University of Illinois Cancer Center member Nissim Hay, PhD, was named a fellow by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) for his advancement of science applications that are regarded as scientifically or socially distinguished.
Hay, distinguished professor of biochemistry and molecular genetics at the University of Illinois College of Medicine and co-leader of the UI Cancer Center’s Cancer Biology Program, was elected for his breakthroughs in understanding the role of protein kinase B, or Akt, in the fields of cell survival and growth, cancer and diabetes at the cellular and organismal levels. Some of his groundbreaking work demonstrated how Akt could be exploited as an Achilles’ heel in cancer cells to selectively kill them.
Hay was one of four University of Illinois at Chicago researchers named AAAS fellows this year.