Ahead of this year’s meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), the organization has released the names of the recipients of several professional awards that are given out annually. These awards recognize outstanding accomplishments and achievements in cancer research, therapy development, education, mentorship, and more. Most of the honorees, listed below, will give lectures during this year’s meeting, which is being held in Chicago, IL. This year’s meeting will run from April 25 to April 30.
AACR Lifetime Achievement in Cancer Research Award
Rakesh K. Jain, PhD
This award recognizes people who have made significant fundamental contributions to cancer research. Jain was recognized for his contributions to scientists’ understanding of the tumor microenvironment and its role in cancer progression and treatment. Among other accomplishments, his hypothesis of vascular normalization reshaped the use of antiangiogenic therapy and led to FDA-approved drug combinations. Jain is the director of the Edwin L. Steele Laboratories for Tumor Biology in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital, and the Andrew Werk Cook Professor of Radiation Oncology at Harvard Medical School.
AACR Outstanding Achievement in Basic Cancer Research Award
Han Liang, PhD
This award recognizes early-career investigators for meritorious achievements in basic cancer research. Liang is the Barnhart Family Distinguished Professor in Targeted Therapies, a professor and deputy department chair in the Department of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, and a professor in the Department of Systems Biology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He is recognized for contributions to cancer bioinformatics and systems biology.
AACR Outstanding Achievement in Blood Cancer Research Award
Louis M. Staudt, MD, PhD
This award recognizes individuals with meritorious achievements and contributions to blood cancer research. Staudt is the chief of the Lymphoid Malignancies Branch and an NIH Distinguished Investigator at the Center for Cancer Research at the National Cancer Institute and National Institutes of Health. He is being recognized for his contributions to the molecular classification of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, including the identification of clinically distinct subtypes through genomic profiling and for the development of functional genomic screens. His work has led to the development of targeted therapies, including the BTK inhibitor ibrutinib.
AACR Outstanding Achievement in Chemistry in Cancer Research Award
Shiva Malek, PhD
This award honors individuals who have done novel and significant chemistry research that has led to important contributions in basic and translational cancer research, cancer diagnosis, prevention, and treatment. Malek is the executive vice president and global head of oncology at Novartis BioMedical Research. The award recognizes Malek’s contributions to the chemical biology of kinase signaling, including elucidating the complex dynamic effects of small-molecule inhibitors on the mitogen-associated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway. It also recognizes her discoveries in RAF inhibitor-induced paradoxical activation, the kinase-independent role of BRAF in MAPK signaling, and the mechanisms of resistance to next-generation RAF inhibitors.
AACR Daniel D. Von Hoff Award for Outstanding Contributions to Education and Training in Cancer Research
Robert C. Bast Jr., MD
This award recognizes significant contributions to education and training for cancer scientists and physicians at any career level. Bast is the director of translational research career development and the Harry Carothers Wiess Distinguished University Chair for Cancer Research at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He is also a professor in the Department of Experimental Therapeutics. He is being recognized for his leadership and dedication to the education and training of generations of physician-scientists, clinician-investigators, and translational researchers.
AACR James S. Ewing-Thelma B. Dunn Award for Outstanding Achievement in Pathology in Cancer Research
Matthew L. Meyerson, MD, PhD
The award recognizes pathologists who have contributed to cancer research, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. Meyerson is the Charles A. Dana Chair in Human Cancer Genetics and director of the Center for Cancer Genomics at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He is also a professor of genetics and medicine at Harvard Medical School. He is recognized for identifying key oncogenic mutations and for developing genomic diagnostic approaches that have driven major advancements in cancer diagnostics and treatment. His work on CDK and telomerase genes, and EGFR and RAF mutations, has led to targeted therapies, and his discoveries in cancer microbiomics and noncoding genome alterations have improved understanding of tumor biology.
AACR Margaret Foti Award for Leadership and Extraordinary Achievements in Cancer Research
William N. Hait, MD, PhD
This award recognizes individuals whose leadership and achievements contributed to the acceleration of progress against cancer, raising national or international awareness of the importance of cancer research, among other achievements. Hait served as the global head of Janssen Research and Development and was the executive vice president, chief of external innovation, and medical safety and global public health officer at Johnson & Johnson prior to his retirement in 2024. This award recognizes his contributions to cancer pharmacology, drug discovery, and precision medicine, including early recognition of adverse signal transduction events capable of driving malignant cell growth and advancements in the development of targeted therapies. His research on cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase, EF-2 kinase, and multidrug resistance mechanisms has been essential for developing novel cancer treatments.
AACR Team Science Award
MSK-IMPACT Team
This award recognizes interdisciplinary research teams for science that advances or is likely to advance our fundamental knowledge of cancer, or a team that has applied existing knowledge to advance the detection, diagnosis, prevention, or treatment of cancer. This year, the MSK-IMPACT team at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center is being recognized for developing and implementing a sequencing platform, which enabled the comprehensive molecular characterization of over 125,000 tumors and drove significant insights into cancer biology, biomarker-driven therapies, and precision oncology.
AACR American Cancer Society Award for Research Excellence in Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention
Loïc Le Marchand, MD, PhD
This award recognizes research accomplishments in cancer epidemiology, biomarkers, and prevention. Le Marchand is a professor in the Population Sciences in the Pacific Program at the University of Hawaiʻi Cancer Center. He is being recognized for contributions to cancer epidemiology and prevention. His work has elucidated racial and ethnic disparities in lung cancer risk and demonstrated the impact of visceral adiposity on cancer susceptibility.
AACR Cancer Research Institute Lloyd J. Old Award in Cancer Immunology
Crystal L. Mackall, MD
This award recognizes scientists whose research has had a major impact on the cancer field and has the potential to stimulate new directions in cancer immunology. Mackall is the Ernest and Amelia Gallo Family Professor and professor of pediatrics and medicine at Stanford University, the founding director of the Stanford Center for Cancer Cell Therapy, and director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at Stanford. She is being honored for her contributions to cancer immunotherapy, including enhancing CAR T-cell therapies, defining resistance mechanisms, and advancing consensus treatment algorithms. Mackall is also known for her discovery of the role of IL-7 in T-cell homeostasis.
AACR G.H.A. Clowes Award for Outstanding Basic Cancer Research
Karen H. Vousden, PhD
This award, which has the distinction of being AACR’s oldest award, recognizes individuals who have made outstanding recent accomplishments in basic cancer research. This year’s recipient, Vousden, is a principal group leader at the Francis Crick Institute and former chief scientist at Cancer Research UK. She is being recognized for her discoveries in tumor suppressor biology and cancer metabolism, which have contributed to the understanding of metabolic adaptations that sustain cancer growth and to identifying novel therapeutic vulnerabilities.
AACR Irving Weinstein Foundation Distinguished Lectureship Award
Daniel J. Drucker, MD
The recipient for this award is selected by the AACR president. It is supported by the Irving Weinstein Foundation and acknowledges individuals whose personal innovation in science and whose position as a thought leader in fields relevant to cancer research have the potential to inspire creative thinking and new directions in cancer research. This year’s awardee, Drucker, is a senior investigator at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, part of Sinai Health, and a professor of medicine at the University of Toronto, Canada. He is recognized for scientific contributions to endocrinology, physiology, and metabolism, including the elucidation of glucagon-like peptide (GLP) function in modulating insulin secretion, blood glucose levels, appetite regulation, and nutrient absorption.
AACR Joseph H. Burchenal Award for Outstanding Achievement in Clinical Cancer Research
Alice T. Shaw, MD, PhD
This award recognizes outstanding achievements in clinical cancer research. Shaw is chief of strategic partnerships at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. She is being recognized for research that has led to the treatment of oncogene-driven lung cancers. Her work on defining ALK- and ROS1-positive lung cancers has led to the development of first and next generation inhibitors that improve patient outcomes. Additionally, her research on resistance mechanisms and strategies for overcoming that resistance has helped guide the development of targeted therapies.
AACR Minorities in Cancer Research Jane Cooke Wright Lectureship
Christopher R. Flowers, MD
This lectureship recognizes scientists who have made meritorious contributions to the field of cancer research and who have, through leadership or by example, furthered the advancement of minority investigators in cancer research. This year’s awardee, Flowers, heads the Division of Cancer Medicine at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, where he is also the chair and a professor in the Department of Lymphoma and Myeloma. He is being recognized for contributions to understanding disparities in lymphoma incidence, treatment, and outcomes, particularly in underrepresented and understudied patient populations. His work has led to the characterization of age-of-onset and survival disparities among lymphoma patients and the identification of predisposing genetic abnormalities such as SETD2 mutations in African American patients.
AACR Princess Takamatsu Memorial Lectureship
Ronald A. DePinho, MD
This award recognizes individual scientists whose work has had or may have a far-reaching impact on the detection, diagnosis, treatment, or prevention of cancer. DePinho is the Harry Graves Burkhart III Distinguished University Chair in Cancer Biology, a professor in the Department of Cancer Biology, and past president of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He is being recognized, among other things, for contributions to telomere biology in cancer and aging, including the creation of the first telomerase knockout mouse, which demonstrated how telomere dysfunction links cancer and aging. His mouse models established concepts such as tumor maintenance, collateral lethality, and synthetic essentiality.
AACR St. Baldrick’s Foundation Award for Outstanding Achievement in Pediatric Cancer Research
Charles G. Mullighan, MBBS, MSc, MD
This award recognizes individuals who have contributed to any area of pediatric cancer research, resulting in the fundamental improvement of the understanding and/or treatment of pediatric cancer. Mullighan is a member and division director of research in the Department of Pathology, co-leader of the Hematological Malignancies Program, and senior deputy director at St. Jude Comprehensive Cancer Center. He is also the director of the Center of Excellence for Leukemia Studies, medical director of the St. Jude Biorepository, and the William E. Evans Endowed Chair at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. He is being recognized for his genomic discoveries that have reshaped the classification, diagnosis, and treatment of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
AACR Waun Ki Hong Award for Outstanding Achievement in Translational and Clinical Cancer Research
Toni K. Choueiri, MD
This award recognizes cancer researchers under the age of 51 who have conducted meritorious translational and clinical cancer research anywhere in the world. Choueiri is director of the Lank Center for Genitourinary Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, co-leader of the Kidney Cancer Program at the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, and the Jerome and Nancy Kohlberg Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He is being recognized for advancements in the treatment of renal cell carcinoma, which significantly extended survival rates for patients with metastatic and high-risk disease.
AACR Women in Cancer Research Charlotte Friend Lectureship
Shelley L. Berger, PhD
This award recognizes scientists’ contributions to the cancer research field and those who have furthered the advancement of women in science through leadership or by example. Berger is the Daniel S. Och University Professor with appointments in both the Perelman School of Medicine and the School of Arts & Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania. She is the founder and director of the Penn Epigenetics Institute and the co-director of the Tumor Biology Program at the Abramson Cancer Center. She is recognized for fundamental discoveries in cancer epigenetics, including how histone modifications and transcription factors regulate cancer, aging, and T-cell function.
Pezcoller Foundation-AACR International Award for Extraordinary Achievement in Cancer Research
Douglas Hanahan, PhD
This award is presented to international scientists who have made a scientific discovery in basic cancer research or who have made significant contributions to translational cancer research. Hanahan is the Ludwig Distinguished Scholar at the Lausanne Branch of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research. He is being recognized for engineering mouse models of tumorigenesis that uncovered mechanisms of stepwise cancer progression involving interactions among diverse cells in the tumor microenvironment, and for advancing mechanism-guided therapeutic targeting in preclinical trials.
The post AACR 2025: Professional Awards Acknowledge Contributions to Cancer Research and Treatment appeared first on GEN - Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News.
AACR Lifetime Achievement in Cancer Research Award
Rakesh K. Jain, PhD
This award recognizes people who have made significant fundamental contributions to cancer research. Jain was recognized for his contributions to scientists’ understanding of the tumor microenvironment and its role in cancer progression and treatment. Among other accomplishments, his hypothesis of vascular normalization reshaped the use of antiangiogenic therapy and led to FDA-approved drug combinations. Jain is the director of the Edwin L. Steele Laboratories for Tumor Biology in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital, and the Andrew Werk Cook Professor of Radiation Oncology at Harvard Medical School.
AACR Outstanding Achievement in Basic Cancer Research Award
Han Liang, PhD
This award recognizes early-career investigators for meritorious achievements in basic cancer research. Liang is the Barnhart Family Distinguished Professor in Targeted Therapies, a professor and deputy department chair in the Department of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, and a professor in the Department of Systems Biology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He is recognized for contributions to cancer bioinformatics and systems biology.
AACR Outstanding Achievement in Blood Cancer Research Award
Louis M. Staudt, MD, PhD
This award recognizes individuals with meritorious achievements and contributions to blood cancer research. Staudt is the chief of the Lymphoid Malignancies Branch and an NIH Distinguished Investigator at the Center for Cancer Research at the National Cancer Institute and National Institutes of Health. He is being recognized for his contributions to the molecular classification of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, including the identification of clinically distinct subtypes through genomic profiling and for the development of functional genomic screens. His work has led to the development of targeted therapies, including the BTK inhibitor ibrutinib.
AACR Outstanding Achievement in Chemistry in Cancer Research Award
Shiva Malek, PhD
This award honors individuals who have done novel and significant chemistry research that has led to important contributions in basic and translational cancer research, cancer diagnosis, prevention, and treatment. Malek is the executive vice president and global head of oncology at Novartis BioMedical Research. The award recognizes Malek’s contributions to the chemical biology of kinase signaling, including elucidating the complex dynamic effects of small-molecule inhibitors on the mitogen-associated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway. It also recognizes her discoveries in RAF inhibitor-induced paradoxical activation, the kinase-independent role of BRAF in MAPK signaling, and the mechanisms of resistance to next-generation RAF inhibitors.
AACR Daniel D. Von Hoff Award for Outstanding Contributions to Education and Training in Cancer Research
Robert C. Bast Jr., MD
This award recognizes significant contributions to education and training for cancer scientists and physicians at any career level. Bast is the director of translational research career development and the Harry Carothers Wiess Distinguished University Chair for Cancer Research at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He is also a professor in the Department of Experimental Therapeutics. He is being recognized for his leadership and dedication to the education and training of generations of physician-scientists, clinician-investigators, and translational researchers.
AACR James S. Ewing-Thelma B. Dunn Award for Outstanding Achievement in Pathology in Cancer Research
Matthew L. Meyerson, MD, PhD
The award recognizes pathologists who have contributed to cancer research, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. Meyerson is the Charles A. Dana Chair in Human Cancer Genetics and director of the Center for Cancer Genomics at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He is also a professor of genetics and medicine at Harvard Medical School. He is recognized for identifying key oncogenic mutations and for developing genomic diagnostic approaches that have driven major advancements in cancer diagnostics and treatment. His work on CDK and telomerase genes, and EGFR and RAF mutations, has led to targeted therapies, and his discoveries in cancer microbiomics and noncoding genome alterations have improved understanding of tumor biology.
AACR Margaret Foti Award for Leadership and Extraordinary Achievements in Cancer Research
William N. Hait, MD, PhD
This award recognizes individuals whose leadership and achievements contributed to the acceleration of progress against cancer, raising national or international awareness of the importance of cancer research, among other achievements. Hait served as the global head of Janssen Research and Development and was the executive vice president, chief of external innovation, and medical safety and global public health officer at Johnson & Johnson prior to his retirement in 2024. This award recognizes his contributions to cancer pharmacology, drug discovery, and precision medicine, including early recognition of adverse signal transduction events capable of driving malignant cell growth and advancements in the development of targeted therapies. His research on cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase, EF-2 kinase, and multidrug resistance mechanisms has been essential for developing novel cancer treatments.
AACR Team Science Award
MSK-IMPACT Team
This award recognizes interdisciplinary research teams for science that advances or is likely to advance our fundamental knowledge of cancer, or a team that has applied existing knowledge to advance the detection, diagnosis, prevention, or treatment of cancer. This year, the MSK-IMPACT team at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center is being recognized for developing and implementing a sequencing platform, which enabled the comprehensive molecular characterization of over 125,000 tumors and drove significant insights into cancer biology, biomarker-driven therapies, and precision oncology.
AACR American Cancer Society Award for Research Excellence in Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention
Loïc Le Marchand, MD, PhD
This award recognizes research accomplishments in cancer epidemiology, biomarkers, and prevention. Le Marchand is a professor in the Population Sciences in the Pacific Program at the University of Hawaiʻi Cancer Center. He is being recognized for contributions to cancer epidemiology and prevention. His work has elucidated racial and ethnic disparities in lung cancer risk and demonstrated the impact of visceral adiposity on cancer susceptibility.
AACR Cancer Research Institute Lloyd J. Old Award in Cancer Immunology
Crystal L. Mackall, MD
This award recognizes scientists whose research has had a major impact on the cancer field and has the potential to stimulate new directions in cancer immunology. Mackall is the Ernest and Amelia Gallo Family Professor and professor of pediatrics and medicine at Stanford University, the founding director of the Stanford Center for Cancer Cell Therapy, and director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at Stanford. She is being honored for her contributions to cancer immunotherapy, including enhancing CAR T-cell therapies, defining resistance mechanisms, and advancing consensus treatment algorithms. Mackall is also known for her discovery of the role of IL-7 in T-cell homeostasis.
AACR G.H.A. Clowes Award for Outstanding Basic Cancer Research
Karen H. Vousden, PhD
This award, which has the distinction of being AACR’s oldest award, recognizes individuals who have made outstanding recent accomplishments in basic cancer research. This year’s recipient, Vousden, is a principal group leader at the Francis Crick Institute and former chief scientist at Cancer Research UK. She is being recognized for her discoveries in tumor suppressor biology and cancer metabolism, which have contributed to the understanding of metabolic adaptations that sustain cancer growth and to identifying novel therapeutic vulnerabilities.
AACR Irving Weinstein Foundation Distinguished Lectureship Award
Daniel J. Drucker, MD
The recipient for this award is selected by the AACR president. It is supported by the Irving Weinstein Foundation and acknowledges individuals whose personal innovation in science and whose position as a thought leader in fields relevant to cancer research have the potential to inspire creative thinking and new directions in cancer research. This year’s awardee, Drucker, is a senior investigator at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, part of Sinai Health, and a professor of medicine at the University of Toronto, Canada. He is recognized for scientific contributions to endocrinology, physiology, and metabolism, including the elucidation of glucagon-like peptide (GLP) function in modulating insulin secretion, blood glucose levels, appetite regulation, and nutrient absorption.
AACR Joseph H. Burchenal Award for Outstanding Achievement in Clinical Cancer Research
Alice T. Shaw, MD, PhD
This award recognizes outstanding achievements in clinical cancer research. Shaw is chief of strategic partnerships at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. She is being recognized for research that has led to the treatment of oncogene-driven lung cancers. Her work on defining ALK- and ROS1-positive lung cancers has led to the development of first and next generation inhibitors that improve patient outcomes. Additionally, her research on resistance mechanisms and strategies for overcoming that resistance has helped guide the development of targeted therapies.
AACR Minorities in Cancer Research Jane Cooke Wright Lectureship
Christopher R. Flowers, MD
This lectureship recognizes scientists who have made meritorious contributions to the field of cancer research and who have, through leadership or by example, furthered the advancement of minority investigators in cancer research. This year’s awardee, Flowers, heads the Division of Cancer Medicine at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, where he is also the chair and a professor in the Department of Lymphoma and Myeloma. He is being recognized for contributions to understanding disparities in lymphoma incidence, treatment, and outcomes, particularly in underrepresented and understudied patient populations. His work has led to the characterization of age-of-onset and survival disparities among lymphoma patients and the identification of predisposing genetic abnormalities such as SETD2 mutations in African American patients.
AACR Princess Takamatsu Memorial Lectureship
Ronald A. DePinho, MD
This award recognizes individual scientists whose work has had or may have a far-reaching impact on the detection, diagnosis, treatment, or prevention of cancer. DePinho is the Harry Graves Burkhart III Distinguished University Chair in Cancer Biology, a professor in the Department of Cancer Biology, and past president of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He is being recognized, among other things, for contributions to telomere biology in cancer and aging, including the creation of the first telomerase knockout mouse, which demonstrated how telomere dysfunction links cancer and aging. His mouse models established concepts such as tumor maintenance, collateral lethality, and synthetic essentiality.
AACR St. Baldrick’s Foundation Award for Outstanding Achievement in Pediatric Cancer Research
Charles G. Mullighan, MBBS, MSc, MD
This award recognizes individuals who have contributed to any area of pediatric cancer research, resulting in the fundamental improvement of the understanding and/or treatment of pediatric cancer. Mullighan is a member and division director of research in the Department of Pathology, co-leader of the Hematological Malignancies Program, and senior deputy director at St. Jude Comprehensive Cancer Center. He is also the director of the Center of Excellence for Leukemia Studies, medical director of the St. Jude Biorepository, and the William E. Evans Endowed Chair at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. He is being recognized for his genomic discoveries that have reshaped the classification, diagnosis, and treatment of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
AACR Waun Ki Hong Award for Outstanding Achievement in Translational and Clinical Cancer Research
Toni K. Choueiri, MD
This award recognizes cancer researchers under the age of 51 who have conducted meritorious translational and clinical cancer research anywhere in the world. Choueiri is director of the Lank Center for Genitourinary Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, co-leader of the Kidney Cancer Program at the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, and the Jerome and Nancy Kohlberg Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He is being recognized for advancements in the treatment of renal cell carcinoma, which significantly extended survival rates for patients with metastatic and high-risk disease.
AACR Women in Cancer Research Charlotte Friend Lectureship
Shelley L. Berger, PhD
This award recognizes scientists’ contributions to the cancer research field and those who have furthered the advancement of women in science through leadership or by example. Berger is the Daniel S. Och University Professor with appointments in both the Perelman School of Medicine and the School of Arts & Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania. She is the founder and director of the Penn Epigenetics Institute and the co-director of the Tumor Biology Program at the Abramson Cancer Center. She is recognized for fundamental discoveries in cancer epigenetics, including how histone modifications and transcription factors regulate cancer, aging, and T-cell function.
Pezcoller Foundation-AACR International Award for Extraordinary Achievement in Cancer Research
Douglas Hanahan, PhD
This award is presented to international scientists who have made a scientific discovery in basic cancer research or who have made significant contributions to translational cancer research. Hanahan is the Ludwig Distinguished Scholar at the Lausanne Branch of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research. He is being recognized for engineering mouse models of tumorigenesis that uncovered mechanisms of stepwise cancer progression involving interactions among diverse cells in the tumor microenvironment, and for advancing mechanism-guided therapeutic targeting in preclinical trials.
The post AACR 2025: Professional Awards Acknowledge Contributions to Cancer Research and Treatment appeared first on GEN - Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News.