BOSTON—Kai W. Wucherpfennig, MD, PhD, a researcher at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, has been named a Fellow for the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Wucherpfennig was honored for his distinguished contributions in the field of immunology, particularly for advancing the understanding of T-cell receptor recognition and T-cell activation in human autoimmune disease.
"AAAS has made tremendous contributions to all fields of science and I am honored to be named to this distinction," says Wucherpfennig, who is also a professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School.
Wucherpfennig received his MD in 1986 and his PhD in 1987 from the University of Goettingen, Germany. He completed research fellowships at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard University. He joined Dana-Farber in 1995.
The AAAS Fellowship was established in 1874. This year, AAAS members elected 531 Fellows in honor of their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications. New Fellows will be formally recognized at 2010 AAAS Annual Meeting in February in San Diego.
AAAS is the world's largest general scientific society, and publisher of the journal, Science as well as Science Translational Medicine and Science Signaling. AAAS was founded in 1848, and includes some 262 affiliated societies and academies of science, serving 10 million individuals. Science has the largest paid circulation of any peer-reviewed general science journal in the world, with an estimated total readership of 1 million. The non-profit AAAS is open to all and fulfills its mission to "advance science and serve society" through initiatives in science policy; international programs; science education; and more.
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (www.dana-farber.org) is a principal teaching affiliate of the Harvard Medical School and is among the leading cancer research and care centers in the United States. It is a founding member of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center (DF/HCC), designated a comprehensive cancer center by the National Cancer Institute. It is the top ranked cancer center in New England, according to U.S. News & World Report, and one of the largest recipients among independent hospitals of National Cancer Institute and National Institutes of Health grant funding