December 12, 2008

Tong Zhou. Download image.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Tong Zhou, M.D., a leading researcher in the fields of cancer and autoimmunity drug discovery, has won the 2008 Albert F. LoBuglio Distinguished Faculty Award from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Zhou, a professor in the UAB Division of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology, is a senior scientist in UAB's Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Center and the cancer center.

Zhou and his lab focus on experimental drugs that harness the body's own natural defenses, such as immunity cells and cell-death receptors. He is credited with discovering the experimental monoclonal antibody TRA-8, which has shown cancer-fighting potential in clinical trials.

Zhou came to UAB more than two decades ago from China after earning his medical degree from Capital University of Medical Sciences in Beijing. He completed his post-doctoral training in UAB's neuropsychiatry program, later accepting a position in the immunology and rheumatology division.

He has earned many honors, including UAB's Outstanding Scholar Award, the UAB Max Cooper Award for Research Excellence and the Arthritis Foundation's Virginia P. Engalitcheff Biomedical Science Award among others.

Zhou's newest faculty award is named for distinguished professor and Cancer Center director emeritus Albert LoBuglio, who stepped down from his director role in 2004. LoBuglio is credited, among many things, with leading the center's successful competition for continual core grant funding from the National Cancer Institute and for continued "comprehensive" designation from the institute.