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American Association for Cancer Research announces president-elect
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Antoni Ribas, MD, PhD, has been elected president-elect of American Association for Cancer Research for the 2019-2020 term.
His term will start at the association’s annual meeting commencing March 29.
Ribas — who serves as a member of the AACR board of directors and as a scientific editor of Cancer Discovery — is professor of medicine at David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles, director of the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center Tumor Immunology Program, and director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy Center.
“It is a great honor to be elected by my peers as the president-elect of the AACR,” Ribas said in a press release. “In this time of remarkable and rapid advancement in our understanding of cancer, we have made great strides in improving treatments, but it is not enough. I believe the AACR has to continue to advocate for public policy and funding to support cancer research and the development of new treatments, which is the best investment we can make in our future. I look forward to working with researchers, clinicians, policymakers, patient advocates, caregivers and patients to pursue the common goal of defeating cancer.”
Ribas also serves as vice chair of this year’s AACR Annual Meeting program committee, as well as chair of next year’s meeting program committee and co-chair of the 2019 Combination Therapies Future of Cancer Research Innovation Summit. He received the 2018 AACR-CRI Lloyd J. Old Award in Cancer Immunology and the 2016 AACR Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Memorial Award.
“Dr. Ribas is a highly distinguished physician-scientist whose pioneering research has had an enormous impact on the discovery and development of new and effective treatments for malignant melanoma,” Margaret Foti, PhD, MD (hc), CEO of AACR, said in the release. “He is also a dynamic leader of the cancer research community, and we are delighted that he has been elected to serve as the 2019-2020 AACR president-elect and our 2020-2021 president. His dedication to accelerating the pace of discovery and its translation to the clinic will be invaluable as he leads our organization toward its goal of markedly reducing cancer incidence, morbidity and mortality, while improving quality of life for all.”
The association also elected five members to serve on the AACR board of directors for the 2019-2022 term.
These members, who also will begin their terms at the annual meeting, are:
- Marcia Cruz-Correa, MD, PhD, professor of medicine and biochemistry at University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus; chair of the division of cancer biology at University of Puerto Rico Comprehensive Cancer Center; director of the division of gastrointestinal oncology at Isaac Gonzalez Martinez Oncologic Hospital; adjunct professor of surgical oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center; adjunct professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University; and president of Puerto Rico Colorectal Cancer Coalition;
- Keith Flaherty, MD, director of clinical research at Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center; associate member of Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard; professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School; and associate dermatologist and associate physician of medicine and hematology/oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital;
- Karen E. Knudsen, PhD, enterprise director and member of the executive committee of Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University & Jefferson Health; executive vice president of oncology services at Jefferson Health; chair and Hilary Koprowski endowed professor in the department of cancer biology; and professor in the departments of urology, radiation oncology and medical oncology at Thomas Jefferson University;
- Martine Roussel, PhD, member of the department of tumor cell biology, endowed chair in molecular oncogenesis, and co-leader of the Comprehensive Cancer Center Cancer Biology Program at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital; and professor in the department of molecular sciences at University of Tennessee; and
- Charles Swanton, MD, PhD, Royal Society Napier professor of cancer medicine and chair of personalized cancer medicine at University College London in the United Kingdom; director and chief clinician at Cancer Research U.K. Lung Cancer Centre of Excellence at University College London and Manchester University; senior group leader of the Cancer Evolution and Genome Instability Laboratory at Francis Crick Institute in London; and consultant medical oncologist at University College London Hospitals.