A New Look

Last week, we launched a new logo and brand identity for the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and the AACR Foundation, and I am thrilled at the positive responses we have received from our board, many of our members, and other cancer organizations.

With this new brand identity and logo, we are changing the way we present ourselves to the scientific community and the public, and are providing a visual “shorthand” message that more clearly and boldly tells the story of the AACR and the AACR Foundation.

This is not just a new logo. It is the mark of a new – more public-facing – direction for the AACR. The new logo is on our new and improved website that launched last week, and it will be appearing on other branded AACR materials throughout 2014.

The new logo is designed to be distinctive and bold. There is a visual narrative, a connection between the “R” and the “C” that reflects the direct and inextricable link between research and the goal of eradicating cancer. The green color of the logo implies hope, life, and growth. The tagline “Finding Cures Together” conveys the essential collaboration between the AACR, our research partners around the world, the AACR Foundation, and the funding public as we work together with urgency to prevent and cure all cancers.

Our core mission remains the same. The AACR is working to prevent and cure cancer through research, education, communication, and collaboration. However, that work is taking place on a global stage with increasing speed and urgency, and we need to open the door wider to let in more ideas, more partners, and more donations in order to achieve more progress and save more lives.

In addition to being the world’s leading scientific organization dedicated to accelerating advances in cancer research with the help and extraordinary expertise of our 34,000 laboratory, translational, and clinical researchers, we want to be more visible to the public and educate them about the importance of cancer research. By involving members of the public in our goal of finding cures for cancer, we will be even more effective in conquering this complex disease that affects so many people.

I am excited about our new identity and our public-facing initiatives that will help bring greater attention to the importance of cancer research, and that will generate funds to support meritorious projects and thereby maximize our ability as an organization to make significant inroads against cancer at this time of enormous scientific potential.