Caligiuri and Jaffee Inaugurated as President, President-Elect of AACR

Michael A. Caligiuri, MD

Michael A. Caligiuri, MD

The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) has announced Michael A. Caligiuri, MD, will serve as its president and Elizabeth M. Jaffee, MD, will serve as its president-elect for the 2017-2018 term. Caligiuri and Jaffee were both inaugurated to their positions during the 2017 AACR Annual Meeting, held April 1 to 5 in Washington, DC.

Caligiuri is director of The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center and CEO of the Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute. His immunology work as a physician-scientist is focused on human natural killer cells and their modulation for the treatment of patients with leukemia, myeloma, and glioblastoma, according to a release from AACR.

Caligiuri has been actively involved with the AACR since 1990, serving on the board of directors from 2013-2016 and as chairperson of the Publications Committee since 2003. He has held positions in numerous other committees and editorial boards of esteemed publications as well.

He has been recognized with myriad honors and awards throughout his career, including the Director’s Service Award and the MERIT Award from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the John Wayne Clinical Research Award from the Society of Surgical Oncologists, and the Emil J. Freireich Award in Clinical Cancer Research from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He is an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American College of Physicians, and the Alpha Omega Honor Medical Society, as well as an elected member of the Association of American Physicians and the American Society for Clinical Investigation.

“For nearly a century, AACR has been an unwavering catalyst for advancing cancer research by fostering collaboration among scientists and physicians, accelerating the dissemination of cancer discoveries, and supporting the education and training of young cancer researchers. I am humbled and tremendously honored to be elected by my peers to serve as AACR President,” Caligiuri said. “Game-changing cancer research breakthroughs can’t come fast enough—and as an oncology community we must continue to be an unwavering force for progress in research that benefits the many people affected by cancer.” 

Elizabeth M. Jaffee, MD

Elizabeth M. Jaffee, MD

Jaffee is deputy director of the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, and associate director of the Bloomberg-Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy. As president-elect of AACR in 2017-2018, she will assume the presidency in April 2018 at the AACR Annual Meeting.

In this new role, Jaffee will work with the board of directors and the AACR membership, to further the association’s mission to prevent and cure all cancers through research, education, communication, and collaboration, according to a press release from the AACR.

“I am honored to serve the world’s first and largest professional organization dedicated to cancer research,” Jaffee said. “The AACR has fostered extensive collaboration among cancer researchers, helps to propel the careers of young scientists, and provides peer review for scores of cancer discoveries. Cancer research is accelerating at a fast pace, with notable advances in immunotherapy over just a few years. The AACR is at the forefront of keeping the scientific community abreast of these discoveries.”

Jaffee is an internationally renowned expert in immunology for cancer, with a specialty in the preclinical and early clinical development of immunotherapies for breast and pancreatic cancers.

An active member of the AACR, Jaffee was elected to the board of directors and is serving as a member of the Organizing Committee of the AACR-LACOG Translational Cancer Medicine Conference in Brazil, among many other posts. She is also the chair and member of the National Cancer Advisory Board for the NCI and co-chair of the NCI Blue Ribbon Panel for the National Cancer Moonshot Initiative.

Jaffee has received many honors and awards throughout her career. She was recognized with the AACR Joseph H. Burchenal Memorial Award for Outstanding Achievement in Clinical Cancer Research, the Johns Hopkins University Office of Women in Science and Medicine Vice Dean’s Award, the Spore Program Investigator of the Year from the NCI, the Director’s Award for Outstanding Teaching from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, a Career Development Award from the National Kidney Foundation, and the Physician-Scientist Award from the National Institutes of Health.

“Jaffee is an esteemed physician-scientist whose pioneering work in cancer immunology and immunotherapy has had an enormous impact on the discovery and development of new and effective cancer treatments,” said Margaret Foti, PhD, MD (hc), CEO of AACR. “She is also a distinguished, highly effective leader in cancer policy at the national level, and her work in this area has been deeply appreciated by the whole cancer community. We are delighted that Jaffee has been elected to serve as the 2017-2018 president-elect of the AACR, for her expertise and vision will be invaluable as we work to carry out the important initiatives of the AACR’s Vision 2020 Strategic Plan.”