Cancer Center Director Sweasy elected vice-president of AACI board

Joann B. Sweasy, PhD, director of the University of Arizona Cancer Center, has been elected by the members of the Association of American Cancer Institutes (AACI) to serve as vice president/president-elect of AACI’s Board of Directors.

The AACI represents more than 100 leading academic and freestanding cancer research centers in the United States and Canada, according to their website. The AACI enhances the impact of academic cancer centers and promotes health equity.

Dr. Sweasy, who is also a tenured professor at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, Tucson, was elected through a nominating committee of 12 cancer center directors. Dr. Sweasy will serve as vice president with Dr. Robert Winn as president for two years beginning October of 2023. In October of 2025, she will become AACI president and Dr. Robert Winn will become immediate past president.

When Dr. Sweasy’s term as president concludes in 2027, she will serve as immediate past president, so it is a six-year commitment to the executive committee for AACI.

“I’m honored to be elected by my peers to serve the AACI Board of Directors,” Dr. Sweasy said. “The AACI mission and goals are in lock-step with the University of Arizona Cancer Center in promoting health equity and advocating for much needed funding to accelerate progress in cancer research.”

Dr. Sweasy was appointed UACC director in 2020 and recently led the center to redesignation as a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-Designated Comprehensive Cancer Center. Prior to joining UACC, she served as the associate director for basic sciences and co-leader of the Radiobiology and Radiotherapy Program at the Yale Cancer Center.

Dr. Sweasy is an internationally recognized expert in the genetics, cell biology, and biochemistry of DNA repair and has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health since 1994. She was appointed to AACI’s board in 2021.

Dr. Sweasy will start in her role as vice president/president-elect in October during the 2023 AACI/CCAF Annual Meeting in Washington, DC.

For more information, read the AACI release.