ROCKVILLE, Md., July 17: Elaine S. Jaffe, M.D., of the National Cancer Institute has won the Association for Molecular Pathology’s 2026 Award for Excellence in Molecular Diagnostics, one of the organization’s highest honors.
AMP represents molecular diagnostics professionals and clinical laboratory scientists who develop and perform testing that guides diagnosis, treatment and disease monitoring. The excellence award recognizes lifetime pioneering and special achievements relating to molecular medicine.
Jaffe, a National Institutes of Health distinguished investigator at the NCI Center for Cancer Research, has transformed the scientific and medical communities’ understanding of lymphoid malignancies.
She conducted groundbreaking work defining and classifying lymphomas as distinct diseases of the immune system. She and colleagues have identified new lymphomas, advanced knowledge of lymphoma biology, and helped establish the modern disease classifications that today guide diagnosis, prognosis, research and treatment.
More specifically, Jaffe’s research has revealed the molecular underpinnings of T-cell, B-cell and natural killer-cell lymphomas. Furthermore, her insights into Epstein–Barr virus–associated disorders, Castleman disease and immune dysregulation syndromes have expanded the frontiers of hematopathology.
The AMP Awards Committee emphasized in a statement that Jaffe, who is among the most highly cited researchers in clinical oncology, has “profoundly shaped global clinical practice.” They wrote: “Her leadership in the development of the World Health Organization and International Consensus Classification systems has harmonized lymphoma diagnosis globally.”
Aaron Bossler, M.D., Ph.D., of the Moffitt Cancer Center is the president of AMP. He said that Jaffe’s achievements align with “AMP’s mission to advance the application of molecular technologies for the betterment of patient care.”
Jaffe earned her undergraduate degree from Cornell University and her medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. She did residencies at Georgetown University Hospital and at NCI. She has been a senior investigator at NCI since 1974, the year she published work identifying follicular lymphoma as a tumor of germinal center origin in the New England Journal of Medicine, a paper that is today known as a “citation classic.”
The Award for Excellence in Molecular Diagnostics was created by AMP in 1998 to recognize professionals in the fields of molecular biology, molecular pathology, pathology, genetics, microbiology and basic medical sciences whose work has provided the scientific rationale for, or led to the development of, novel technologies for molecular diagnostics and those who have contributed significantly to disease and patient management through their research.
Jaffe will receive her award and give a lecture on Nov. 12 at the AMP 2026 Annual Meeting & Expo in November in Seattle.
