David A. Tuveson, MD, PhD, Elected American Association for Cancer Research President-Elect for 2020-2021

PHILADELPHIA — The members of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) have elected David A. Tuveson, MD, PhD, FAACR, as their President-Elect for 2020–2021. He will officially become President-Elect on April 29, 2020, during the AACR’s Business Meeting of Members. He will assume the presidency in April 2021 at the AACR Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.

Tuveson is director of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Cancer Center in Cold Spring Harbor, New York, where he is also the Roy J. Zuckerberg Professor of Cancer Research. Additionally, he is chief scientist for the Lustgarten Foundation in Woodbury, New York, the largest pancreatic cancer research philanthropy. Tuveson is a medical staff affiliate at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, and also works closely with the Cancer Institute at Northwell Health on Long Island. Additionally, Tuveson serves on the Board of Scientific Advisors of the National Cancer Institute. He is a world-renowned physician-scientist whose basic and translational research focuses on increasing our understanding of the biology of pancreatic cancer and on identifying and testing in preclinical and clinical settings new approaches for diagnosing and treating the disease.

As AACR President-Elect, Tuveson will work with the Board of Directors and the AACR membership, which includes more than 47,000 members in 127 countries, to further the AACR’s mission to prevent and cure all cancers through research, education, communication, collaboration, funding for cancer research, and advocacy.

“I am humbly honored to serve our community as the President-Elect of the AACR. The AACR’s mission is to improve the lives of people worldwide through supporting cancer research and education, and with the AACR’s leadership, much exciting progress has been made over the last 50 years,” said Tuveson. “Sadly, however, many patients still suffer and die from cancer, and additional scientific and logistical challenges need to be overcome in order to improve their outcomes. To articulate and then tackle these new challenges, I look forward to working with trainees, researchers, physicians, educators, policymakers, patients and their advocates, funding agencies, and corporate colleagues. Collectively, we can solve the hardest problems and help the most cancer patients.”

“Dr. Tuveson is a highly distinguished physician-scientist whose pioneering pancreatic cancer research has had an enormous impact on our basic understanding and treatment of this deadly disease,” said Margaret Foti, PhD, MD (hc), chief executive officer of the AACR. “His scientific and clinical expertise, together with his visionary leadership and dedication to conquering cancer in all its forms, will be invaluable to the AACR as our organization continues to work toward the goal of preventing and curing all cancers. We are delighted that he has been elected to serve as the AACR’s 2020–2021 President-Elect and our 2021–2022 President.”

Tuveson, an AACR member since 2003, is currently serving as a member of the AACR Board of Directors and is a scientific editor of the AACR journal Cancer Discovery. Among his other contributions to the AACR, he previously served as vice chair for the AACR Annual Meeting Program Committee from 2018-2019; chair of the Pezcoller Foundation-AACR International Award for Cancer Research Committee in 2019; chair of the Plenary Session for the Special Conference, “Pancreatic Cancer: Advances in Science and Clinical Care” in 2016; cochair of the Special Conference, “Pancreatic Cancer: Innovations in Research and Treatment” in 2014; cochair of the Program Committee for the AACR International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research in 2008; and cochair of the Mentored Grants and Research Fellowships Committee in 2008. He has also served as a member on multiple AACR committees, including the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network-AACR Innovative Grants Scientific Review Committee (2008—2010); the Program Committee (2008) and Scientific Review Committee (2007) for the AACR International Conference on Molecular Diagnostics in Cancer Therapeutic Development; and the Annual Meeting Education Committee (2006 and 2011). In addition, Tuveson has been a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee for Stand Up To Cancer since 2012. The AACR is the Scientific Partner of Stand Up To Cancer.

Tuveson was elected to the 2020 class of Fellows of the AACR Academy. He has been recognized with a host of other honors and awards throughout his career, including the Hamdan Award for Medical Research, Excellence – Pancreatic Diseases (2016), the Jan Waldenstrom Medal from the Swedish Society of Oncology (2014), the Ruth C. Brusky Award for Excellence in Clinical Research on Pancreatic Cancer, PancreasFest (2010), the Norbert and Suzanne Schnog Lectureship for Yale University (2005), the Frank Brooks Memorial Lectureship for the American Pancreatic Association (2004), the Rita Allen Foundation Scholar Award (2003), the AACR-PanCAN Career Development Award in pancreatic cancer research (2003), and the Forbeck Scholar Award from the William Guy Forbeck Research Foundation (2000). He is also an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation (2016) and was a recipient of the Physician-Scientist Early Career Award from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (1999).

Tuveson received his doctoral and medical degrees from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in 1994. He completed his residency in internal medicine at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in 1997, and completed a fellowship in hematology and oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Harvard Cancer Center in 2000. Tuveson was a postdoctoral fellow at MIT from 1997 to 2002.