The American Association for Cancer Research welcomed Carlos L. Arteaga, MD, as President of the Organization for 2014–2015. Dr. Arteaga was inaugurated during the AACR’s Annual Meeting.
Dr. Arteaga is Professor of Medicine and Cancer Biology at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, where he holds the Donna S. Hall Chair in Breast Cancer Research. Dr. Arteaga serves as Associate Director for Translational/Clinical Research, Director of the Breast Cancer Program, Director of the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center Research Network (VICCRN), and Director of Center for Cancer Targeted Therapies at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville, Tennesse.
“I am extremely honored to be able to serve as President of the AACR,” Dr. Arteaga said. “This is a time when the pace of discovery and progress in cancer research has never been better. Thus, I commit to work tirelessly with the AACR so the organization continues to be a main force and custodian of progress and discovery for the benefit of many patients afflicted with cancer.”
Dr. Arteaga’s involvement in the AACR spans more than a decade.
Research Interests
Dr. Arteaga’s research interests include oncogene signaling and molecular therapeutics in breast cancer with an emphasis on targeted therapies, mechanisms of drug resistance, translational research, and investigator-initiated clinical trials. Early in his career, he was the first to report the roles of IGF-I receptors and TGF beta in breast cancer progression and their use as therapeutic targets.
More recent work has focused on the role of presurgical and neoadjuvant trials to discover molecular biomarkers that inform patient selection in clinical trials and/or for the discovery of mechanisms of drug resistance in breast cancer. Since 2001, he has led the NCI-funded Vanderbilt Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) in breast cancer. His work has significant implications for novel clinical trials in patients with breast cancer.
Additionally, José Baselga, MD, Physician-in-Chief at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, was inducted as President-Elect. Charles L. Sawyers, MD, Chair of the Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, now serves as Past-President. ■
