Distinguished Scientist Award

The AACI Distinguished Scientist Award was created in 2002 to recognize a major contributor to the field of cancer research. 

Selected by the AACI Board of Directors, the awardee should be widely known in the cancer community through their research accomplishments. 

Past AACI Distinguished Scientist honorees include Drs. Paula D. Bos; Patricia LoRusso; Elizabeth M. Jaffee; Judy E. Garber; William G. Kaelin, Jr.; Douglas R. Lowy; Charles Perou; Carl June; James Allison; and Lewis Cantley.

Thomas F. Gajewski, MD, PhD

Thomas F. Gajewski, MD, PhD, is an internationally recognized leader in the field of cancer immunotherapy, with a special interest in the development of immunotherapies against melanoma and other cancers.

For over 25 years Dr. Gajewski has identified fundamental mechanisms of the anti-tumor immune response and applied that information to novel immunotherapeutic interventions in patients to understand mechanisms of resistance. This iterative cycle has led Dr. Gajewski to make a series of fundamental discoveries, contributing to new drug development in the clinic. A creative and prolific investigator, he has established several key biologic principles that have far-reaching implications for continued clinical advancement.

Dr. Gajewski has published 295 papers, 26 book chapters, and two co-authored books, with an H-index of 113. He serves as an editor for Cancer Research and as a founding editor of the Journal for Immunotherapy of Cancer. Dr. Gakjewski is immediate past president of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer and has served on the program committees for the American Society for Clinical Oncology and the American Association for Cancer Research. He chaired the CII study section at the National Institutes of Health, was appointed distinguished professor at The University of Chicago, received the AbbVie Foundation Endowed Professorship in Cancer Immunotherapy and he ACS Plangere Immunotherapy Professorship, and was honored with awards for tumor immunology, immuno-oncology, and melanoma research, among others.