AACR Launches New Education Division
In March, the AACR reorganized several existing departments and created new ones to establish an Education Division charged with further improving member services and engagement, strengthening member recruitment and retention, and offering new and improved education and training opportunities to the global cancer research community. AACR CEO Margaret Foti, PhD, MD (hc), initiated the change in response to a directive from the AACR Board of Directors to provide more comprehensive support to its members.
More than half of the AACR’s 61,000 members are Associate Members—a category that comprises graduate students, medical students and residents, and clinical and postdoctoral fellows—and another 5% of those members are undergraduate and high school students. The future of cancer research depends on the contributions of these early-stage investigators, and the new Education Division will prioritize their retention, professional development, and long-term integration into the cancer research community.
The new division—which will be led by Vice President Frédéric Biemar, PhD, the former senior director of global affairs at the AACR—will consist of five departments, each optimized to meet a critical need of AACR members and the larger cancer research enterprise:
- Membership. This department will focus on providing superior services to AACR’s members, strengthening recruitment and retention, improving benefits, and fostering engagement as part of a comprehensive program to preserve and expand the AACR’s member base around the world.
- Professional Development. While most of the AACR’s career advancement programs have been affiliated with the AACR Annual Meeting, this new standalone department will augment those programs with new initiatives that will take place throughout the year and around the world, leveraging both online and in-person offerings. Some of these new initiatives will be launched at the upcoming AACR Annual Meeting 2026 in San Diego.
- Constituency Groups. For more than 25 years, the AACR Women in Cancer Research (WICR) and Minorities in Cancer Research (MICR) membership groups have been dedicated to meeting the professional needs and supporting the careers of women and minorities working in cancer science and medicine. This new standalone department will focus on enhancing and expanding critical programs tailored to these distinguished groups.
- Continuing Medical Education. Formerly the AACR Office of CME, this new standalone department will provide educational opportunities in critical aspects of basic cancer research to physicians as well as other allied health care professionals, with the goal of improving their ability to apply that knowledge to the clinical practice of oncology.
- Education and Training. This new department will work to expand the AACR’s slate of educational workshops, increasing the number of in-person offerings and launching new online programs to enhance the AACR’s position as a global leader in scientific education.
This new division will transform the AACR’s efforts to engage and support the global cancer research community in pursuit of our shared mission to prevent and cure all cancers.