Our Seed Grant Program has fostered an environment where research can bloom. As we mark 20 years since our first cohort of grantees, it is inspiring to reflect on the impact of our early support and see all that is being accomplished.
As we celebrate two decades of discovery, innovation, and hope through our Seed Grant Program, we recognize the urgent need to ensure that research moves beyond the first step and into clinical practice. Anna Gukovskaya, PhD, embodies this mission. Her career stands as a powerful example of how early support from the Seed Grant Program can fuel breakthroughs that shape the future of pancreatic cancer research.
In 2005, Dr. Gukovskaya received one of the very first Hirshberg Foundation Seed Grants which was pivotal for research in her laboratory. Subsequently, the preliminary data and hypotheses developed by Dr. Gukovskaya and her colleagues led to the first-ever NIH Program (P01) Grant focused on the pathogenic mechanisms of pancreatitis. The grant, awarded to UCLA in 2014, with Dr. Gukovskaya as primary investigator (PI), secured more than $8 million in NIH funding to 5 institutions across the US to elucidate the pathogenic mechanisms that initiate and drive pancreatitis, a major risk factor for pancreatic cancer.
Her laboratory at UCLA and the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System (VAGLAHS) became the central hub for this project, which produced nearly 50 publications. Her work identified how injured pancreatic acinar cells trigger the inflammatory response that defines pancreatitis, and that the dysfunction of organelles within acinar cells initiates and drives pancreatitis. This groundbreaking work continues to shape the field by illuminating how organelle damage and impaired autophagy contribute to pancreatic tumorigenesis and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC).
In 2025, she was named recipient of the George E. Palade Prize, the highest honor from the International Association of Pancreatology (IAP). Named after Nobel Laureate George E. Palade, who transformed understanding of protein trafficking in the pancreatic acinar cells, the Palade Prize honors scientists whose work has significantly advanced the field of pancreatic biology and disease. Dr. Gukovskaya was recognized for her pioneering research on the molecular and cellular mechanisms of pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer.
Dr. Gukovskaya, a leading scientist at the UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, serves as Professor-in-Residence in the Department of Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. She is also Director of the Pancreatic Research Group at UCLA/VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System and a VA Medical Research Career Scientist. Since 2003, she has been a professor at UCLA, where her research has been continuously supported by the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Veterans Affairs. Over her career, Dr. Gukovskaya has published more than 160 scientific papers and reviews, has advised seven PhD students, and mentored more than 80 MD and PhD postdoctoral scholars, trainees and students from around the world.
Looking ahead, Dr. Gukovskaya remains confident that basic science combined with clinical research, particularly clinical trials, will produce new therapies for pancreatic cancer. She emphasized that this “progress depends on a national commitment to protecting and strengthening the future of scientific research.”
Her trajectory reflects what is possible when bold ideas receive early support. The Hirshberg Seed Grant Program has launched many careers like hers, yet today the challenge has shifted. Initial funding alone cannot sustain the momentum required to bring laboratory insights to the clinic. That is why the Foundation has introduced Beyond the Seed: from Bench to Breakthroughs, an initiative designed to expand support and bridge the critical gap between discovery and patient care.
By investing at a higher level, we can ensure that researchers like Dr. Gukovskaya continue to advance their work and deliver the breakthroughs patients urgently need. The past twenty years have proven the power of a Seed Grant to spark innovation. The next twenty demand that we go further, so that every promising idea has the chance to become a lifesaving treatment.
