Margaret Foti, PhD, MD (hc)
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) recently congratulated its Chief Executive Officer, Margaret Foti, PhD, MD (hc), on her recognition by the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) with its 2021 Tara Withington Public Service Award.
According to the SITC, this award “honors an individual or group that has made substantial contributions to fostering and enhancing the field of cancer immunotherapy through increasing public understanding and awareness, research efforts, and/or funding for cancer immunotherapy.”
Professional Contributions
“I am deeply honored to receive this very special recognition from SITC, the organization that has championed immunotherapy as one of the effective pillars of cancer care,” Dr. Foti said. “Different forms of immunotherapy have had extraordinary success against several types of cancer. Thus, the AACR is very proud to support the continued development of this powerful new treatment modality for saving lives from cancer.”
Under Dr. Foti’s leadership, the AACR has served with distinction as the Scientific Partner of Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C). In this capacity, Dr. Foti and the AACR staff have brought their work with SU2C, especially in the scientific peer review of projects, project management, grants administration, communications, and policy.
Dr. Foti was instrumental in the production of two landmark annual reports that educate the public about the value of cancer research and highlight the critical need for increased annual federal funding for the government entities that fuel progress against cancer. They include the AACR Cancer Progress Report, which was first published in 2011 and celebrates the advances in basic, translational, and clinical cancer research that have had a major impact on therapeutic development and improved patient care, and the AACR Cancer Disparities Progress Report, which was launched in 2020 with the overarching goal of increasing public understanding of cancer health disparities and the vital importance of cancer health disparities research to saving lives.
