Drs. Nicholas Leeper and Lingfeng Luo Receive SCI Innovation Award for October 2025 Cycle

Dr. Nicholas J. Leeper and Dr. Lingfeng Luo have been awarded a Stanford Cancer Institute (SCI) Innovation Award for their project on how cancer promotes cardiovascular risk. The award is part of the SCI's October 2025 funding cycle.

Dr. Luo expressed gratitude to the Stanford Cancer Institute and the review committee, stating “We’re grateful for the SCI’s support in helping us investigate whether signals arising from cancer itself may shape vascular biology. This funding will allow us to begin testing new ideas and building the foundation for future discoveries in this area.” 

Dr. Leeper shared “We are very appreciative of this support from the Stanford Cancer Institute in our efforts to understand how cancer promotes cardiovascular risk.  While many chemotherapies have long been known to have cardiotoxic effects, we now have evidence that there may be direct cross-talk between the tumor and the blood vessel as well. With support from the SCI, we will determine if targeted therapies, including those previously approved by the FDA, may be able to prevent this risk and improve cardiovascular outcomes amongst cancer survivors.”

The SCI offers Innovation Awards to support projects focused on the acceleration of basic, translational, clinical, and population-based cancer research. Drs. Leeper and Luo's project explores the intersection of cancer and cardiovascular disease.

Learn more about the SCI.