America's Best Hospitals" for cancer. Moffitt's sole mission is to contribute to the prevention and cure of cancer.

Moffitt Cancer Center