PHILADELPHIA — March 20, 2017 -- The members of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) have elected Elizabeth M. Jaffee, MD, as their President-Elect for 2017-2018. She will officially become President-Elect at the AACR Annual Meeting 2017, to be held in Washington, April 1-5, and will assume the presidency in April 2018 at the Annual Meeting.

Jaffee is deputy director of the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore; associate director of the Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at Johns Hopkins; the Dana and Albert “Cubby” Broccoli professor of oncology; professor of pathology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; active staff in oncology at the Johns Hopkins Hospital; associate director for translational research, co-director of gastrointestinal cancer and diseases program, and co-director of the Skip Viragh Center for Pancreas Cancer Clinical Research and Patient Care; and member of the faculty, Graduate Programs in Immunology, Cellular and Molecular Medicine, and Pharmacology, at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Jaffee is an internationally recognized expert in cancer immunology, with specific expertise in preclinical and early clinical development of immunotherapies for breast and pancreatic cancers.

As AACR President-Elect, Jaffee will work with the Board of Directors and the AACR membership, which includes more than 37,000 members in 108 countries, to further the association’s mission to prevent and cure all cancers through research, education, communication, and collaboration.

“I am honored to serve the world’s first and largest professional organization dedicated to cancer research,” said Jaffee. “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.”

“Dr. 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), chief executive officer of the 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 Dr. 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.”

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