Elaine Jaffe
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Elaine Sarkin Jaffe (born in August 1943) is a senior
National Cancer Institute The National Cancer Institute (NCI) coordinates the United States National Cancer Program and is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is one of eleven agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ...
(NCI) investigator at the
National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...
(NIH) most well known for her contribution to hematopathology. She completed her medical education at
Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...
and the
University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
, receiving her M.D. degree from
University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
in 1969. After an internship at
Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...
she joined NCI as a resident in anatomic pathology, and has been a senior investigator since 1974, focusing on the classification and definition of
lymphoma Lymphoma is a group of blood and lymph tumors that develop from lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). In current usage the name usually refers to just the cancerous versions rather than all such tumours. Signs and symptoms may include enla ...
s. Jaffe's early work helped to provide a deeper understanding of the origin of lymphomas, especially
follicular lymphoma Follicular lymphoma (FL) is a cancer that involves certain types of white blood cells known as lymphocytes. The cancer originates from the uncontrolled division of specific types of B-cells known as centrocytes and centroblasts. These cells norma ...
. Her team notably elucidated the difference between T cell and B cell lymphomas. Her lab's findings led to the development of the
WHO Who or WHO may refer to: * Who (pronoun), an interrogative or relative pronoun * Who?, one of the Five Ws in journalism * World Health Organization Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Who, a creature in the Dr. Seuss book '' Horton He ...
Classification of Tumours of the Hematopoietic and Lymphoid Tissues. Jaffe was the President of the Society of Hematopathology at the time that the WHO's Revised European-American Classification of Lymphoid Neoplasms (REAL) classification system was developed in 1994; the REAL classification system is now considered the gold standard in hematopathology. Today, her research includes genetic and epigenetic studies aimed at understanding how B-cells become
Hodgkin's lymphoma Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is a type of lymphoma, in which cancer originates from a specific type of white blood cell called lymphocytes, where multinucleated Reed–Sternberg cells (RS cells) are present in the patient's lymph nodes. The condition w ...
cells, particularly through the lens of the microenvironment. Jaffe's research has led to improvements in cancer treatments, including disease-specific therapies and improved clinical outcomes.


Early life and career development

Jaffe is the daughter of Ukrainian immigrants who fled Russia during World War I. As a child in
White Plains, New York (Always Faithful) , image_seal = WhitePlainsSeal.png , seal_link = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = U.S. state, State , su ...
, Jaffe was drawn to the sciences, particularly astronomy and geology. In an interview she states, "I fell in love with biology and decided in high school that I was going to become a doctor." She received her undergraduate degree from Cornell University, and completed her medical education at the University of Pennsylvania in the late 1960s, where she was one of only five women in a class of more than 100 medical students. In her second year of medical school, she met and married her husband Michael Evan Jaffe, then a law student. Jaffe and her husband have two sons, Greg—an award-winning journalist at The Washington Post, formerly a reporter at the Wall Street Journal—and Caleb—a law professor at the
University of Virginia Law School The University of Virginia School of Law (Virginia Law or UVA Law) is the law school of the University of Virginia, a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson as part of his "academical v ...
, formerly the director of the Virginia office of the
Southern Environmental Law Center Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) is the largest 501(c)(3) organization, 501(c)(3) environmental nonprofit organization in the Southern region, with more than 80 attorneys and 75 staff members working at the local, state, and federal level ...
in Charlottesville, Virginia. Jaffe, her husband and first child moved to the Washington, D.C. area, where the Jaffes' second son was born. Jaffe took a residency position at Georgetown University and worked primarily in
anatomic pathology Anatomical pathology (''Commonwealth'') or Anatomic pathology (''U.S.'') is a medical specialty that is concerned with the diagnosis of disease based on the gross examination, macroscopic, Histopathology, microscopic, biochemical, immu ...
. After a year at Georgetown, Jaffe entered an NCI residency program. Jaffe's early research at NCI helped replace purely descriptive classifications with those based on immunology which helped in the development process leading to today's disease-specific therapies. Jaffe and her fellow NCI researchers showed that red blood cells coated with antibody and erythrocyte-antibody-complement (EAC) adhered to B-cell areas, proving they were lymphocytes derived from the lymphoid follicles.


Honors and awards

Jaffe has served on the editorial boards of the American Journal of Pathology, the American Journal of Surgical Pathology, Blood, Cancer Research, and Modern Pathology. She has also served as president of the Society for Hematopathology and the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology (USCAP) (from 1998 to 1999). In 1993, Jaffe was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). In 2005 she was chair of the Medical Sciences Section of AAAS and in 2007 she was the second Anita Roberts Lecturer at the NIH. Jaffe is considered one of the most-cited researchers in clinical medicine by ''Science Watch ''and was among the top 10 in oncology between 1981 and 1998. She is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine.


Awards

*
United States Public Health Service The United States Public Health Service (USPHS or PHS) is a collection of agencies of the Department of Health and Human Services concerned with public health, containing nine out of the department's twelve operating divisions. The Assistant ...
: ** Commendation Medal, 1979 **
Public Health Service Meritorious Service Medal The Public Health Service Meritorious Service Medal is an honor award presented to members of the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Officer Corps and to members of any Uniformed Services of the United States The United States h ...
, 1984 ** Outstanding Service Medal, 1988 ** Surgeon General's Exemplary Service Medal, 1993 ** Unit Commendation, 1997 * Fred W. Stewart Award from
Memorial-Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK or MSKCC) is a cancer treatment and research institution in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, founded in 1884 as the New York Cancer Hospital. MSKCC is one of 52 National Cancer Institute– ...
* F.K. Mostofi Distinguished Service Award from the
United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology The United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology, abbreviated USCAP, is the largest North American organization of pathologist Pathology is the study of the causes and effects of disease or injury. The word ''pathology'' also refers to th ...
, 2003 * Distinguished Clinical Teacher award from the NIH Fellows Committee *
National Cancer Institute The National Cancer Institute (NCI) coordinates the United States National Cancer Program and is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is one of eleven agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ...
Outstanding Mentor Award, 2011 * Doctorate Honoris Causa from the
University of Barcelona The University of Barcelona ( ca, Universitat de Barcelona, UB; ; es, link=no, Universidad de Barcelona) is a public university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia, in Spain. With 63,000 students, it is one of the biggest universities i ...
, 2008 * Chugai Award for Excellence in Mentoring and Scholarship from the
American Society for Investigative Pathology The American Society for Investigative Pathology (ASIP) is a society of biomedical scientists who investigate mechanisms of disease. ASIP membership includes scientists in the academic, government, hospital, and pharmaceutical arenas that focus thei ...
* Henry M. Stratton Medal from the
American Society of Hematology The American Society of Hematology (ASH) is a professional organization representing hematologists. It was founded in 1958. Its annual meeting is held in December of every year and has attracted more than 30,000 attendees. The society publishes t ...
, 2013 * ASIP Rous-Whipple Award from the
American Society for Investigative Pathology The American Society for Investigative Pathology (ASIP) is a society of biomedical scientists who investigate mechanisms of disease. ASIP membership includes scientists in the academic, government, hospital, and pharmaceutical arenas that focus thei ...
, 2016


See also

*
Surgical pathology Surgical pathology is the most significant and time-consuming area of practice for most anatomical pathologists. Surgical pathology involves gross and microscopic examination of surgical specimens, as well as biopsies submitted by surgeons and ...
*
Hematopathology Hematopathology or hemopathology (both also spelled haem-, see spelling differences) is the study of diseases and disorders affecting and found in blood cells, their production, and any organs and tissues involved in hematopoiesis, such as bone m ...
*
List of pathologists A list of people notable in the field of pathology. A * John Abercrombie, Scottish physician, neuropathologist and philosopher. * Maude Abbott (1869–1940), Canadian pathologist, one of the earliest women graduated in medicine, expert in co ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jaffe, Elaine Weill Cornell Medical College alumni Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania alumni Living people Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences American pathologists NIH Women Scientists Project 1943 births Members of the National Academy of Medicine