2010 Jorge Heller Postdoctoral Fellowship

Recipient

Qun Wang, and former advisor, Cory Berkland, University of Kansas.

Postdoctoral Fellowship Award selection chair Kinam Park (left) and CRS Foundation chair Susan Cady (right) after presenting Qun Wang (center) with the 2010 Jorge Heller Postdoctoral Fellowship.

Fellowship

Professor Robert Langer’s laboratory at MIT and Harvard Medical School, researching the use of intestinal stem cells to treat colorectal cancer through regenerative medicine.

“To me, the Jorge Heller Postdoctoral Fellowship is more than financial support. It gives me a chance to get top level postdoctoral training at a top institution, thus augmenting my perspective and enriching my future career in academia. It’s my starting point to become a future leader in CRS. Definitely, this fellowship is changing my life.”

Background

Working in Professor Robert Langer’s laboratory at MIT and Harvard Medical School, Qun Wang’s fellowship research used intestinal stem cells to treat colorectal cancer. He obtained his Ph.D. degree in chemical engineering from the University of Kansas under the direction of Cory Berkland, focusing on the interface of engineering and pharmaceutics. Qun Wang created novel materials including films, fibers, gels, nano- and micro-particles.

Fellowship Year Reflections

Honoring Jorge Heller

This award honors CRS past president Jorge Heller (1927-2009) whose career spanned industry and academia. In his work at Alza, 1970-1974, Jorge started research on controlled drug delivery, working with bioerodible polymers, leading to the synthesis of polyortho esters which became the focus of his career. Jorge spent much of his professional life at Stanford Research Institute, later joining Advanced Polymer Systems, and authored approximately 200 publications and holds 50 patents. He was also the the founding Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Controlled Release (JCR) which is still the premier journal in the drug delivery field. Jorge strongly believed that a key ingredient to professional success was to openly and enthusiastically interact with colleagues in order to build collaborative relationships.