18 US cancer leaders named AACR Academy fellows

The American Association for Cancer Research has elected 18 U.S. leaders in the field of oncology, along with six international leaders, to its 2026 class of Fellows of the AACR Academy. 

Fellows of the AACR Academy are elected after a “rigorous, peer-review process.” The academy recognizes only those whose “scientific accomplishments have left an enduring mark on cancer research,” according to a Jan. 27 news release from the AACR.

The 18 U.S. oncology leaders elected as Fellows of the AACR Academy are:

1. Cory Abate-Shen, PhD, the Robert Sonneborn Professor of Medicine and professor of molecular pharmacology and therapeutics, urology and systems biology at New York City-based Columbia University Irving Medical Center.
   
   
2. Benjamin Cravatt, PhD, the Gilula Chair of Chemical Biology and Professor in the Department of Chemistry at La Jolla, Calif.-based Scripps Research.
   
   
3. Christina Curtis, PhD, the RZ Cao Professor of Medicine, Genetics and Biomedical Data Science and senior vice chair of research in the department of medicine at Stanford (Calif.) School of Medicine. Dr. Curtis also serves as director of artificial intelligence and cancer genomics at Stanford Cancer Institute.
   
   
4. Douglas Fearon, MD, professor and cancer center member at Cold Spring Harbor (N.Y.) Laboratory.
   
   
5. Giulio Draetta, MD, PhD, former senior vice president, chief scientific officer and cancer center director for Houston-based University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
   
   
6. Lewis Lanier, PhD, the J. Michael Bishop, MD, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of California San Francisco.
   
   
7. Anthony Letai, MD, PhD, director of Bethesda, Md.-based National Institutes of Health’s National Cancer Institute.
   
   
8. Ross Levine, MD, chief scientific officer at New York City-based Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
   
   
9. Juanita Merchant, MD, PhD, chief of the division of gastroenterology and hepatology and professor of medicine at Tucson-based University of Arizona College of Medicine; research member of the cancer biology program and associate director for basic sciences at the University of Arizona Cancer Center.
   
   
10. William Nelson, MD, PhD, director of Baltimore-based Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, and the Marion I. Knott Director and Professor of Oncology at Johns Hopkins University.
    
    
11. Garry Nolan, PhD, the Rachford and Carlota A. Harris Professor in the Department of Pathology at Stanford (Calif.) School of Medicine.
    
    
12. Kenneth Offit, MD, chief of clinical genetics service, the Robert and Kate Niehaus Chair in Inherited Cancer Genomics and vice chair of academic affairs in the department of medicine at New York City-based Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
    
    
13. Charles Roberts, MD, PhD, executive vice president and director of Memphis, Tenn.-based St. Jude Comprehensive Cancer Center; member of the department of oncology and the Lillian R. Cannon Comprehensive Cancer Center Director Endowed Chair at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
    
    
14. Anil Rustgi, MD, Herbert and Florence Irving Director of New York City-based Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center; the Herbert and Florence Irving Professor of Medicine and associate dean of oncology at New York City-based Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons; and chief of the cancer service at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center, also in New York City.
    
    
15. Alice Shaw, MD, PhD, chair of the department of medical oncology and chief of strategic partnerships at Boston-based Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; and professor of medicine at Boston-based Harvard Medical School.
    
    
16. Kimberly Stegmaier, MD, chair of the department of pediatric oncology at Boston-based Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; the David G. Nathan Professor of Pediatrics at Boston-based Harvard Medical School; associate chief in the division of hematology/oncology at Boston Children’s Hospital; and institute member of Boston-based Broad Institute.
    
    
17. Matthew Vander Heiden, MD, PhD, director of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research; the Lester Wolfe (1919) Professor of Molecular Biology; and professor of biology at the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at Cambridge-based Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
    

18. Jennifer Wargo, MD, the R. Lee Clark Endowed Professor in the department of surgical oncology; professor in the department of genomic medicine; and a core member of the James P. Allison Institute at Houston-based University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.