Cancer Immunology Research’s New Editors-in-Chief Ready to Showcase Immuno-oncology’s Next Wave
Long before cancer immunotherapies even existed, Elizabeth M. Jaffee, MD, FAACR, and Antoni Ribas, MD, PhD, FAACR, were fascinated by how the immune system works to fight off diseases. Eventually, that curiosity led to them becoming prominent researchers in the field of immunotherapy, and now the newly named editors-in-chief of Cancer Immunology Research, one of the 10 highly esteemed journals published by the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR).
“As early as I can remember, I was intrigued by how vaccines eradicated viral epidemics in the mid-20th century,” Jaffee recalled. “Later, as a college student in the early 1980s, I became fascinated by the emerging data elucidating mechanisms by which the immune system recognizes viruses.”
In college, Jaffee spent time in a laboratory studying antibody heavy chain switching, which led her to hypothesize that if the immune system can see a virally infected cell, it should also be able to recognize differences between normal and cancer cells. Her interest in the field of cancer immunology was then solidified during her time as an oncology fellow in the early 1990s when she realized chemotherapy was not the answer to treating patients with cancer because it frequently lacked durability and reduced patient’s quality of life.
Jaffee has since spearheaded innovative research into the development and clinical evaluation of immunotherapies for pancreatic cancer—including the GVAX vaccine—as well as the identification of ANXA2 as a potential regulator of pancreatic cancer metastasis. She is now the Dana and Albert “Cubby” Broccoli Professor in Oncology and deputy director of the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Ribas also caught the bug for cancer immunology research early in his career when his group was conducting a clinical trial in the late 1990s using dendritic cell vaccination in patients with advanced melanoma.
“At that time, advanced melanoma did not have effective therapies. We saw two of 25 patients responded, with their metastatic melanoma completely regressing and without relapses,” Ribas explained. “It convinced me that an immune response could clear a metastatic cancer.”
Ribas would go on to contribute clinical research that led to the development of pembrolizumab (Keytruda), a first-in-class anti-PD-1 immunotherapy approved for the treatment of melanoma as well as several other cancer types. Additionally, his work has contributed to the understanding of other potential targets for cancer treatment—such as BRAF, CTLA-4, and MEK. In addition to being a professor at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), he is the director of the Tumor Immunology Program at the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Vision for Cancer Immunology Research
Now, Jaffee and Ribas—who are both former AACR Presidents—will apply their decades of experience to help ensure Cancer Immunology Research continues to serve as a leading publication focused on the full spectrum of cancer immunology and immunotherapy research.
In an editorial published in the journal, they outlined their vision as editors-in-chief, which includes:
- expanding clinical content (i.e., immuno-oncology clinical trials, clinical research defining biomarkers, etc.);
- more studies incorporating computational science and systems immunology as well as technological advancements leading to new insights in the field;
- a greater inclusion of biomedical engineering studies with applications in cancer immunology and immunotherapy; and
- encouraging more submissions from researchers around the world and from different disciplines.
“Cancer immunology has transformed cancer care, and the next wave of advances will be driven by data-rich science,” Ribas said in a press release. “We look forward to highlighting research that propels the field toward more effective treatments for patients worldwide.”
Jaffee added, “We are committed to high standards of rigor and reproducibility and to fostering collaboration across disciplines to drive advances in immunotherapy that improve patient outcomes.”
Immuno-oncology Experts Set to Gather at AACR IO
As a leading expert in the field, Ribas will once again serve as a Scientific Committee chair of the AACR Immuno-Oncology Conference (AACR IO), to be held February 18-21, 2026, in Los Angeles, California, along with Nina Bhardwaj, MD, PhD, FAACR. Now in its second year, this conference highlights the very best of basic, translational, and clinical research in immunology, inflammation, and immunotherapies for cancer.
“AACR IO 2026 is a fully loaded conference, with daily keynote addresses from the top researchers in cancer immunotherapy and an impressive set of proffered oral presentations from the high-quality articles submitted and peer-reviewed by the Scientific Committee,” Ribas said. “We have sessions on how to artificially design proteins and IO therapeutics, sessions on in vivo gene editing and in vivo vaccination, and the development of novel T-cell engagers.”
Among this year’s visionary keynote speakers is Jaffee, who will talk about the arrival of the cancer vaccine era and how these vaccines can be used for the treatment and interception of cancer. As for the sessions that Jaffee is most excited to attend herself—she said it is too hard to narrow it down.
“The program will showcase many ongoing and emerging areas of cancer immunotherapy with experts from many different scientific disciplines,” Jaffee explained. “This meeting agenda exemplifies the unprecedented times we are living in with the evolving technologies that are uncovering new ways to treat the worst cancers with the immune system.”
Registration is still open for AACR IO in-person attendance and on-demand access. Session recordings will be available approximately 7-14 business days after the meeting and through May 2, 2026.
To learn more about the cutting-edge discoveries, translational research advances, and clinical trials in immuno-oncology from across AACR’s journals, view this collection of review and research articles.
