Longtime AAI CEO Michele Hogan to Depart

March 31, 2022

AAI President Gary A. Koretzky, M.D., Ph.D. (AAI ‘92), announces on behalf of the AAI Council that long-time Chief Executive Officer M. Michele Hogan, Ph.D., DFAAI (AAI ‘88), has announced she will be stepping down from her position. Hogan has held the chief executive position at AAI for 26 years. Her official departure date is August 31, 2022. She will remain as Senior Advisor to the Council after this date.

“The Council recognizes the enormous contributions Michele has made to AAI in the years she has led our society,” said Koretzky. “Michele brought a unique skill set to AAI: a passion for and knowledge of immunology, an insider’s understanding of NIH and funding, and a keen business acumen. We are a completely different organization than we were when she joined. Through her leadership, we have become a financially sound society that provides outstanding services to its members.”

Hogan, a Minnesota native, received her Ph.D. in pathobiology from the University of Minnesota School of Medicine, Minneapolis, and was a postdoctoral fellow with Stefanie N. Vogel, Ph.D., DFAAI (AAI ’80), at the Uniformed Services Medical School, Bethesda, MD. She then spent seven years at NIH, ultimately as chief of the Basic Immunology Branch, DAIT, NIAID, before joining AAI.

In her statement to the Council, Hogan said, “I have been honored and privileged to have held this position with AAI and to have served the incredible community of immunologists worldwide.”

Hogan also notes, “The critical role of the discoveries in basic and translational immunology in medicine and health have never been more apparent than over the past few years. The advent of life-changing modalities for infectious diseases, cancer, and autoimmune disease—to name a few—has transformed treatment options and offers the promise of a healthy future. AAI supports immunologists across the span of their careers, from the first-year graduate student to celebrating its most notable senior members. It is incredibly rich with historic discoveries in the field of biomedicine attributable to its members. Over the past 26 years, AAI has grown into a financially and programmatically strong organization supporting its members and giving voice to their accomplishments. It is well poised to carry this momentum into the future.”

In addition to her role as CEO, Hogan is also the executive editor for AAI publications, The Journal of Immunology (The JI), the largest and most highly cited journal in the field, and ImmunoHorizons, a fully open-access journal. She serves as an ex officio member of the AAI Executive Committee and Council. She represents AAI on many committees with the Federation of the American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB), including serving on the FASEB Leadership Development Committee. Hogan has served and advised many other organizations in her AAI capacity. Hogan was deeply involved in the evolution of scholarly publishing from print into the digital realm as The JI was among the earliest biomedical journals to go online over 20 years ago. As executive editor, she has been closely involved in the integrity of peer review and the unbiased and broad dissemination of science. She has also been a strong advocate for society publishers.

Under her guidance, AAI went from supporting a handful of awards and grants to supporting almost 1,000 talented scientists per year. She also oversaw the development of fellowship programs for trainees, young investigators, and PIs. All these programs have benefited members with funding of nearly $3 million per year. She positioned the AAI annual meetings as independent events, increasing attendance and program diversity. She established a unique history of immunology program staffed by professional historians. Additionally, Hogan expanded AAI courses, oversaw the start of a new journal, and worked with the professional staff and the Committee on Public Affairs to give effective voice to the membership and advocate for funding of biomedical research. For these accomplishments and more, the AAI Council honored Hogan with a Distinguished Fellow of AAI award in the inaugural class of 2019.

Hogan thanks the outstanding support and dedication of the AAI Councils—present and past—and the gift of time so generously given to AAI by thousands of members serving in volunteer positions. Finally, she acknowledges the remarkable AAI staff, whose dedication and passion to their positions and AAI is the “lift” under all its success.

“While we are sad to see Michele leave, we are well positioned for this change in leadership,” said Koretzky. “Michele has the gratitude of each of the Councilors, and we wish her well in her next chapter.”

Founded in 1913, The American Association of Immunologists is a society of professionally trained scientists throughout the world dedicated to advancing the knowledge of immunology and its related disciplines, fostering the interchange of ideas and information among investigators, and addressing the potential integration of immunologic principles into clinical practice. The association serves its members by providing a center for the dissemination of information relevant to the field and its practices, organizing and sponsoring educational and professional opportunities, planning and presenting scientific meetings, addressing membership-derived issues and opinions, and responding to important funding and policy challenges.