Keith T. Flaherty, MD, FAACR
The members of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) have elected Keith T. Flaherty, MD, FAACR, as the AACR President-Elect for 2025–2026. He will assume the Presidency in April 2026 at the AACR Annual Meeting in San Diego.
Dr. Flaherty is Director of Clinical Cancer Research and the Richard Saltonstall Endowed Chair in Oncology at Mass General Cancer Center and a founding member of Mass General Brigham. He is also Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and an associate member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. He earned his undergraduate degree in neurobiology at Yale University and his medical degree at Johns Hopkins University.
Dr. Flaherty’s career has focused on understanding the molecular and clinical consequences of inhibiting oncogenic pathways in melanoma while establishing therapeutic approaches and constructing rational combinatorial therapies for this disease. He has pioneered the development of targeted therapies matched to the genetic characteristics of a patient’s tumor and led early clinical trials testing vemurafenib and other therapeutic agents for melanoma. Through his work, Dr. Flaherty has translated discoveries about the BRAF V600E somatic mutation in cancer into effective therapies.
“It is the singular greatest honor of my career to be elected to serve the AACR and its membership in this capacity,” said Dr. Flaherty. “During my tenure, I hope to redouble our efforts to bridge cutting-edge discovery science with clinical translation by virtue of career development and mentorship of the next generation of translational investigators, particularly those aiming to address the needs of underserved populations.”
“Dr. Flaherty’s remarkable work in developing targeted therapies for the treatment of melanoma has had an incredible impact on the field,” said Margaret Foti, PhD, MD (hc), Chief Executive Officer of the AACR. “He is a dedicated and supportive mentor to the next generation of cancer investigators. The organization and its global membership will thrive under his sage leadership. We heartily congratulate Dr. Flaherty on being elected as the AACR’s 2025–2026 President-Elect and look forward to working with him in the years to come.”
Dr. Flaherty has been a member of the AACR since 2001 and served with distinction on the AACR’s Board of Directors from 2019 to 2022. Dr. Flaherty provides important guidance as a current member of the Fellows of the AACR Academy Nominating Committee (2024 to present), the AACR Clinical Trials Advisory Council (2023 to present), the AACR Exploratory IND/Phase 0 Clinical Trials Task Force (2021 to present), and the AACR Project GENIE External Advisory Board (2015 to present). He is a former member of the AACR COVID-19 and Cancer Task Force (2020–2022), the AACR Publications Committee (2014–2017), and the AACR NextGen Grants for Transformative Cancer Research Review Committee (2015).
Dr. Flaherty has played a critical role in shaping the AACR Annual Meetings by serving as Chair (2023–2024), Vice Chair (2020–2021), and Co-Chair (2012–2013, 2010) of the Annual Meeting Program Committee. He was a member of the Annual Meeting Clinical Trials Committee (2016–2020, 2012–2013) and Chair of the Clinical Trials and Clinical Pharmacology Section of the Annual Meeting Program Committee (2013).
In addition, Dr. Flaherty previously served as Editor-in-Chief (2016–2025) and Senior Editor (2010–2016) of the AACR journal Clinical Cancer Research. He has also served as Scientific Editor for the AACR journal Cancer Discovery (2010–2017).
