Three Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientific leaders elected as Fellows of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Academy Class of 2026

Dr. Alice Shaw, Dr. Kimberly Stegmaier and Dr. Matthew Vander Heiden have been elected as Fellows of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Academy Class of 2026.

The Fellows of the AACR Academy have propelled major breakthroughs in cancer biology, prevention, diagnosis and treatment, and together form a global community of thought leaders who are advancing the AACR’s mission to prevent and cure all cancers. As a collective, they serve as a reservoir of expertise, supporting research, education, collaboration, communication and advocacy for vital research funding that is necessary to accelerate progress and improve patient care.

“This year, we are extremely excited to announce the election of 24 new Fellows of the AACR Academy who embody the pinnacle of scientific excellence. Together, these individuals from around the globe, specializing in various scientific disciplines, have fundamentally shaped cancer research and improved patient outcomes,” said Margaret Foti, PhD, MD (hc), chief executive officer of the AACR. “We are deeply honored to induct this newly elected class of 2026 Fellows into the AACR Academy, which currently includes 375 honorees, and we look forward to celebrating their monumental scientific achievements at our upcoming Annual Meeting in April.”

Shaw is chair of the Department of Medical Oncology and chief of strategic partnerships at Dana-Farber. The AACR has recognized her pioneering translational and clinical cancer research that has led to the development of numerous next-generation targeted therapies, as well as the clinical evaluation of novel mechanistic combination strategies that have guided the field of precision oncology and transformed clinical practice.

The AACR Academy honored Stegmaier, chair of the Department of Pediatric Oncology at Dana-Farber, for fundamental and innovative research in pediatric oncology, including the integration of functional genomics and chemical biology to define fusion gene-driven oncogenic mechanisms, systematically mapping context-specific dependencies and translating these discoveries into multi-institutional clinical trials to establish new precision cancer therapies for children with cancer.

Vander Heiden, director of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT and a medical oncologist in the Lank Center for Genitourinary Oncology at Dana-Farber, was recognized for his remarkable research contributions to uncovering fundamental metabolic pathways in cancer onset and progression, including characterizing the tumor-specific use of glycolysis and amino acid metabolism, Ras-driven macropinocytosis and the oncogenic role of 2-hydroxyglutarate, which has informed innovative strategies for early cancer detection, targeted therapy and precision oncology.

All newly elected Fellows of the AACR Academy will be formally recognized during the the AACR Annual Meeting 2026 which begins April 17.