Howard and Abby Milstein Receive 2010 Humanitarian Award

October 26th, 2010

At the American Skin Association 12th Annual Gala on October 26, Founder & President George W. Hambrick, Jr., MD presented the 2010 Humanitarian Award to Abby S. and Howard P. Milstein. The award, which is ASA’s highest honor, recognized the Milsteins’ unparalleled leadership in the fight against melanoma and their indelible contributions to the advancement of research.

Through the Milsteins’ efforts and generosity, ASA’s funding for melanoma research has grown more than six-fold in the past eight years. The number and diversity of upcoming, innovative young scientists that ASA is proud to support has also expanded dramatically. The first grant of its kind at ASA, the Milstein Innovation Award for Melanoma/Non-Melanoma Skin Cancer Research has, since 2008, provided three years of funding to gifted and dedicated researchers such as Boris Bastian, MD (Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center), Lynda Chin, MD (Dana Farber Cancer Institute) and Hensin Tsao, MD, PhD (Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School).

It is not only at American Skin Association that the Milsteins have played a transformative role in melanoma research. They have also initiated the Milstein Medical Research Program, which is doing ground-breaking research, at The Rockefeller University and provided major funding to sustain immunology research at the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health.

The award also paid tribute to Howard Milstein’s leadership of American Skin Association. As Chairman since 2002, he has dramatically expanded the organization’s commitment and capacity for fulfilling its mission of advancing research, educating children about skin health and raising public awareness about skin cancer and disease.

Other gala honorees included legendary entrepreneur Philip Frost, MD, ASA Chairman Emeritus S. Hazard Gillespie, industry leader Graceway Pharmaceuticals and Chairman & CEO Jefferson J. Gregory, 2009 Nobel laureate Carol Greider, PhD, and hockey champion Mike Richter.


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