In 1998, Dr. Jaffe’s organizational and oratorical talents came to full fruition, when she, together with Dr. Cheryl Willman, served as Director of the Long Course, “Lymphoma and Leukemia: Integration of Morphology and Biologic Markers.” Although the field of hematopathology had been the subject of two previous Long Courses, the dramatic advances in molecular pathology and immunology in the previous decade provided a propitious moment to revisit the subject. As co-director, Dr. Jaffe was responsible for the crisp and clear presentations of this complex and often confusing group of tumors. Dr. Jaffe’s previous participation in an IAP Short Course, the IAP sponsored Immunopathologic Techniques in Diagnostic Pathology, and repeated involvement in evening Hematopathology Specialty Conferences as well as multiple lectures (1979, 81, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90) provide a chronology of the evolution of thought regarding the malignant lymphomas.

Her involvement in Long Course Programs continued as an invited speaker in 2000, “Highlighting Pathology in the New Millennium”. Her talk entitled “Shifting Sands of Diagnostic Hematopathology” once again emphasized the influence that modern molecular techniques have had on diagnostic hematopathology in the 21st century. Dr. Jaffe’s educational influence also spread to the International arena through her involvement as invited lecturer and/or symposium participant on five occasions at the International Congresses of the International Academy of Pathology (1984, 86, 96, 98, 2000).

Dr. Jaffe served on the Executive Council from 1989-1992, was the representative to the Biological Stain Commission (1990-1996) and served on the Castleman Award Committee (1993-1995). During her tenure as President, the Academy recruited a new Executive Director and began initiatives to modernize many of the Academy’s operations, including electronic abstract submission for the annual meeting and the availability of the Academy’s journals “on line”. Following her term as President her creative leadership as chair of the Ad Hoc Committee on Membership, 1999-2001 introduced the highly successful Ambassador’s Program to recruit new junior members. This program tripled the junior membership in two years.

Born in New York City, Dr. Jaffe received her undergraduate and early medical education from Cornell University. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School (1969), she completed an internship in Pathology at Georgetown University Hospital (1969-1970). In July 1970, Dr. Jaffe came to the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health where she completed her pathology Residency and began her long and illustrious career in pathology. Following a two-year fellowship in Hematopathology under the tutelage of Dr. Costan Berard, she joined the staff as a Senior Investigator (1974) and has remained at the NIH throughout her career. As the Chief of the Hematopathology Section, her clinical and investigational studies have been intertwined to dramatically alter our understanding of the malignant lymphomas. One of her earliest papers on Nodular Lymphomas (1974), a Citation Classic, presented evidence for the hitherto unknown origin of this tumor from follicular B cells. Since then, Dr. Jaffe’s keen diagnostic eye and meticulous studies have helped to recognize and define not only the more common malignant lymphomas but also unusual variants, such as post thymic T cell malignancies. Her work continually stresses the clinical implications of diagnoses, emphasizing our role as pathologists as clinical consultants.

Although Dr. Jaffe has spent her entire career at NIH, her impact on the field of hematopathology has been felt around the world, through her more than 400 articles, 40 book chapters, and editorship of a highly respected textbook on Hematopathology. In the field of oncology, she was amongst the 10 most highly cited researchers in clinical medicine between 1981 and 1998, and the only woman to appear on this prestigious list. She has served on 12 journal editorial boards, including the Academy’s own Modern Pathology and Laboratory Investigation. She has also been elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Dr. Jaffe has lectured and been a visiting professor throughout the world. These invitations have included many prestigious named lectureships. In addition to her activities in the USCAP, she has served as President of the Society for Hematopathology (1994-1996) and as Councilor and Advisory Board member of the American Society of Hematology.

Dr. Jaffe has been involved in numerous national and international lymphoma classification projects, including the Revised European-American Classification of Lymphoid Neoplasms (REAL classification). For the past five years, she has served as a member of the Steering Committee and Senior Editor for the recently published (2001) WHO Classifications of Tumors: Pathology and Genetics of the Hematopoietic and Lymphoid Tissues. More than 100 internationally recognized hematopathologists, oncologists and hematologists participated in this landmark effort that, for the first time, produced a classification that has received worldwide acceptance. The completion and success of this mammoth project is a tribute to Dr. Jaffe’s abilities to work together with a large international group of colleagues and bring clarity to the complexities of hematologic malignancies.

In addition to Dr. Jaffe’s contributions to the field of hematopathology, Dr. Jaffe has also been instrumental in the training of pathology residents and fellows at NIH. She has served as the deputy chief of the Laboratory of Pathology since 1982 and as co-director of the Residency Program in Anatomic Pathology, as well as director of the Hematopathology Fellowship. Her skills as a teacher and role model were recently recognized by her receipt of the National Cancer Institute’s Outstanding Mentor Award in 2001.

Dr. Jaffe’s interests and dedication extend outside of medicine, where while pursuing her training and academic career, she and her lawyer husband Michael have raised two sons, Greg, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist for the Wall Street Journal, and Cale, a lawyer, currently clerking on the U.S. Court of Appeals. She now also finds time to relish in her two grandchildren, Allison and Matthew, in the Washington area or on the slopes in Colorado!