AACR announces 2026 distinguished service award recipients

The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) will honor leaders from government and the advocacy community with awards for distinguished service in support of cancer research at the AACR Annual Meeting 2026, to be held April 17–22 in San Diego, California.

Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) is being recognized with the 2026 Distinguished Public Service Award for her longstanding support for medical research funding through the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and her leadership during the fiscal year (FY) 2026 appropriations process, in which she spoke out against the Administration’s FY2026 budget proposal to slash NIH funding.

Her efforts were instrumental in Congress ultimately rejecting the President’s proposal to cut NIH funding by over 40% and instead secured a $415 million increase for NIH in FY2026.

Senator Collins has also led efforts to expand access to cancer screening tests and increase opportunities for patients with cancer to participate in clinical trials. To this end, she co-authored the SCREENS for Cancer Act to reauthorize and strengthen the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program. She also introduced the bipartisan NIH Clinical Trial Integrity Act to increase demographic representation in NIH-funded clinical trials.

Jill Feldman is being recognized with the 2026 AACR Distinguished Patient Advocacy and Engagement Award for her leadership, dedication, and impact on both the lung cancer patient advocacy community and lung cancer research. An internationally recognized lung cancer research advocate, Feldman has spent more than two decades working to ensure that patients’ and families’ lived experiences shape research and care.

In 2017, she co-founded EGFR Resisters, a grassroots, patient-driven community committed to accelerating research to extend and improve the lives of people diagnosed with EGFR-mutated lung cancer. Through her leadership, the organization has funded more than $1 million for lung cancer research.

She serves as president of EGFR Resisters, a patient advocate on the ECOG-ACRIN Thoracic Committee, and a member of the programmatic committee for the Department of Defense Lung Cancer Research Program.

She is also a member of the Patient Advisory Board of the Institute for Translational Medicine, and has previously served as chair of the Patient Advisory Committee of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC).

Collins and Feldman will be honored and deliver brief remarks during the Opening Ceremony of the AACR Annual Meeting 2026 on Sunday, April 19.

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