At this month’s American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in Chicago, Healio honored nine Disruptive Innovators who are changing the face of hematology/oncology. At this second annual award ceremony, Dr. Shakira Grant received the 2023 Healio NextGen Disruptor award.
This award goes to an up-and-coming physician who is disrupting the status quo in the field, whether through new techniques, new thoughts, questioning of methods or breakthrough research.
Dr. Grant is an assistant professor in the Divisions of Hematology and Geriatric Medicine. She is also a board-certified Geriatric-Hematologist-Oncologist who cares for older adults with hematological malignancies. Additionally, Dr. Grant has done studies on racial disparities in clinical trial enrollment. Her work shows the need for clinician scientists to be aware their own biases as they begin their research.
Beyond that, Dr. Grant focuses on enhancing the resiliency of older adults with cancer. As she says, “I use geriatric assessments as one strategy to characterize the functional age of an older adult with cancer. I then use this information to develop a personalized treatment plan for the individual’s cancer. I also evaluate the impact of cancer therapies on several key geriatric domains such as functional and cognitive health and quality of life.”