Register today for the 17th Annual AACI CRI Meeting, June 23-25, 2025, at Loews Chicago O'Hare Hotel in Rosemont, IL.
On Thursday, May 22, AACI co-hosted the 2025 Hill Day with the American Association for Cancer Research. Over 160 participants from 34 states convened in Washington, DC in support of stable funding increases for the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute.
Lauren Wall, MSc, will moderate a discussion, "Shaping the Future: Empowering Career Pathways in Oncology," with panelists Stefanie Belanger, MHA, CCRP, Whitney Cunningham, MS, PHR, and Danielle S. Mitchell. The session will be held at 3:00 pm central time on Monday, June 23, during the 17th Annual AACI Clinical Research Innovation (CRI) Meeting.
AACI recently launched a working group dedicated to defining cancer service lines (CSLs). This working group will bring together representatives from centers with well-established cancer service lines, those in early development stages, and institutions currently planning their service line infrastructure to assess governance and leadership models, organizational and financial structure, evidence-based best practices, and metrics of CSLs in AACI cancer centers.
On Friday, May 30, President Donald J. Trump released his final budget proposal for Fiscal Year (FY) 2026, slashing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ budget by 25.2 percent overall, and cutting funding for the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute by 40.4 percent and 37.2 percent, respectively. AACI urges Congress to reject the FY 2026 budget proposal and protect the institutions that make the U.S. a global leader in biomedical research.
After mobilizing nationwide protests this spring, Stand Up for Science (SUFS) has shifted its focus to the proposed budget cuts that threaten the future of scientific research in the U.S. SUFS is organizing the Summer Fight for Science to raise awareness of federally funded scientific research through teach-ins, science demonstrations, and open labs.
Miriam Merad, MD, PhD, has been awarded the title of Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur [Knight of the Legion of Honor] by the French Republic for her contributions to macrophage biology and immunology.
A cancer drug trial designed in part by a University of Florida College of Public Health and Health Professions faculty member has won the Society for Clinical Trials’ David Sackett Trial of the Year Award. The trial showed that adding the drug blinatumomab to a chemotherapy regimen for children with acute lymphoblastic lymphoma decreased risk of relapse by about two-thirds.
Bruce Edgar, PhD, researcher at Huntsman Cancer Institute and professor of oncological sciences at the University of Utah, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences.
Adrien Holzgreve, MD, MHBA, a visiting assistant professor in the Ahmanson Translational Theranostics Division at UCLA, has been recognized by the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging as "One to Watch."
Anthony Sung, MD, was formally invested as the A. Drue Jennings Professor in Medical Oncology at The University of Kansas Cancer Center in recognition of his research and his dedication to improving patient care.
Fox Chase Cancer Center has received a five-year renewal of its Cancer Center Support Grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Jonathan Chernoff, MD, PhD, is the cancer center's director.
University of Virginia researcher Natasha D. Sheybani, PhD, has received $5.5 million from the Department of Defense to study the use of focused sound waves to improve the immune system’s ability to battle breast cancer.
Researchers at the Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center at Baylor College of Medicine have been awarded more than $5 million in grants by the Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) to support research focused on cancer treatment and innovative core facilities. CPRIT awarded $93 million in grants to institutions across Texas, including five to Baylor.
A new award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) aims to support the development of AI models to improve breast cancer treatment. The models will integrate data from different scales and timepoints from patients’ experiences. It will be sourced from a multi-center collaboration network consisting of the University of Pittsburgh, Duke University, and MD Anderson Cancer Center.
Jefferson Health has been approved for a funding award by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI)’s Health Systems Implementation Initiative to implement an electronic patient-reported outcome program for symptom management of patients receiving cancer treatment.
John C. Ruckdeschel, MD, FACP, FCCP, will join Fox Chase as a professor in the Department of Hematology/Oncology. He previously held leadership roles at Moffitt Cancer Center, Karmanos Cancer Institute, and other cancer institutions.
The Louisiana Cancer Research Center (LCRC) has named Shalini Kulasingam, PhD, MPH, as associate director of population science. Dr. Kulasingam will collaborate with cancer population health researchers across LCRC’s partner institutions.
Alana Welm, PhD, has been named chair of the Department of Oncological Sciences in the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine at the University of Utah.
Jenna Hatcher, PhD, vice provost and chief inclusion officer for the University of Arizona, has been appointed to return to the University of Arizona Cancer Center as associate director of community outreach and engagement.
Mustafa Khasraw, MD, deputy director of the Duke Cancer Institute Center for Cancer Immunotherapy, is at the forefront of a promising clinical trial aimed at improving outcomes for patients with glioblastoma.
New research from VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center is the first to suggest that a tumor-driving gene known as AEG-1 actively regulates the inflammation responsible for causing chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy. Eliminating the function of this gene using targeted therapies could help manage a debilitating side effect experienced by many cancer patients.
As more people receive genetic testing after a cancer diagnosis, newer variants have been identified that increase risk of developing cancer. A study led by the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center finds that patients with three of these variants face no extra risk of dying from their cancer.
A common pinworm medication may stop and reverse cancer growth in Merkel cell carcinoma, according to research led by the University of Arizona Cancer Center. Pyrvinium pamoate, a medication approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1955, has been shown to have antitumor potential in several different cancers, including breast, colorectal, pancreatic and bladder cancers.
The University of Kansas Cancer Center is the lead site in a multicenter trial exploring a new treatment approach for people with newly diagnosed glioblastoma. This investigational study is testing a personalized treatment designed to enhance the body’s own immune system in a targeted response against brain tumors.
A Johns Hopkins Medicine-led research team reports that it has identified a recurrent frameshift mutation, called F722fs, in the MMS22L gene among men of Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry that is associated with a higher risk of prostate cancer and increased sensitivity to a specific anticancer therapy. The MMS22L gene is involved in repairing damaged or faulty DNA.
An international Phase III clinical trial co-led by WashU Medicine researchers at Siteman Cancer Center shows that patients with certain locally advanced head and neck cancers benefited from the addition of pembrolizumab to standard-of-care therapy.
A Fred Hutch study describes a new way to screen for the genes that matter in chemotherapy resistance by using human tumor cells implanted in mice. The study identifies a gene that is well understood in other cancer types—but poorly characterized in small cell lung cancer—that drives drug resistance when it gets turned off.
Breathing wildfire pollution may impact survival for people with lung cancer, according to a study from the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center. Looking at more than 18,000 Californians who had non-small cell lung cancer between 2017 and 2020, the study found that those exposed to more wildfire-caused air pollution in the year after their cancer diagnosis were more likely to die from the disease.
The UK Markey Cancer Center has enrolled its 10,000th patient in the Oncology Research Information Exchange Network (ORIEN) since joining the alliance in 2017. ORIEN is a national consortium of 19 leading cancer centers that collaborate by sharing anonymized patient data and tissue samples through the Total Cancer Care® protocol.
Stanford Medicine is the first hospital system to integrate a new FDA-approved technology into its breast cancer program. The technology, LumiSystem, is a fluorescent imaging system that detects remaining cancer cells after a tumor is excised so surgeons can immediately remove the residual cancer.
Researchers at University of Michigan have shown that the proportion of patients undergoing prostatectomy for the lowest-risk type of cancer dropped over fivefold between 2010 to 2024. They concluded that efforts to increase active surveillance and improved diagnostic methods have helped more men avoid unnecessary surgery.
Nina Bhardwaj, MD, PhD, Matthew Galsky, MD, and colleagues report on results of a Phase I study showing that custom-made vaccines in combination with immune checkpoint inhibitors activate strong immune responses in patients with bladder cancer.
Researchers still do not have a comprehensive picture of the factors that influence gene expression in human cancers. To improve understanding in this field, researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and collaborating institutions investigated for the first time in cancer the association between two sources of genetic variation: germline or inherited structural variation (SV), and DNA methylation.
A new study led by investigators at the UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center suggests that artificial intelligence (AI) could help detect interval breast cancers—those that develop between routine screenings—before they become more advanced and harder to treat. This could lead to better screening practices, earlier treatment and improved patient outcomes.
Researchers at the University of Kentucky have analyzed different factors that could explain the high mortality rates of colorectal cancer in Appalachian Kentucky. The interdisciplinary team focused on samples from patients diagnosed with colon adenocarcinoma, looking at characteristics that could explain disparities in cancer outcomes in Kentucky.
The American Society for Radiation Oncology issued its first clinical guidance on radiation therapy as a treatment for patients with primary squamous cell carcinoma of the anal canal and margin. Brian Czito, MD, co-director of the Duke Cancer Institute’s Gastrointestinal Cancer disease group, chaired the task force that led to this guideline.
A series of preclinical studies show that a new compound, SHP1705, targets circadian clock proteins hijacked by glioblastoma stem cells, impairing the cancer cells’ ability to survive and grow. SHP1705 is also the first clock-targeting compound to complete a Phase I clinical trial, where it was found to be safe and well-tolerated in humans.
Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center has announced that the ongoing phase 2B SURVIVE clinical trial of SurVaxM in glioblastoma will continue following an interim analysis of trial data. The trial aims to evaluate the safety, efficacy, and overall survival benefit of SurVaxM in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma who get standard-of-care treatment combined with SurVaxM.
A study led by researchers at Sitman Cancer Center reports how inherited cancer mutations might take a toll on the body’s cells starting at birth, perhaps predisposing a person to develop cancers at various stages of life.
Prostate cancer has distinct genetic properties in different groups of men that can be targeted to improve patient outcomes, UVA Cancer Center researchers have discovered. Based on new findings in Chinese men, the researchers are urging similar studies in other groups to advance precision medicine and better tailor treatments.
Stanford Cancer Institute scientists found that tumor cells in immunotherapy-unresponsive tumors make erythropoietin (EPO), which binds to receptors on macrophages. By removing or blocking macrophage EPO receptors, the tumors become immune reactive.
Experts in kidney cancer and interventional radiology from The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute recently completed a third successful histotripsy procedure – a new, non-invasive way to treat cancerous kidney tumors available as part of an ongoing clinical trial.
Thanks to cancer research and clinical trials, Navy veteran and stage 4 non-small cell lung cancer survivor John Ryan has witnessed milestones including the birth of his grandchildren.
UNM Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Classical Hematology clinic helps patients who have a broad range of noncancerous blood disorders and chronic blood cancers. Ala Ebaid, MD, directs the program.
Following a three-year strategic planning process, the Public Affairs and Marketing Network (PAMN) has adopted a new name: the Cancer Marketing and Communications Association (CMCA).
Leading experts from numerous disciplines, including medical oncology, obstetrics and gynecology, endocrinology, and pediatrics, came together with the goal of improving cancer care for young people during the first-of-its kind University of Florida AYA Oncology and Oncofertility Conference in April.
Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center has been recognized by two organizations for its excellence as a workplace. Forbes has named Roswell Park to its list of America’s Best Midsize Employers, placing it among the top 11 employers in healthcare nationally. Becker’s Hospital Review also included Roswell Park on its recent 150 Top Places to Work in Healthcare.
Register today for the 17th Annual AACI CRI Meeting, June 23-25, 2025, at Loews Chicago O'Hare Hotel in Rosemont, IL.
Save the date for the 2025 AACI/CCAF Annual Meeting, October 19-21, at Salamander Washington DC.