Michelle Le Beau, UCCCC director, named President-Elect of AACI

August 5, 2011

Michelle M. Le Beau, PhD, director of the University of Chicago Comprehensive Cancer Center (UCCCC), has been elected Vice President/President-elect of the Association of American Cancer Institutes.

Le Beau became the Cancer Center director in 2004 and the center received its National Cancer Institute "comprehensive" designation in 2008. She is also director of the University of Chicago's Cancer Cytogenetics Laboratory and is the inaugural Arthur and Marian Edelstein Professor of Medicine, an award recognizing distinction as a teacher and as a scholar in cancer research.

Le Beau is a leading authority in hematologic malignancies and her groundbreaking research led to the discovery that there are several distinct genetic subtypes of therapy-related leukemias. Her current research focus is on therapy-related acute myeloid leukemia.

Of AACI's 94 member cancer centers, eight are led by women. Le Beau will be the association's first female president. She will serve two years as AACI's Vice President/President-elect, two as President and two as Immediate Past-President.

"I look forward to Michelle's leadership of AACI," said Barbara Duffy Stewart, MPH, AACI Executive Director. "As a world-class researcher and successful administrator, Michelle has a deep understanding of the needs of the talented individuals who come together to build a cancer center, with the goal of reducing the burden of cancer in their communities."

Representing 94 of the nation's premier academic and free-standing cancer research centers, the Association of American Cancer Institutes, based in Pittsburgh, is dedicated to aiding its members' shared mission to eradicate cancer. For more than 30 years, the Association has provided a unified voice for cancer center directors to educate policy leaders and the public about the importance of cancer centers and the role they play in reducing the burden of cancer in their communities.