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2024–2025 AACR President Patricia M. LoRusso discusses the AACR Center for Cancer Clinical Trials during the Opening Ceremony of the AACR Annual Meeting 2025.During the past year, AACR’s programs and initiatives have translated innovative cancer science to improve the lives of cancer patients. Entering 2026, AACR will continue to catalyze groundbreaking science in pursuit of its mission to prevent and cure all cancers.
In January 2026, AACR will partner with the Cancer Vaccine Coalition to organize “Transforming Cancer Care: A Global Think Tank to Accelerate Advances in Cancer Immunity.” Hosted by HSBC Innovation Banking, this think tank will explore current and emerging opportunities for progress in cancer vaccine research. Under the leadership of Organizing Committee Cochairs Mary (Nora) L. Disis, MD; Keith L. Knutson, PhD; Robert H. Vonderheide, MD, DPhil, FAACR; and former AACR President Elizabeth M. Jaffee, MD, FAACR, the participants will work to optimize vaccine research and development pipelines, define barriers to progress, and identify new opportunities for collaboration in order to transform outcomes for cancer patients.
In July 2026, leaders from biotech, pharma, academia, regulatory agencies, technology, venture capital, and patient advocacy will convene in Boston for the AACR Drug Discovery and Development Conference. Chaired by 2024–2025 AACR President Patricia M. LoRusso, DO, PhD (hc), FAACR; 2025–2026 AACR President Lillian L. Siu, MD, FAACR; 2026–2027 AACR President Keith T. Flaherty, MD, FAACR; and AACR Board Member Timothy A. Yap, MBBS, PhD, this groundbreaking global conference will redefine the future of oncology drug development. By challenging conventional paradigms, catalyzing cross-disciplinary innovation, and fostering transformative collaborations, this new conference is designed to revolutionize the way cancer therapies are discovered, developed, and delivered to patients.
During the Opening Ceremony of the AACR Annual Meeting 2025, Dr. LoRusso announced the launch of the AACR Center for Cancer Clinical Trials, a bold new initiative designed to leverage the reach, diversity, and expertise of AACR members to design and execute clinical trials. Under the leadership of Dr. LoRusso, chair of the AACR Clinical Trials Advisory Council, and a team of expert investigators, AACR has been working with several industry and academic partners to develop a biomarker-driven platform trial in gastroesophageal cancers.
Those efforts will soon come to fruition with the launch of the AACR Adaptive Biomarker-Driven Organ Preservation Trial in GE Adenocarcinomas (AACR-ADOPT-GEA). The objective of this groundbreaking trial—which will enroll its first patients in 2026—is to preserve the organ of cancer-origin by eliminating surgery in the treatment of as many localized gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma patients as possible through a unique biomarker-driven adaptive platform approach. In April 2026, the design and methods of AACR-ADOPT-GEA will be shared with the global cancer research community as a clinical trial in progress at the AACR Annual Meeting in San Diego.
While AACR’s comprehensive efforts to defend science in 2025 had a positive impact on federal budget negotiations for FY2026, robust, sustained funding for cancer research remains under threat in the coming year. In 2026, AACR will work with its Rally for Medical Research partners to engage in local advocacy, making the case for federal funding in the home districts of key Congressional leaders. This “Rally on the Road” initiative will organize medical research roundtables in several states—including Alabama, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and West Virginia, whose representatives serve on House and Senate Health and Human Services Subcommittees—to highlight the wide range of economic and public health benefits of NIH funding, and to urge those representatives to continue the long-standing tradition of bipartisan support for cancer research.
