AACI Public Service Award

Honoring Public Servants

The AACI Public Service Award was created in 2003 to recognize public servants who are known supporters of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and the cancer centers in their respective states. The award is presented at the AACI/CCAF Annual Meeting in years when the meeting is held in Washington, DC.

During years when the AACI Public Service Award is presented, a call for nominations will be open to cancer center directors and government relations staff at the cancer centers. Eligible nominees will be considered for the award based on the following:

  • Satisfactory completion of the AACI Public Service Award nomination form
  • Description of how the nominee has supported biomedical research funding in general, and cancer research funding in particular
  • Description of how the nominee has supported the cancer center and promotes health equity

The AACI Public Service Award is presented to one Republican and one Democrat in the years that the AACI/CCAF Annual Meeting is held in Washington, DC. Recipients are encouraged to accept the award in person. 

Honorees are selected by a majority vote of the AACI Board of Directors. In the event that there is no nomination or no nominee meets the award criteria, no award will be made for that cycle. 

The following honorees have received the AACI Public Service Award at the AACI/CCAF Annual Meeting: 

2023
Representative Neal Dunn (R-FL)
Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) 

2019
Representative Kathy Castor (D-FL)
Representative Fred Upton (R-MI)

2018

Barbara Duffy Stewart (AACI Founding Executive Director)

2017
Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO)
Senator Bob Casey (D-PA)

2016
Representative Tom Cole (R-OK)
Representative Marcia Fudge (D-OH)

2015
Representative Diana DeGette (D-CO)
Senator Patty Murray (D-WA)
Representative Fred Upton (R-MI)
Representative Kevin Yoder (R-KS)

2013
Representative Lois Capps (D-CA)
Representative Peter King (R-NY)

2012
Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS)
Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL)

2011
Representative Steve Israel (D-NY)
Representative C.W. Bill Young (R-FL)

2010
Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH)

2009
Senator Arlen Specter (D-PA)

2008
Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA)

2007
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)
Representative Michael Castle (R-DE)
Representative Edward Markey (D-MA)

2006
Representative John Edward Porter (R-IL)

2005
Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
Representative Deborah Pryce (R-OH)

2003
Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA)
Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA)