American Association for Cancer Research

AACR Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cancer Research

Nominations for the 2009 Award are now closed.  The recipient will be announced in February 2009.

Learn more about the 2008 recipient Dr. Arul M. Chinnaiyan. View the list of all past winners.

The Award & Lecture

Through the generous contribution of an anonymous donor, the AACR established this Award in 1979 to give recognition to a young investigator on the basis of meritorious achievement in cancer research. In accordance with the wishes of the donor, the recipient must be no more than 40 years of age by the time the award is received.

The winner of the 29th Annual AACR Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cancer Research will receive an honorarium of $5,000 and give a 50-minute lecture during the AACR 100th Annual Meeting 2009 in Denver, CO, USA (April 18-22, 2009.)


Eligibility

  • Candidacy is open to all cancer researchers who are affiliated with any institution involved in cancer research, cancer medicine, or cancer-related biomedical science anywhere in the world. Such institutions include those in academia, industry, or government.
  • The Award will be presented to an individual investigator.
  • Institutions or organizations are not eligible for the Award.
  • Candidates must not be more than 40 years of age by the time the Award is received. For the 2009 Award, a candidate's date of birth must be on or after April 18, 1968.

Nomination Process

Nominations may be made via letter from any scientist, whether an AACR member or nonmember, who is now or has been affiliated with any institution involved in cancer research, cancer medicine, or cancer-related biomedical science. Candidates may not nominate themselves.

Nomination letters must be sent electronically to awards@aacr.org by Thursday, October 30, 2008, at 4:00 p.m., United States Eastern Time. Preferred file formats are *.doc, *.pdf. Your nomination is not considered fully submitted until you receive a confirmation e-mail from the AACR; confirmations will be sent within two business days.

The nomination letter must be addressed to the Selection Committee; be written in English; and not exceed 1,000 words. The content should include the following:

  • the name of the AACR Award for which the candidate is being nominated;
  • a brief statement of no more than 50 words summarizing the candidate's cancer research accomplishment(s) for which he or she is being nominated;
  • a concise description of the candidate's meritorious achievement in cancer research, with the publications supporting these accomplishments directly referenced within the letter; and
  • a concise description of the impact of these accomplishments on the field.

Nominators are asked to maintain the confidentiality of the nomination process and to refrain from informing the candidate about the nomination.

There is no restriction on the number of candidates that may be nominated by any individual scientist. There is no restriction on the number of nominators that may write nomination letters or that may sign a single nomination letter on behalf of a candidate.


Selection

Candidates for the Award will be considered by a prestigious international Selection Committee of renowned cancer leaders appointed by the President of the AACR. The Committee will consider all nominations as they have been submitted; the Committee may not combine submitted nominations, add a new candidate to a submitted nomination, or otherwise make alterations to the submitted nominations. After careful deliberations by the Committee, its recommendations will be forwarded to the Executive Committee of the AACR for final consideration and determination.

Selection of the Award winner will be made on the basis of the candidate's meritorious achievements in cancer research. No regard will be given to race, gender, nationality, or religious or political view.

 

Questions?

Monique P. Eversley, Program Associate
+1 (267) 646-0576; monique.eversley@aacr.org

American Association for Cancer Research
17th Floor, 615 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106-4404

 

SPOTLIGHT

2008 Winner: Arul Chinnaiyan, M.D., Ph.D.
Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator
S.P. Hicks Endowed Professor of Pathology
Professor of Pathology and Urology
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI

 Levine receiving award

Dr. Chinnaiyan (left) delivered his Award lecture entitled, Discovery of Recurrent Gene Fusions in Prostate Cancer: A New Class of Biomarkers and Therapeutic Targets, at the 2008 AACR Annual Meeting in San Diego, CA. He received the Award from Dr. Helen Piwnica-Worms, member of the AACR Board of Directors (right). The webcast of the Award lecture may be accessed here.