AACR Congratulates President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris on Their Historic Election Victory

Members of the cancer research organization look forward to offering expertise and thought leadership to the new science-driven administration

PHILADELPHIA — The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) congratulates President-elect Joe Biden for receiving more total votes than any presidential candidate in U.S. history, and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris for becoming the first woman, first Black person, and first Asian American elected to the office of Vice President.

“This is a historic moment in our nation’s history, and we welcome the recent messages of unity, collaboration, and cooperation from President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris. We also strongly support their stated interest in reasserting the value of research, trusting in science, and welcoming international talent to our great nation,” said AACR President Antoni Ribas, MD, PhD, FAACR, professor of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), and director of the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center Tumor Immunology Program. “President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris are exemplary public servants and visionary leaders who strongly recognize the unprecedented research opportunities that exist today, and they enthusiastically appreciate our nation’s rapidly improving ability to translate these scientific advances into improved treatments for patients with cancer.”

As the world’s first and largest scientific organization committed to preventing and curing all cancers through innovative research, education, communication, and collaboration, the AACR and its 47,000 members are unified in their strong interest in working alongside President-elect Biden, Vice President-elect Harris, and Congress to accelerate the defeat of cancer.

The AACR looks forward to providing thought leadership to the Biden-Harris administration during the next four years on many of the scientific challenges currently facing our country. Regarding the most pressing issue – the COVID-19 health and economic crisis – AACR members, with their collective scientific and clinical knowledge, stand ready to assist in overcoming this pandemic. For example, cancer researchers are at the forefront of biomedical research in the development of molecular diagnostics and therapeutics, and there is an intersection of coronavirus biology and cancer biology that is manifesting clinical importance.

In his previous role as Vice President, President-elect Biden delivered inspiring remarks to attendees of the AACR Annual Meeting 2016 in New Orleans. Biden returned to the stage at the AACR Annual Meeting 2017 to urge policymakers and the cancer research community to maintain the momentum of the National Cancer Moonshot Initiative, which he launched in 2016.

“The AACR has an enormous amount of admiration and respect for the President-elect. Cancer research has benefited greatly from his extraordinary leadership and commitment to the conquest of cancer,” said Margaret Foti, PhD, MD (hc), chief executive officer of the AACR. “President-elect Biden’s personal dedication to reducing cancer incidence, morbidity, and mortality, both as Vice President and later through the Biden Cancer Initiative, has supported research that has led to important advances for patients. We look forward to working closely with the new administration to ensure this life-saving progress continues for all who are touched by cancer.”

President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris both know firsthand the devastating effects of cancer. Biden’s eldest son, Beau, died of glioblastoma in 2015, and Harris’ mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, PhD — a cancer researcher and AACR member — died of colon cancer in 2009.