Nobel laureate Phillip A. Sharp, institute professor at the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT, has been chosen to serve as president-elect of AAAS. He will begin his one-year term as president in February 2013, at the close of the 179th AAAS Annual Meeting in Boston.
Sharpe, a noted molecular biologist with a focus on the genetic causes of cancer, shared the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of "split genes"—the finding that genes could be composed of several separate segments within DNA. His lab now focuses on the therapeutic potential of small RNA molecules that can switch genes on and off. He has co-founded two companies: Biogen (now Biogen Idec) and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals.
At the close of the 2012 meeting, William H. Press began a one-year term as AAAS president. Press is a professor of computer science and integrative biology at the University of Texas at Austin, and member of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST).
Here are the full election results, with all terms beginning February20, 2012.