Rell Sunn Award
The Rell Sunn Award was established in 1998 to honor the memory of Rell Sunn. This perpetual trophy is awarded each year to the people who have made a significant contribution in the fight against cancer.
View past award recipients below and contact us to submit a nomination for next year's award.
2026 Recipient: Kevan M. Shokat, PhD
Kevan M. Shokat, PhD is an internationally recognized scientist, inventor and entrepreneur whose pioneering discoveries have transformed the development of targeted cancer therapies. He currently serves as an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Professor in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology at the University of California, San Francisco and Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley. His research focuses on developing innovative chemical tools and medicines designed to target some of cancer’s most challenging therapeutic targets. His groundbreaking work helped pave the way for therapies targeting KRAS mutations, one of the most common cancer-causing mutations that was once considered “undruggable,” opening new possibilities for precision cancer treatment and hope for patients facing difficult-to-treat cancers.
Throughout his career, Dr. Shokat has received many of the nation’s highest scientific honors, including election to the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His recent accolades include the National Academy of Sciences Award for Scientific Discovery, the Sjöberg Prize from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the NCI Alfred G. Knudson Award for Research Excellence in Cancer Genetics and the 2026 Centenary Award from The Biochemical Society. In addition to his academic achievements, Dr. Shokat has helped translate scientific discoveries into new therapies through co-founding several biotechnology companies, including Intellikine, Kura Oncology, Revolution Medicines, Erasca and Kumquat Biosciences. He received his B.A. in Chemistry from Reed College and his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from UC Berkeley.
Past Awardees
2025: Laura Shawver, PhD
2024 - Bill Rastatter, PhD
2023 - John C Reed, MD, PhD
2022 - Richard Heyman, PhD
2021 - Aviv Regev, PhD
2020 -John Hood, PhD and Catriona Jamieson, MD, PhD
2019 - Tony Hunter, PhD and Brian Druker, MD
2018 - Howard Birndorf and Ivor Royston, MD
2017 - John Mendelsohn, MD*
2016 - T. Denny Sanford
2015 - Carl June, MD
2014 - Napoleone Ferrara
2013 - Kary Mullis*
2012 - Roger Tsien*
2011 - Dennis A. Carson
2010 - Connie Matsui
2009 - David Easter, MD
2008 - Doris Howell, MD*
2007 - Linda Olson, MD
2006 - Georgia Robins-Sadler, MD
2005 - David Tarin, MD, PhD
2004 - Jon Greif, MD
2003 - Alex Szekely
2002 - J. Craig Venter, PhD
2001 - Mark Renneker, MD
2000 - Charles “Chuck” Gorder, Sr.*
1999 - Dani Grady
1998 - Bill Otterson*
* In remembrance of the awardees we’ve lost.