Four Penn Medicine physicians were elected this year to the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), an honor society of more than 3,000 interdisciplinary physician-scientists from across the nation. Ronny I. Drapkin, MD, PhD, the Franklin Payne Associate Professor of Pathology in Obstetrics and Gynecology and the director of the Penn Ovarian Cancer Research Center, Andy Minn, MD, PhD, an assistant professor of Radiation Oncology and assistant investigator in the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute, Aimee S. Payne, MD, PhD, the Albert M. Kligman Associate Professor of Dermatology and Associate Director of the Medical Scientist (MD-PhD) Training Program, and Sunil Singhal, MD, an assistant professor of Thoracic Surgery and director of the Thoracic Surgery Research Laboratory, were elected to the society.

With a special focus on gynecological cancers, Drapkin’s laboratory works towards building a total understanding of the factors which drive the development of cancer. Recent work from Drapkin’s lab suggests the fallopian tube secretory cell as the likely source for a majority of serous ovarian carcinomas. He received his Doctor of Medicine and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, and then completed his residency in anatomic pathology at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and his fellowship at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Minn’s laboratory focuses on the spread of cancers and on the question why many types are resistant to conventional therapy and immunotherapy, what his lab calls major obstacles to improving cancer survival. Minn earned both his Doctor of Medicine and his Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Chicago. As a new member of the ASCI, Minn gave a presentation titled “Response and Resistance to Immune Checkpoint Blockade in Mice and Patients” at the annual meeting on April 15.

As the Albert M. Kligman Associate Professor of Dermatology, Payne and the colleagues in her lab study pemphigus vulgaris, a possibly deadly autoimmune disorder which causes painful skin blisters, and its pathogenic mechanisms. Payne earned Doctor of Medicine and Doctor of Philosophy degrees at Washington University School of Medicine after achieving her undergraduate degree at Stanford University. She completed her residency at Pennsylvania Hospital and the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

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