Dr. Jaffe did her medical studies at Cornell University Medical College and the University of Pennsylvania. She has been Chief of the Hematopathology Section at the NCI since 1980.   Dr. Jaffe is an author of more than 500 peer reviewed articles, and is an Editor for the WHO Classification of Tumors of the Hematopoietic and Lymphoid Tissues. Science Watch named her among the 10 most highly cited researchers in clinical oncology, and she was included among the 400 most highly cited researchers in Biomedical Science between 1996 and 2011.     

Dr. Jaffe has held leadership positions in several major medical societies, including the American Society of Hematology, USCAP and the Society for Hematopathology.  Dr. Jaffe has served on 18 journal editorial boards.   She was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies in 2008, and in 2013 was awarded the Stratton Medal from the American Society of Hematology. She was recently named the 2016 recipient of the Rous Whipple Award from the American Society of Investigative Pathology.