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Margaret Foti, Ph.D., M.D. (h.c.)
Chief Executive Officer, American Association for Cancer Research
Secretary-Treasurer and Chief Executive Officer,
AACR Foundation for the Prevention and Cure of Cancer
Managing Editor, Cancer Research
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A native of Philadelphia, Margaret Foti, Ph.D., M.D. (h.c.), earned a master's degree and doctorate in communications from Temple University in Philadelphia. Foti's graduate education and training focused on scientific communications, especially communications research, scientific publishing and information science. At the AACR, Foti progressed through several key management roles in scientific publishing to become CEO in 1982. Working collaboratively with the elected officers of the AACR, she has provided the corporate knowledge and continuity of leadership that has been critical to the association's progress and its mission to prevent and cure cancer. During Foti's tenure, the AACR's membership has grown from 3,000 to 28,000 scientists residing in nearly 90 countries.
Foti joined the AACR as an editorial assistant for Cancer Research, the most highly cited cancer journal in the world under the editorship of her first mentor, Michael B. Shimkin, M.D. She was rapidly promoted to the position of managing editor under the editorship of Sidney Weinhouse, Ph.D., and became the youngest managing editor of a major scientific journal in the country. Foti has launched five additional major peer-reviewed journals: Clinical Cancer Research; Molecular Cancer Therapeutics; Molecular Cancer Research; Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention; and Cancer Prevention Research - all of which contribute more than 26,000 scientific pages to the cancer literature every year. In 2006, the AACR launched CR, a magazine for cancer survivors, patient advocates, their families, physicians and scientists.
Among her many professional activities, Foti serves as a board member and is a past president of the National Coalition for Cancer Research. She is also a member of the Melanoma International Foundation board of directors, a member of the executive committee and board of Friends of Cancer Research, a board member of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, a medical advisory board member of the Prevent Cancer Foundation, a council member of the Council of the European Association for Cancer Research, a member of the Wellness Leadership Council, a strategic advisory panel member of the International Union Against Cancer, a scientific advisory board member of the King Hussein Biotechnology and Cancer Institute, and an external advisory board member for the University of Michigan Institute for Clinical and Health Research and NIH Clinical and Translational Science Award Program.
Foti previously served as a board member of the Translational Genomics Institute (TGen). She was also a board member and president of the Council of Science Editors and the Society for Scholarly Publishing. She has served in various capacities for the International Federation of Science Editors, the General Motors Cancer Research Foundation, the European Life Science Editors Association, the American Cancer Society, and the American Heart Association, among other organizations. Foti has also been a consultant to several nonprofit organizations and lectures widely at academic institutions in the United States and abroad. Additionally, Foti has led the AACR as the scientific partner in the Stand Up To Cancer national initiative.
Foti has received many national and international awards for her contributions to cancer research: the Award of Appreciation from the Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research Chairpersons, Award with Recognition and Appreciation from the Israel Cancer Association, the Italian League Against Cancer Commendation, the Distinguished Service Award from the George Washington University Medical Center's GW Cancer Institute, the Distinguished Service Award from the Association of American Cancer Institutes, the AACR Award for Leadership and Extraordinary Achievements in Cancer Research, the Ville de Paris Award, the Cina del Duca Award for raising public awareness of cancer globally, the Community Caring Award from the William S. Graham Foundation for Melanoma Research, the Special Recognition Award from the American Society of Clinical Oncology for her work in advancing clinical cancer research, and the first Margaret Kripke Legend Award from the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in March 2009.
For her work, Foti has also been awarded honorary memberships in the Japanese Cancer Association and the European Association for Cancer Research, as well as an Honorary Doctorate in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Rome La Sapienza in 2003. She received a second Honorary Doctorate in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Catania in Sicily in July 2008.