Charles L. Sawyers, MD, FAACR
The Fellows of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Academy have chosen Charles L. Sawyers, MD, FAACR, as President-Elect for 2020–2021. Dr. Sawyers will assume the presidency during the 2021 AACR Annual Meeting.
Dr. Sawyers holds the Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Chair in Human Oncology and Pathogenesis and is Chair of the Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. He is an attending physician at Memorial Hospital for Cancer and Allied Diseases in New York, Professor at the Joan & Sanford Weill Graduate School of Medical Sciences of Cornell University, and an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
As a physician-scientist and leader in the development of targeted therapies for cancer, Dr. Sawyers investigates the signaling pathways that drive the growth and drug resistance of cancer cells. He played a critical role in developing the molecularly targeted cancer drug imatinib for the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). Dr. Sawyers’ research into treatments for cancer that becomes resistant to established therapies led to the
development of dasatinib for patients with imatinib-resistant CML and enzalutamide for metastatic prostate cancer that has become resistant to docetaxel.
Responsibilities as President-Elect
As the AACR Academy President-Elect, Dr. Sawyers will work with the other members of Steering Committee and elected Fellows to provide ongoing advice and counsel to the AACR leadership on scientific topics of timeliness and significance. Collectively, Fellows of the AACR Academy are charged with the following tasks:
- To identify scientific priorities that contribute to the AACR’s programs and activities and thereby drive future progress in cancer research
- To influence science and public policy by creating and/or signing letters addressed to members of the U.S. Congress and to the President’s administration regarding important scientific or policy issues
- To advocate for increased federal funding for cancer research and cancer-related sciences
- To participate in special meetings to discuss how to accelerate advances in cancer research
- To mentor the next generation of cancer scientists working in all research settings
- To assist the AACR in educating the public about cancer, the importance of the AACR, and the value of cancer research to public health and the conquest of cancer.
Dr. Sawyers was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2014), National Academy of Sciences (2010), and the National Academy of Medicine (2008). He is a member of the National Cancer Advisory Board for the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Sawyers has been recognized with a number of honors and awards throughout his career, most recently the National Cancer Institute Alfred G. Knudson Award in Cancer Genetics (2020).
