Yale Cancer Center presents new findings at 2026 AACR Annual Meeting

Yale Cancer Center experts are presenting research at the 2026 American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting, April 17-22 at the San Diego Convention Center. From April 17–22, 2026, Yale Cancer Center faculty and trainees joined more than 22,000 cancer researchers from around the world at the 117th annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research. Yale Cancer Center experts shared findings on patient-centered trials, new methods in pathology, and precision treatments for head and neck cancers.

Highlights from the annual meeting included “Advancing Precision Approaches to Head and Neck Cancers,” chaired by Barbara Burtness, where she presented data on HPV-independent head and neck cancer, and “Advancing Patient-Centered Clinical Trials: Bringing Trials to Patients and Patients to Trials,” moderated by Roy S. Herbst and featuring a presentation by Pat LoRusso.

Katerina Politi will give a plenary presentation on basic science and translational research. David Rimm will receive the AACR James S. Ewing-Thelma B. Dunn Award for Outstanding Achievement in Pathology in Cancer Research.

During the opening ceremony, Samir Zaidi was awarded an AACR Trailblazer Cancer Research Grant for his project, “Mechanisms of cellular plasticity in neuroendocrine prostate cancer initiation.” Nine early-stage investigators and six mid-career investigators each received a $1 million grant to support promising cancer research.

The meeting featured over 90 presentations from Yale Cancer Center faculty and trainees. Additional highlighted presentations included “Epistasis and Evolution: How Genetic Interactions Shape Cancer Trajectories,” chaired and presented by Jeffrey Peter Towsend; “Cutting Edge Advances in Hematology,” chaired by Rong Fan, with Lajos Pusztai as presenting author and David Rimm as presenter; and “Immune-Genomic Mechanisms and Treatment of Peritoneal Metastases,” presented by Raghav Sundar.