Distinguished Scientist Award

The AACI Distinguished Scientist Award was created in 2002 to recognize a major contributor to the field of cancer research. 

Selected by the AACI Board of Directors, the awardee should be widely known in the cancer community through their research accomplishments. 

Past AACI Distinguished Scientist honorees include Drs. Patricia LoRusso; Elizabeth M. Jaffee; Judy E. Garber; William G. Kaelin, Jr.; Douglas R. Lowy; Charles Perou; Carl June; James Allison; and Lewis Cantley.

Paula D. Bos, PhD

Paula D. Bos, PhD, is an associate professor of pathology and the co-leader of the Cancer Biology Program at VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center.

A major focus of Dr. Bos’s research is the identification of tumor-promoting mechanisms by regulatory Treg cells, a subset of CD4 lymphocytes prominently found in tumors and associated with poor prognoses. After analyzing breast cancer models in which Treg cells had been targeted and destroyed, she discovered an increased presence of IFN-γ and functional reprogramming of macrophages into tumor-fighting cells. Her findings, published in 2020 in Cell Reports, validate the potential for adoptive transfer therapeutics using macrophages programmed with the IFN-γ protein to effectively treat breast cancer. Her work raises the possibility that white blood cells can be extracted from cancer patients, reprogrammed outside of their body through brief exposure to the IFN-γ protein, and re-infused back into the patient, contributing to the generation of anti-tumor responses.

Dr. Bos's pioneering work has garnered her recognition and funding, including a Susan G. Komen Career Catalyst Award (2018), a V Foundation Scholar Award (2018), an American Cancer Society (ACS) Scholar Award (2021), and a National Institutes of Health (NIH) MERIT (R37) Award, and her expertise in the tumor microenvironment, its progression, and metastatic dissemination, has earned local, national, and global recognition. VCU Massey leadership unanimously selected Dr. Bos to serve as the Co-Leader of the new Cancer Biology Research Program. She also serves on the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Tumor Microenvironment Steering Committee and is a regular reviewer for NIH, ACS, and Department of Defense study sections. Dr. Bos is part of an international effort that developed the first collaborative platform to streamline research into brain metastases, called the Brain Metastasis Cell Lines Panel. She has developed and characterized multiple cell lines for this project.

Throughout her career, Dr. Bos has demonstrated her commitment to team-based collaboration and community-engaged research. Her work promises to have an enduring impact on cancer research and ultimately cancer care as she investigates tumor growth mechanisms and explores potential immunotherapies for cancer control.