AACR Announces Recipients of its 2019 Scientific Achievement Awards and Lectureships

March 15, 2019

Awardees recognized at the AACR Annual Meeting

PHILADELPHIA – The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) honors the following cancer researchers, clinicians, and physician-scientists who will be recognized for their scientific achievements during the AACR Annual Meeting 2019, to be held March 29-April 3 in Atlanta.

13th Margaret Foti Award for Leadership and Extraordinary Achievements in Cancer Research
This award recognizes a true champion of cancer research whose leadership and extraordinary achievements in cancer research have had a major impact on the field. Such achievements may include scientific contributions to the acceleration of progress against cancer, significant accomplishments in the national or international awareness of the importance of cancer research, or other ways of demonstrating a sustained extraordinary commitment to cancer research.

Raymond N. DuBois, MD, PhD, FAACR, AACR President (2008-2009); Fellow of the AACR Academy and AACR Academy Steering Committee member; chairman and president, AACR Foundation; dean, College of Medicine, and professor, Departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston
Lecture: “Inflammation and Inflammatory Mediators as Potential Targets for Cancer Prevention or Interception,” Monday, April 1, at 7 a.m., Room A305, Georgia World Congress Center

16th AACR Award for Lifetime Achievement in Cancer Research
This award recognizes an individual who has made significant contributions to cancer research, either through a single scientific discovery or a body of work. These contributions, whether they have been in research, leadership, and/or mentorship, must have had a lasting impact on the cancer field, and must have demonstrated a lifetime commitment to progress against cancer.

Emil J Freireich, MD, FAACR, Fellow of the AACR Academy; professor, Department of Leukemia, Division of Cancer Medicine, and director, Adult Leukemia Research Program, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston

13th AACR Team Science Award, supported by Lilly Oncology
This award recognizes an outstanding interdisciplinary research team for its innovative and meritorious science that has advanced or likely will advance our fundamental knowledge of cancer or a team that has applied existing knowledge to advance the detection, diagnosis, prevention, or treatment of cancer.

Team Leaders: Melissa M. Hudson, MD, director, Cancer Survivorship Division, co-leader, Cancer Control and Survivorship Program, and Charles E. Williams Endowed Chair of Oncology-Cancer Survivorship, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital; and
Dr. Leslie L. Robison, PhD, chair, Department of Epidemiology and Cancer Control, associate director, Cancer Prevention and Control, and co-leader, Cancer Control and Survivorship Program, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis

15th AACR-Irving Weinstein Foundation Distinguished Lecture, supported by the Irving Weinstein Foundation
This award acknowledges an individual whose outstanding personal innovation in science and whose position as a thought leader in fields relevant to cancer research has the potential to inspire creative thinking and new directions in cancer research. The recipient is selected by the AACR President.

Jeffrey A. Bluestone, PhD, president and CEO, Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy; A.W. and Mary Margaret Clausen Distinguished Professor, and director of the Hormone Research Institute in the Diabetes Center, University of California San Francisco
Lecture: “T Cell-Mediated Immune Tolerance in Health and Disease,” Sunday, March 31, at 4 p.m., Thomas Murphy Ballroom, Georgia World Congress Center

22nd Pezcoller Foundation-AACR International Award for Extraordinary Achievement in Cancer Research, supported by the Pezcoller Foundation
This award is presented to a scientist of international renown who has made a scientific discovery in basic or translational cancer research.

Alberto Mantovani, MD, professor of experimental medicine and pathophysiology, Humanitas University, Milan, Italy; president, International Union of Immunological Societies
Lecture: “Macrophages, Inflammation, and Cancer: Double-Edged Swords,” Sunday, March 31, at 12:15 p.m., Room A411/412, Georgia World Congress Center

13th AACR-Princess Takamatsu Memorial Lectureship, supported by the Princess Takamatsu Cancer Research Fund
This award recognizes an individual scientist whose novel and significant work has had or may have a far-reaching impact on the detection, diagnosis, treatment, or prevention of cancer, and who embodies the dedication of the princess to multinational collaborations.

Charles L. Sawyers, MD, FAACR, AACR President (2013-2014); Fellow of the AACR Academy; chair, AACR Project GENIE Steering Committee; Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator; chair, Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York; professor of medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York
Lecture: “Lineage Plasticity in Cancer,” Monday, April 1, at 5:15 p.m., Georgia Ballroom 2, Building C, Georgia World Congress Center

Third AACR-Waun Ki Hong Award for Outstanding Achievement in Translational and Clinical Cancer Research
This award recognizes a worthy cancer researcher who has conducted highly meritorious laboratory, translational, or clinical cancer anywhere in the world at a relatively early state in his or her career.

Andrew T. Chan, MD, MPH, co-leader, Cancer Epidemiology Program, Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, Boston; chief, Clinical and Translational Epidemiology Unit, and vice chair of education, Division of Gastroenterology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston
Lecture: “Aspirin and Precision Prevention of Cancer: Who, When, and How”” Monday, April 1, at 4 p.m., Georgia Ballroom, Georgia World Congress Center

Seventh AACR-Cancer Research Institute Lloyd J. Old Award in Cancer Immunology, supported by the Cancer Research Institute
This award recognizes an active scientist whose outstanding and innovative research in cancer immunology has had a far-reaching impact on the cancer field.

Cornelis J.M. Melief, MD, PhD, professor emeritus, Leiden University Medical Center, Netherlands; co-founder and chief scientific officer, ISA Pharmaceuticals, Netherlands
Lecture: “Adventures in Cancer Immunology,” Tuesday, April 2, at 3:30 p.m., Georgia Ballroom 1, Building C, Georgia World Congress Center

59th AACR-G.H.A. Clowes Memorial Award, supported by Lilly Oncology
This award recognizes outstanding recent accomplishments in basic cancer research.

Elaine Fuchs, PhD, Fellow of the AACR Academy; Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator; Rebecca C. Lancefield Professor of Mammalian Cell Biology and Development, Rockefeller University, New York
Lecture title: “Stem Cells in Wound Repair, Inflammation and Cancer,” Monday, April 1, at 4:30 p.m., Room B302, Georgia World Congress Center

28th AACR-American Cancer Society Award for Research Excellence in Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention, supported by the American Cancer Society
This award recognizes outstanding research accomplishments in cancer epidemiology, biomarkers, and prevention.

Edward L. Giovannucci, MD, ScD, professor, nutrition and epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Pubic Health, Boston
Lecture: “Diet, Physical Activity, Metabolic Health and Cancer Prevention,” Tuesday, April 2, at 3:45 p.m., Room B304, Georgia World Congress Center

24th AACR-Joseph H. Burchenal Memorial Award for Outstanding Achievement in Clinical Cancer Research, supported by Bristol-Myers Squibb
This award recognizes outstanding achievements in clinical cancer research.

Susan L. Cohn, MD, professor of pediatrics, dean for Clinical Research, Biological Science Division, and chief, Section of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Pediatrics, University of Chicago; co-director, Pediatric Clinical Science, Department of Pediatrics, Comer Children’s Hospital, Chicago
Lecture: “Advancing Treatment Through Collaboration: A Pediatric Oncology Paradigm,” Tuesday, April 2, at 4 p.m., Room B302, Georgia World Congress Center

13th AACR Award for Outstanding Achievement in Chemistry in Cancer Research
This award is presented for outstanding, novel, and significant chemistry research, which has led to important contributions to the fields of basic cancer research, translational cancer research, or the treatment of patients with cancer.

Michael E. Jung, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Chemistry; University of California, Los Angeles
Lecture: “Drug Discovery in Academia: Cancer Research,” Tuesday, April 2, at 3 p.m., Room B304, Georgia World Congress Center

14th AACR-Minorites in Cancer Research Jane Cooke Wright Memorial Lectureship
This lectureship recognizes an outstanding scientist who has made meritorious contributions to the field of cancer research and who has, through leadership or by example, furthered the advancement of minority investigators in cancer research.

John M. Carethers, MD, John G. Searle Professor and Chair, Department of Internal Medicine and Professor, Human Genetics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Lecture: “A Role for Inflammation-Induced DNA Mismatch Repair Deficits in Racial Outcomes from Advanced Colorectal Cancer,” Sunday, March 31, at 4:30 p.m., Room A313, Georgia World Congress Center

22nd AACR-Women in Cancer Research Charlotte Friend Memorial Lectureship
This award is presented to an outstanding scientist who has made meritorious contributions to the field of cancer research and who has, through leadership or by example, furthered the advancement of women in science.

Jennifer R. Grandis, MD, Robert K. Werbe Distinguished Professor in Head and Neck Cancer, University of California San Francisco
Lecture: “Leveraging Biologic Insights to Prevent and Treat Head and Neck Cancer,” Saturday, March 30, at 4:30 p.m., Room A311, Georgia World Congress Center

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