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Honoring a Champion: The Teddi Mellencamp Prevention Grant The MRF is proud to announce the 2024 recipient of the Prevention Award in Honor of Teddi Mellencamp: Elena Ezhkova, PhD, MS, from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. This $250,000 grant supports groundbreaking research into the ways ultraviolet (UV) light contributes to melanoma formation beyond DNA damage — offering new hope for preventative measures.
Elena Ezhkova, PhD, MS
The grant’s namesake, Teddi Mellencamp, is more than a television personality — she is a voice for melanoma awareness, a tireless advocate and a member of the melanoma community herself. As the 2023 #GetNaked spokesperson, Teddi has courageously used her platform to share her melanoma journey, encouraging her audience to prioritize skin checks and sun protection. Despite her ongoing battle with the disease, she remains an unwavering source of inspiration, proof that early detection and education save lives. Dr. Ezhkova’s research builds on Teddi’s mission to shift the conversation from treatment to prevention. Her work explores how UV exposure creates a harmful environment in the skin that fosters melanoma development, even without direct DNA mutations. She has identified a critical role for neighboring skin cells, which, after UV damage, begin secreting proteins that alter melanocyte behavior, potentially triggering melanoma. This study promises to uncover pathways that could one day lead to targeted interventions, reducing melanoma risk for future generations. By naming this Prevention Award in honor of Teddi Mellencamp, the MRF acknowledges her enduring legacy of awareness, advocacy and hope for a world without melanoma.
31 • Stewardship Report
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