Conquer Cancer, the ASCO Foundation

When Dr. Alison Schram began her oncology fellowship in 2015, the medical landscape was highly compartmentalized. Researchers were traditionally expected to pick one specific organ—like the lung, breast, or colon—and stay within that narrow specialty.

But Dr. Schram, an early drug development specialist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, saw a different path forward. She wanted to look past the location of the tumor and focus entirely on its genetic blueprint. She wanted to follow the raw biology.

Specifically, Dr. Schram was fascinated by ultra-rare genetic abnormalities called fusions. These fusions act like stuck accelerators, telling cancer cells to grow and multiply uncontrollably, no matter where they appear in the body, like the lung, breast, or elsewhere.

“The question that drove me was: what changed in the cancer’s genetics to make it grow, and how do we stop it?” Dr. Schram says. “I wanted to find targeted treatments that didn't just stop the cancer temporarily, but changed the future for these patients entirely.”

This incredible trajectory was made possible by Conquer Cancer®, the ASCO Foundation, and the donors who supported Dr. Schram’s scientific vision at the moments that mattered most.

Conquer Cancer’s selection committee reviews the underlying science of all proposals, looking for high-potential, out-of-the-box thinking. Recognizing the profound potential of her genetically targeted approach, Conquer Cancer awarded Dr. Schram a Young Investigator Award in 2018, followed by a Career Development Award in 2021.

This consecutive early-career funding provided her with the critical runway and resource security needed to stay in academic research, ask big questions, and build an independent research program.

“By funding my research, Conquer Cancer proved they not only believed in my ideas, but they believed in me,” says Dr. Schram.

That early funding fueled a research portfolio that now includes landmark publications in the New England Journal of Medicine and life-changing targeted therapies available for patients worldwide.

For Dr. Schram, the motivation remains deeply personal. “There is nothing more satisfying than seeing a patient respond and get their life back,” she says.