Newswise — PHILADELPHIA — The members of the American Association for Cancer Research have elected Frank McCormick, Ph.D., D.Sc. (hon.), as their president-elect. McCormick is the director of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. He holds the E. Dixon Heise distinguished professorship in oncology and the David A. Wood distinguished professorship of tumor biology and cancer research at UCSF. Additionally, he is the associate dean of the UCSF School of Medicine and a distinguished professor in residence in the department of microbiology and immunology as well as in the department of biochemistry and biophysics.
“I am thrilled and honored to serve as president-elect,” said McCormick. “The AACR is a remarkable organization that continues to grow as the field evolves. We are poised to make incredible breakthroughs in the coming years. I have greatly enjoyed working with the AACR in the past, and look forward to the opportunity of working with the membership and staff to help lead the AACR as it moves from strength to strength.”
McCormick will officially become president-elect on Monday, April 4 at the AACR 102nd Annual Meeting 2011, in Orlando, Fla.
Judy E. Garber, M.D., M.P.H., will be sworn in as president of the AACR. Garber is director of the Center for Cancer Genetics and Prevention at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, and an associate physician of medicine and attending physician of medical service at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Mass.
Garber succeeds Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Ph.D., Nobel Laureate and the Morris Herzstein professor of biology and physiology in the department of biochemistry and biophysics at University of California, San Francisco. Blackburn served with distinction as AACR president for the 2010 to 2011 term and will assume the role of past-president.
McCormick, Garber and Blackburn will serve in these roles for one year.
McCormick pioneered cancer research looking at the molecular basis of cancer and how genes, when mutated or expressed at high levels, help turn normal cells into oncogenes. In 1992, he founded the biotech company Onyx Pharmaceuticals and developed Nexavar, which is used to treat advanced renal cell carcinoma and hepatocellular carcinoma. His current research interests center on the Ras pathway and new ways of targeting this pathway for cancer therapy.
Among his extensive service to the AACR, McCormick served as program chairperson for the 2010 Annual Meeting, member of the board of directors (2002 to 2005) and co-chair of the Annual Meeting Program Committee (2001). He chairs the Task Force on Co-development of Investigational Drugs, and previously chaired the Award for Lifetime Achievement in Cancer Research Committee (2005) and the Team Science Award Committee (2007). He is a member of the Special Conferences Committee and participated in the Scientific Review Committee (2003, 2007) and the Program Committee (1999) for the AACR-NCI-EORTC Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics Meeting. McCormick is a scientific editor of the AACR’s new journal, Cancer Discovery, and was a senior editor of Molecular Cancer Research from 2002 to 2006. He was the recipient of the 2002 AACR G.H.A. Clowes Memorial Award for outstanding recent accomplishments in basic cancer research.
McCormick is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies and an elected fellow of The Royal Society, England, UK. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science from the University of Birmingham, England, UK. McCormick has received many accolades and awards, including the Science of Oncology Award from the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the Bristol Myers Squibb Unrestricted Cancer Research Grant, the Novartis Drew Award in Biomedical Research, and the Shubitz Award from the University of Chicago Cancer Research Center. He is on the editorial board for a number of cancer publications, including Cancer Discovery, BCM Cancer and Cancer Cell. He has served as a board member and advisor for numerous cancer research organizations including the Association of American Cancer Institutes, the Melanoma Therapeutics Foundation, the Canary Foundation, the Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy and the Friends of Cancer Research.
McCormick received a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from the University of Birmingham and a doctorate in biochemistry from the University of Cambridge. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund in London.
New Board Members:
The following distinguished scientists were elected to serve on the AACR Board of Directors for the 2011 to 2014 term: Joan S. Brugge, Ph.D., Arul M. Chinnaiyan, M.D., Ph.D., Thomas A. Sellers, Ph.D., M.P.H., Laura J. van ‘t Veer, Ph.D., and Kristiina Vuori, M.D., Ph.D.
Joan S. Brugge, Ph.D., is chair and professor of the department of cell biology at Harvard Medical School.
Her laboratory elucidates the cellular processes and pathways involved in the initiation and progression of epithelial tumors. Brugge’s current studies involve investigations relating to breast cancer. Her laboratory found that multiple processes contribute to the death or clearance of cells from the lumen. Her laboratory has also identified a novel, non-apoptotic mechanism of cell death that involves invasion of one cell into the other, followed by lysosomal degradation of the invading cell.
Brugge has served in several capacities with the AACR, including as program chairperson for the 2011 Annual Meeting and chairperson of the Nominating Committee. She is a member of the Council of Scientific Advisors and the Kirk A. Landon-AACR Prize for Basic Cancer Research Selection Committee. She is a member of the Stand Up To Cancer Dream Team on Breast Cancer Subtypes, among other notable membership involvements. She is a scientific editor of Cancer Discovery and a member of the Cancer Research editorial board.
Arul M. Chinnaiyan, M.D., Ph.D., is the S.P. Hicks endowed professor of pathology, professor of pathology and urology, director of the pathology microarray laboratory, director of cancer bioinformatics at the Comprehensive Cancer Center, director of pathology research informatics, and director of the Michigan Center for Translational Pathology, all at the University of Michigan Medical School. He is also an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
Chinnaiyan’s laboratory is focused on using functional genomic, proteomic, metabolomic and bioinformatics approaches to dissect and understand cancer biology as well as discover biomarkers. He has characterized a number of biomarkers of prostate cancer including AMACR, EZH2, hespin and sarcosine. His laboratory identified recurrent gene fusions of TMPRSS2 to ETS family transcription factors in prostate cancer, potentially redefining the molecular basis of prostate cancer as well as other common epithelial cancers. His laboratory developed the popular cancer profiling bioinformatics resource called Oncomine.
He has served as co-chairperson of the Annual Meeting Program Committee and as a member of the AACR Publications, the Team Science Award, and Special Conferences Committees. Chinnaiyan is a scientific editor of Cancer Discovery and senior editor of Cancer Research.
Thomas A. Sellers, Ph.D., M.P.H., is executive vice president of population sciences, associate center director of cancer prevention and control, CEO of the Lifetime Cancer Screening and Prevention Center at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute. He is also the director of the Moffitt Research Institute.
Sellers’ research interests include molecular and genetic epidemiology. He studies how genes and environmental factors interact to influence pathogenesis of malignancy in breast, ovarian and lung tumors. Sellers also studies mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes to determine common genetic polymorphisms in xenobiotic and DNA repair pathways, and modifiable exposures such as obesity, diet and hormone drug use.
Sellers has served as co-chairperson of the Annual Meeting Program Committee and the Annual Meeting Education Committee. He is a member of the Special Conferences Committee, the Steering Committee of the Clinical and Translational Cancer Research Committee, Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention Awards Committee, and Team Science Award Selection Committee, among others. He also served as a faculty of Scientist↔Survivor Program and is deputy editor of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.
Laura J. van ‘t Veer, Ph.D., is professor and HS clinical instructor in the department of laboratory medicine, leader of the Breast Oncology Program and director of applied genomics at University of California, San Francisco. She is head molecular biologist and group leader of molecular pathology at The Netherlands Cancer Institute, and chief research officer at Agendia BV in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Van ‘t veer’s research focuses on molecular profiling of tumors for hereditary susceptibility, personalized cancer medicine, molecular risk factors for breast cancer and their markers, translational clinical trial research, molecular diagnostics and microarray genomics technology.
She has served in many roles with the AACR, including as co-chairperson and member of the Annual Meeting Program Committee, and as a member of the Clinical and Translational Cancer Research Committee, the Team Science Award Selection Committee, and the AACR-FDA-NCI Cancer Biomarkers Collaborative, among other AACR committees. She was a member of the Program Committee for the Translational Cancer Medicine Meeting in Europe.
Kristiina Vuori, M.D., Ph.D., is president, professor and Pauline & Stanley Foster presidential chair and cancer center director of the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute. She is also co-director of the Conrad Prebys Center for Chemical Genomics at the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute.
Vuori’s research focuses on the molecular mechanisms of cancer metastasis and cancer progression, the role of the extracellular matrix and the tumor microenvironment, and apoptosis.
Vuori is a member of the scientific advisory board for the Institute of Predictive and Personalized Medicine of Cancer, Spain, for the University of Pittsburgh Combinatorial Chemistry Center, and for the Program Project Grants by the National Cancer Institute. She is a trustee for Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute. Vuori served as a speaker at the AACR Dead Sea International Conference, “Advances in Cancer Research: From the Laboratory to the Clinic.” She is a member of the editorial board for Cancer Research.
AACR Nominating Committee:
The following renowned scientists have been elected to serve on the Nominating Committee for the 2011 to 2013 term: Tom Curran, Ph.D., Raymond N. DuBois, M.D., Ph.D., Lynn M. Matrisian, Ph.D., and Helen M. Piwnica-Worms, Ph.D.
Tom Curran, Ph.D., is the deputy scientific director of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, CHOP Research Institute; a member of the division of cancer pathobiology at CHOP; professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine; and associate director of translational genomics at Penn Genome Frontiers Institute at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Curran was AACR president from 2000 to 2001. He currently serves as co-chairperson of the International Affairs Committee, as a member of the Council of Scientific Advisors, the Task Force on Pediatric Oncology and as a member of the editorial board for Cancer Research and Molecular Cancer Research.
Raymond N. DuBois, M.D., Ph.D., is the provost and executive vice president of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, where he is also professor of cancer medicine and cancer biology. DuBois was AACR president from 2008 to 2009 and served as a member of the board of directors. He currently chairs the Clinical and Translational Cancer Research Committee and the AACR Margaret Foti Award for Leadership and Extraordinary Achievement in Cancer Research Selection Committee. He is a member of the Science Policy and Legislative Affairs Committee, the Scientific Advisory Committee for Stand Up To Cancer and a member of the editorial board for Clinical Cancer Research and CR Magazine.
Lynn M. Matrisian, Ph.D., is professor and chair of the department of cancer biology at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, and the Ingram distinguished professor of cancer research at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center. Among her service to the AACR, Matrisian has served as AACR president from 2004 to 2005, as a member of the board of directors and as chairperson of the Publications Committee. She is currently a member of the Annual Meeting Education Committee, chairperson of the AACR-Princess Takamatsu Memorial Lectureship Committee, and senior editor of Cancer Prevention Research.
Helen M. Piwnica-Worms, Ph.D., is the Gerty T. Cori Professor and head of the Department of Cell Biology and Physiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. She is also co-director of the BRIGHT Institute, associate director of basic science at the Siteman Cancer Center and professor of internal medicine. Piwnica-Worms is currently a member of the Annual Meeting Scientific Program Committee and a member of the Steering Committee for the Tumor Microenvironment Working Group. She was a member of the board of directors and was a co-chairperson of the Annual Meeting Program Committee. She is a scientific editor of Cancer Discovery and senior editor of Molecular Cancer Research.
Press registration for the AACR 102nd Annual Meeting 2011 is free to qualified journalists and public information officers: http://www.aacr.org/PressRegistration.
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The mission of the American Association for Cancer Research is to prevent and cure cancer. Founded in 1907, the AACR is the world’s oldest and largest professional organization dedicated to advancing cancer research. The membership includes 33,000 basic, translational and clinical researchers; health care professionals; and cancer survivors and advocates in the United States and more than 90 other countries. The AACR marshals the full spectrum of expertise from the cancer community to accelerate progress in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer through high-quality scientific and educational programs. It funds innovative, meritorious research grants, research fellowships and career development awards. The AACR Annual Meeting attracts more than 18,000 participants who share the latest discoveries and developments in the field. Special conferences throughout the year present novel data across a wide variety of topics in cancer research, treatment and patient care. Including Cancer Discovery, the AACR publishes seven major peer-reviewed journals: Cancer Research; Clinical Cancer Research; Molecular Cancer Therapeutics; Molecular Cancer Research; Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention; and Cancer Prevention Research. AACR journals represented 20 percent of the market share of total citations in 2009. The AACR also publishes CR, a magazine for cancer survivors and their families, patient advocates, physicians and scientists.
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