GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCJB) – On this week’s Tech Tuesday, our partners at UF Innovate and SCAD Media are introducing Dr. Elias Sayour as the 2024 Innovator of the Year. Dr. Sayour was recognized for his innovative work in the development of unique cancer therapies, which have the potential to revolutionize cancer treatment and prevention.

“Innovator of the Year, a prestigious award presented by the University of Florida, recognizing outstanding work in science and technology. We’re here with Dr. Elias Sayour to find out more. Elias, thank you for joining us,” said Bethany Gaffey, host of UF Innovate

“Thank you for having me,” said Dr. Elias Sayour, associate professor of neurosurgery and pediatrics at the University of Florida.

“Congratulations,” Gaffey said.

“Thank you. Thank you,” said Dr. Sayour.

“What does this award mean to you? » asked Gaffey.

“It’s somewhat surreal to receive an award of this magnitude. I mean, I’m extraordinarily touched. It’s really a whole team of people who deserve this. What an incredible honor and privilege it is for me to accept this award. I think it means a lot to all of us. We have been working on this topic for many years trying to develop new therapies for childhood cancer and advance these therapies to human trials. We’re seeing positive early results in human trials and really hope to expand this as much as possible to as many people and patients as humanly possible. But knowing that we are on the right track is a good thing. It’s truly an honor,” said Dr. Sayour.

“What was the recent catalyst that allowed you to move from years of research to clinical trials? » » asked Gaffey.

“Really, the catalyst for this work was our real desire, honestly, to take what we thought was a promising finding in mice and bring it to patients. Something we say in the lab is three years. Three years is our deadline to take a discovery and try to make it known to people. And so, once we saw promising results in animals, the real question for us was: Can we do everything we need to do to get this to patients? And we are fortunate to be at the University of Florida, which has the infrastructure to take something from the bench to the bedside,” Dr. Sayour said.

“Congratulations, Dr. Sayour. For more information about this year’s winners and their research, please visit the UF Innovate website,” Gaffey said.

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