AACR Congratulates Past President on Presidential Appointment

PHILADELPHIA — The American Association for Cancer Research warmly commends Past President Tyler Jacks, Ph.D., for his recent appointment by President Barack Obama as a member of the National Cancer Advisory Board.

“This appointment is a wonderful and fitting honor for Dr. Jacks, whose contributions to cancer research are immense,” said Margaret Foti, Ph.D., M.D. (h.c.), chief executive officer of the AACR. “Dr. Jacks is a dedicated leader and an innovative scientist who consistently contributes to the field with a fresh perspective on the whole spectrum of cancer research. The National Cancer Program will benefit greatly from his input.”

Jacks is the director of the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and the Koch professor of biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and is an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He has pioneered the use of technology to study cancer-associated genes and to construct animal models of many human cancers, including lung, pancreas, brain and ovarian cancer.

In addition to serving as AACR president and as a board member, Jacks has played a vital role in several leadership positions at the AACR. He was a member of the nominating committee and the AACR Laboratory Research Awards Committee, and was chairperson of several AACR special conferences. Jacks served as senior editor of Molecular Cancer Research from 2002-2007 and has served as an editorial board member of Molecular Cancer Therapeutics since the journal’s inception. To date, he has received numerous awards for his outstanding science including the AACR Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cancer Research and the Paul Marks Prize for Cancer Research. Jacks has served as a trustee of the AACR Foundation for the Prevention and Cure of Cancer since 2008.

Jacks has served on the Board of Scientific Advisors of the National Cancer Institute. He was elected to both the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies in 2009. Jacks received his Bachelor of Arts degree in biology from Harvard University, his doctorate in biochemistry from the University of California, San Francisco, and he completed his postdoctoral training at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, MIT.

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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. The AACR publishes seven major peer-reviewed journals: Cancer Discovery; Cancer Research; Clinical Cancer Research; Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention; Molecular Cancer Therapeutics; Molecular Cancer Research; and Cancer Prevention Research. AACR journals received 20 percent of the total number of citations given to oncology journals in 2010. The AACR also publishes Cancer Today, a magazine for cancer patients, survivors and their caregivers, which provides practical knowledge and new hope for cancer survivors. A major goal of the AACR is to educate the general public and policymakers about the value of cancer research in improving public health, the vital importance of increases in sustained funding for cancer research, and the need for national policies that foster innovation and progress in the field.

Media Contact:
Michele Sharp
(267) 646-0622
Michele.Sharp@aacr.org

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