Association for Molecular Pathology Honors National Cancer Institute Pathologist

Elaine S. Jaffe, M.D., of the National Cancer Institute, has received the Association for Molecular Pathology’s (AMP) 2026 Award for Excellence in Molecular Diagnostics, one of the field’s highest honors. The award recognizes lifetime and special achievements that advance molecular medicine through technologies used in real diagnostic practice.

AMP represents molecular diagnostics professionals and clinical laboratory scientists who develop and perform tests that inform diagnosis, treatment selection, and disease monitoring. For this year’s award, the committee highlighted Jaffe’s sustained influence on how molecular findings are translated into clinical decisions.

Jaffe’s work has reshaped scientific and medical understanding of lymphoid malignancies, particularly by defining lymphomas as distinct diseases of the immune system rather than broad, histologic categories. Her contributions helped build modern frameworks that guide prognosis and research directions worldwide.

A central part of her legacy is the molecular dissection of T-cell, B-cell, and natural killer-cell lymphomas. By connecting molecular mechanisms to disease behavior, her research provided a clearer biological basis for classification, risk assessment, and patient stratification.

Her investigations into Epstein–Barr virus–associated disorders further broadened hematopathology’s molecular scope. In parallel, studies related to Castleman disease and immune dysregulation syndromes expanded understanding of how immune perturbations drive malignancy.

AMP leadership noted that Jaffe’s efforts profoundly shaped global clinical practice. The committee emphasized her role in harmonizing lymphoma diagnosis through World Health Organization and International Consensus Classification systems—tools now used across laboratories and countries.

According to AMP President Aaron Bossler, M.D., Ph.D., the recognition also reflects the association’s mission to advance molecular technologies for better patient care. Jaffe is widely cited in clinical oncology and has served as a senior investigator at NCI since 1974.

Her academic path included degrees from Cornell University and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, with residencies at Georgetown University Hospital and NCI. In 1974, her team published work identifying follicular lymphoma as arising from germinal center tissue in the New England Journal of Medicine, often described as a “citation classic.”

Jaffe will receive the award and deliver a lecture on Nov. 12 during the AMP 2026 Annual Meeting & Expo in Seattle.