Michael Lero Receives Inaugural Director’s Award in Cancer Biology at UMass Chan

Michael Lero, PhD, a recent graduate of the Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at UMass Chan Medical School, has been selected as the recipient of the Cancer Biology Program Director’s Award for Distinguished Graduate Scholarship.

The award, presented this year for the first time, is one of five Director’s Awards given to graduating students across the school's doctoral programs. The awards recognize students who have completed outstanding work, as evaluated by program directors and program faculty members.

"We are delighted to select Michael for the 2026 Cancer Biology Graduate Program Director’s Award for outstanding PhD thesis," says Lucio Castilla, PhD, Director of the Cancer Biology Program. “Michael’s body of work is an example of the outstanding quality of research we strive for our graduate students to achieve at UMass Chan Medical School.”

Lero conducted his doctoral research in the lab of Leslie Shaw, PhD, where he elucidated a targetable mechanism that may enhance the effectiveness of PI3K inhibitors used to treat PI3K-mutant breast cancer. He successfully defended his PhD dissertation, “Oncogene Mutational Status Dictates the Role of Insulin Receptor Substrate 2 in Promoting Cell Proliferation and Resistance to PI3K Pathway Inhibition in Breast Cancer,” on March 30, 2026.

Read the accompanying article in UMass Chan News.