Mikala Egeblad – Candidate for Board of Directors of AACR

The voting for the 2025 AACR Annual Election is now open, where members will vote for the next President-Elect, Treasurer, five Board Members, and four members of the Nominating Committee.

This year, Mikala Egeblad, PhD is a candidate for the Board of Directors of AACR.

Mikala Egeblad, PhD, is an Associate Director at the Giovanis Institute for Translational Cell Biology and a co-leader of the Cancer Invasion and Metastasis Program at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center.

She is also a professor of Cell Biology and Oncology, as well as the Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Tumor Microenvironment at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.

Additionally, Dr. Egeblad serves as an adjunct professor at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Previously, she held various positions at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, including Professor and co-leader of the Cellular Communication in Cancer Program, and served as a visiting assistant professor at the University of California, San Francisco.

Dr. Mikala Egeblad’s research focuses on the tumor microenvironment and its role in cancer progression, particularly metastasis.

She uses advanced intravital microscopy in living mice to explore how neutrophils, macrophages, and cancer cells interact to influence tumor growth and response to treatment.

Her work also investigates the formation of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) and their contribution to cancer metastasis.

Additionally, Dr. Egeblad examines the mechanisms by which neutrophils and macrophages can be reprogrammed or inhibited to enhance the effectiveness of cancer therapies and suppress metastatic spread, aiming to develop more targeted and effective treatments.

Dr. Mikala Egeblad has made significant contributions to the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) through various leadership roles and recognitions.

She will serve as the conference cochair for the AACR Special Conference on Tumor Body Interactions in 2024.

In 2022, she delivered a keynote address at the AACR Special Conference on Cancer Metastasis, where she presented her work on how neutrophil extracellular traps orchestrate metastasis.

Dr. Egeblad has also served as a member of the AACR Princess Takamatsu Memorial Lectureship Committee (2022-2024) and the Aging and Cancer Task Force (2021-present).

Her involvement in scientific review includes serving on The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research Science of the Patient Grants Scientific Review Committee.

Additionally, she has played a leading role in the Tumor Microenvironment Working Group Steering Committee, first as chair-elect (2020-2023) and later as chair (2022-2024), and has contributed to the AACR Annual Meeting Education Committee in multiple terms.

Education

Dr. Mikala Egeblad holds a BS in Medicine (1993), an MSc in Human Biology (1996), and a PhD in Health Sciences from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

She completed her postdoctoral training as a fellow in the Department of Anatomy at the University of California, San Francisco, from 2001 to 2006, where she developed her expertise in cancer biology and tumor microenvironment research.

Honors and Awards

• Recipient, Metastasis Research Society Fidler Innovator Award (2024).
• Member, Advisory Board, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center Tumor Immunology and Immunotherapy Program (2024-present).
• Honoree, Clarivate “Highly Cited Researcher” (2023).
• Honoree, Maryland Moonshot Senior Scholar (2023).
• Inductee, Elmezzi Graduate School of Molecular Medicine at Northwell Health Chapter of Sigma Xi (2023).
• Member, Brensocatib Research Advisory Board, Insmed Inc (2021-2022).

Interviews with Mikala Egeblad

Dr. Mikala Egeblad, San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (7th March, 2023)

Mikala Egeblad Science Talk: “NETs in Flames: Neutrophil Extracellular Traps in Disease” – Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) (10th July, 2020)