Antoni Ribas, MD, PhD, Elected American Association for Cancer Research President-Elect 2019-2020
Five new members elected to the Board of Directors
PHILADELPHIA – The members of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) have elected Antoni Ribas, MD, PhD, as their President-Elect for 2019-2020. He will officially become President-Elect at the AACR Annual Meeting 2019, to be held in Atlanta, March 29-April 3, and he will assume the presidency in April 2020 at the AACR Annual Meeting in San Diego.
The voting members of the AACR have also elected five members to serve on the AACR Board of Directors for the 2019-2022 term. These new directors, who are esteemed cancer researchers, will begin their terms at the AACR Annual Meeting 2019.
Antoni Ribas, MD, PhD, AACR President-Elect 2019-2020
Ribas is professor of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA); director of the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center Tumor Immunology Program; and director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy Center at UCLA. He is an internationally recognized physician-scientist whose translational and clinical research focuses on developing new therapeutic options for patients with malignant melanoma.
As AACR President-Elect, Ribas will work with the Board of Directors and the AACR membership, which includes more than 42,000 members in 120 countries, to further the association’s mission to prevent and cure all cancers through research, education, communication, collaboration, funding for cancer research, and advocacy.
“It is a great honor to be elected by my peers as the President-Elect of the AACR,” said Ribas. “In this time of remarkable and rapid advancement in our understanding of cancer, we have made great strides in improving treatments, but it is not enough. I believe the AACR has to continue to advocate for public policy and funding to support cancer research and the development of new treatments, which is the best investment we can make in our future. I look forward to working with researchers, clinicians, policymakers, patient advocates, caregivers, and patients to pursue the common goal of defeating cancer.”
“Dr. Ribas is a highly distinguished physician-scientist whose pioneering research has had an enormous impact on the discovery and development of new and effective treatments for malignant melanoma,” said Margaret Foti, PhD, MD (hc), chief executive officer of the AACR. “He is also a dynamic leader of the cancer research community, and we are delighted that he has been elected to serve as the 2019-2020 AACR President-Elect and our 2020-2021 President. His dedication to accelerating the pace of discovery and its translation to the clinic will be invaluable as he leads our organization toward its goal of markedly reducing cancer incidence, morbidity, and mortality, while improving quality of life for all.”
Ribas, an AACR member since 1999, is currently serving as a member of the AACR Board of Directors, as vice chair for the AACR Annual Meeting 2019 Program Committee, as chair of the AACR Annual Meeting 2020 Program Committee, as cochair of the 2019 Combination Therapies Future of Cancer Research Innovation Summit, and as a scientific editor of the AACR journal Cancer Discovery. Among his other contributions to the AACR, he served as cochair of the AACR-NCI-EORTC Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics Conference in 2017 and 2018, and as cochair of the AACR Tumor Immunology and Immunotherapy Conference in 2016. He has also been a member of several important committees for the AACR.
Ribas has been recognized with myriad honors and awards throughout his career, including the AACR-CRI Lloyd J. Old Award in Cancer Immunology (2018) and the AACR Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Memorial Award (2016).
Ribas received his doctorate from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain, and his medical degree from the University of Barcelona. After serving as an intern and resident at the University Hospital Vall d’Hebron in Barcelona, he moved to UCLA, joining the faculty in 2001.
Newly elected members of the AACR Board of Directors
The AACR Board of Directors consists of world-renowned leaders in the field of cancer research. The following five distinguished cancer researchers have been elected to the Board of Directors for the 2019-2022 term:
Marcia Cruz-Correa, MD, PhD, professor of Medicine and Biochemistry, University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus; chair, Division of Cancer Biology, University of Puerto Rico Comprehensive Cancer Center; director, Division of Gastrointestinal Oncology, Isaac Gonzalez Martinez Oncologic Hospital; adjunct professor of surgical oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston; adjunct professor of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore; and president, Puerto Rico Colorectal Cancer Coalition.
Keith Flaherty, MD, director of Clinical Research, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Boston; associate member, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard; professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; associate dermatologist, Dermatology, and associate physician, Medicine and Hematology/Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital.
Karen E. Knudsen, PhD, enterprise director and member, Executive Committee, Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, Thomas Jefferson University & Jefferson Health, Philadelphia; executive vice president, Oncology Services, Jefferson Health; chair and Hilary Koprowski Endowed Professor, Department of Cancer Biology; professor, Departments of Urology, Radiation Oncology, and Medical Oncology, Thomas Jefferson University.
Martine Roussel, PhD, member, Department of Tumor Cell Biology, endowed chair in molecular oncogenesis, and coleader, Comprehensive Cancer Center Cancer Biology Program, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis; professor, Department of Molecular Sciences, University of Tennessee, Memphis.
Charles Swanton, MD, PhD, Royal Society Napier Professor of Cancer Medicine and Chair of Personalised Cancer Medicine, University College London, United Kingdom; director and chief clinician, Cancer Research UK Lung Cancer Centre of Excellence at University College London and Manchester University; senior group leader, Cancer Evolution and Genome Instability Laboratory, The Francis Crick Institute, London; consultant medical oncologist, University College London Hospitals.