Dana-Lynn Koomoa, a junior researcher at the Cancer Research Center of Hawai‘i, is one of 11 young scientists in the nation who were selected to receive a 2009 Young Investigator Award from the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation.

In conjunction with the national recognition, Koomoa will receive a grant of $40,000 per year for two years from the foundation to support her research.
“Dr. Koomoa has performed outstanding work in the two years she has been working with me at the Cancer Research Center of Hawai‘i,” said Koomoa’s mentor Andre Bachmann. “She has been very productive and we have already been able to publish her data in papers with high scientific impact, including ‘Cancer Research, 2008 and Molecular Cancer Therapeutics,’ which is currently in press, where she is first author.”
The foundation, which began as a lemonade stand fundraiser by a 4-year-old cancer patient, has donated millions of dollars for cancer research.
A graduate of McKinley High School, Koomoa received a Bachelor of Science degree from San Diego State University and a doctoral degree from Brown University in molecular pharmacology, physiology and biotechnology.
Her research study was titled “DFMO-based combination therapy for the treatment of advanced stage neuroblastoma.”
The Cancer Research Center of Hawai‘i is one of only 65 National Cancer Institute-designated cancer centers throughout the United States.
For more information, visit www.crch.org.