AACR Grants and Awards
Grantees Honored at the AACR Annual Meeting
The Annual Grantee Recognition Reception and Dinner is a prestigious event organized by the American Association for Cancer Research® (AACR) to celebrate and formally acknowledge the newest class of AACR grantees. This year’s event took place on April 29 during the AACR Annual Meeting 2025 in Chicago. Attendees included 125 past and current grantees ranging from promising early-career investigators to established researchers, as well as grant review committee members, funders, and AACR staff members.
Grantees presented posters across a multitude of innovative topics, sharing exciting results that are propelling cancer research forward. The evening began with a juried poster session, followed by a reception and dinner. Formal remarks were made by several distinguished speakers from the AACR, including Yixian Zhang, PhD, vice president of research and grants administration; Mitch Stoller, chief philanthropic officer and vice president of development; and Margaret Foti, PhD, MD (hc), CEO of the AACR. They were followed by Matthew Vander Heiden, MD, PhD, director of the Koch Institute at MIT, the Lester Wolfe (1919) Professor of Molecular Biology, a member of the Broad Institute, and a program committee chair for the AACR Annual Meeting 2025.
In addition to providing a platform for attendees to learn, network, and share ideas, the event presented a valuable opportunity for the AACR to recognize its research grant recipients and celebrate their achievements—fostering a sense of community and commitment to the AACR’s mission.
With the shared goal of saving lives from cancer, researchers and funders are proudly collaborating to advance cutting-edge discoveries in cancer science and medicine. We look forward to all of the lifesaving breakthroughs to come from this talented group of grantees.

ALK Positive and the AACR Foundation
Every cell in every person’s body contains a pair of anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) genes. While the full role of ALK genes in the human body is unknown, studies suggest they help the nervous system and perhaps other cells and tissues grow during fetal development. After birth, ALK gene activity normally turns off. However, ALK genes sometimes reactivate later in life and fuse to other genes by mistake, sending out faulty signals that make cancer cells grow. Most often, ALK-positive cancer begins in the lungs but can start in other parts of the body.
There is no known risk for developing ALK-positive cancer, and ALK fusions do not appear to run in families. The good news is that, thanks to cancer research, new testing, treatments, and medications have been identified that are allowing more people diagnosed with ALK-positive cancers to live longer. But there is still more to be done.
Achieving the AACR’s bold mission of preventing and curing all cancers, including ALK-positive lung cancer, requires the support of the entire cancer community—including nonprofit organizations, foundations, and cancer survivors, as well as their families and friends.
The AACR Foundation fosters trusted partnerships with philanthropic organizations looking to maximize the impact of their investments in cancer science through AACR programs and initiatives. ALK Positive, an advocacy and support group for ALK-positive patients and their loved ones, is one of these organizations.
For diseases with unknown causes and risks, like ALK-positive lung cancer, it is critical for the AACR to form new partnerships with organizations like ALK Positive to advance research and spread awareness. The AACR has resources like the Lung Cancer Task Force and, in partnership with ALK Positive, can identify and support the brightest and most innovative investigators in this area of research.
The AACR-ALK Positive Lung Cancer Research Fellowship is designed to encourage and support young researchers at this highly important time in the cancer field.”
– Kirk Smith, ALK Positive president
The AACR is pleased to announce the creation of a joint effort designed to encourage a postdoctoral or clinical fellow working on a mentored ALK-positive lung cancer research project. The AACR-ALK Positive Lung Cancer Research Fellowship is a two-year award supporting one researcher in this field, with the grant term beginning in September 2025. The AACR Foundation and ALK Positive look forward to sharing more information and updates about the incredible researcher selected and their work.
Related Posts
