Penn Medicine at the AACR Annual Meeting 2026

Researchers from the Abramson Cancer Center (ACC) of the University of Pennsylvania and Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine will present data on the latest advances in cancer science and medicine at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2026, taking place April 17-22 in San Diego, CA. Follow Penn Medicine on LinkedIn, Threads, and X for updates from the meeting.

During the meeting, ACC Director Robert Vonderheide, MD, DPhil, will become 2026-2027 President-Elect of AACR, following the association’s annual leadership elections, in which E. John Wherry, PhD, the Barbara and Richard Schiffrin President’s Distinguished Professor and chair of the Department of Systems Pharmacology & Translational Therapeutics, was also elected to serve on the AACR Board of Directors for the 2026-2029 term.

Key Presentations

In the Opening Plenary Session, CAR T cell therapy pioneer Carl June, MD, the Richard W. Vague Professor in Immunotherapy, will share progress in developing CAR T cell therapies for solid tumors. June directs the Center for Cellular Immunotherapies at Penn, where researchers continue to advance new and improved CAR T cell therapies, including next-generation “armored” treatments and a dual-target CAR designed for the deadly brain cancer glioblastoma.

• Presentation title: Beyond blood: The evolution of CAR T therapy for solid malignancies
• Session info: Sunday, April 19 at 9:30 am PT in Hall H - Ground Level - Convention Center

The Clinical Trials Plenary 3 Session will feature the first clinical data from the STAR-101 Phase 1 Clinical Trial for patients with advanced ovarian cancer, mesothelioma or cholangiocarcinoma. The study uses a multi-chain CAR T cell therapy called KIR-CAR, which is based on natural killer (NK) cell receptors to overcome T cell exhaustion. Results will be shared by the clinical trial’s principal investigator Janos L. Tanyi, MD, PhD, an associate professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

• Presentation title: Initial results of a first in human dose-escalation study of KIR-CAR in patients with advanced mesothelin-expressing solid tumors
• Session info: Monday, April 20 at 10:15 am PT in Hall H - Ground Level - Convention Center

In the Late-Breaking Minisymposium, Hematology-Oncology Fellow Minh Than, MD, PhD, will expand upon work recently published in Science, which showed that precancerous cells in the pancreas can be eliminated before they have the chance to become tumors.

• Presentation title: Active RAS inhibition intercepts pancreas cancer in mice
• Session info: Tuesday, April 21 at 2:30 pm PT in Room 5 - Upper Level - Convention Center

Trending topics in oncology

Other invited talks from Penn Medicine experts will focus on some of the biggest topics in cancer prevention, immunotherapy, and discovery science:

Immune evasion and dysregulation: Wherry is chairing and speaking in Major Symposium SY14 - Mechanisms of Immune Evasion and Immune Dysregulation, which will cover potential targets and approaches to improve tumor immunity through immunotherapy and other approaches. Wherry’s research focuses on T cell exhaustion, cancer immunotherapy, and immune health.

• Presentation title: Immunopharmacology of anti-PD-1 and reinvigoration of exhausted CD8 T cells
• Session info: Sunday, April 19 at 1 pm PT in Ballroom 6 CF - Upper Level - Convention Center

AI and tumor mapping: Mingyao Li, PhD, is a professor of Biostatistics and Digital Pathology, whose research focuses on developing machine learning approaches that integrate histology and molecular data to support deeper insights into tissue biology and disease mechanisms. Her work will be featured in Advances in Technologies AT05 - Using AI and Spatial Transcriptomics Data to Predict Spatial Gene Expression from Histopathology Slides.

• Presentation title: AI-powered tissue maps: uniting spatial omics and pathology imaging
• Session info: Monday, April 20 at 12:30 pm PT in Ballroom 6 DE - Upper Level - Convention Center

In Vivo CAR T: Saar Gill, MD, PhD, a professor of Hematology-Oncology, will take part in the AACR-ASCO Joint Session: Next Generation of CAR T-Cell Therapies where he’ll speak about the progress being made to generate CAR T cells directly inside a patient’s body, which would save time and money compared to the current process of engineering CAR T cells for each patient in the laboratory.

• Presentation title: Towards in vivo CAR T
• Session info: Monday, April 20 at 4:45 pm PT in Ballroom 6 CF - Upper Level - Convention Center

At-home cervical cancer testing: Carmen Guerra, MD, the Ruth C. and Raymond G. Perelman Professor of Medicine, is chairing and speaking in Advances in Prevention Research APRV03 - HPV Vaccination and Self-Sampling for Cervical Cancer Prevention and Early Detection Globally and in Underserved Settings. Guerra is involved in community research on self-collection for HPV testing as the Community Outreach and Education leader for the ACC and as the Penn Medicine site lead for the NCI SHIP Trial.

• Presentation title: Advancing cervical cancer prevention through HPV self-sampling: Lessons from the NCI SHIP trial
• Session info: Tuesday, April 21 at 10:15 am PT in Room 5 - Upper Level - Convention Center

Awards and accolades

Carman Man-Chung Li, PhD, an assistant professor of Cancer Biology and a core investigator in the Basser Center for BRCA, is the newest recipient of the AACR Gertrude B. Elion Cancer Research Award. The AACR Gertrude B. Elion Cancer Research Award honors Gertrude B. Elion for her groundbreaking work in biochemistry and pharmacology, which transformed cancer treatment and earned her the 1988 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. This award supports early-stage investigators conducting innovative basic, translational, or clinical cancer research. Li’s presentation will focus on uncovering the earliest processes fueling an aggressive form of breast cancer.

• Presentation title: Harnessing insights from chromatin priming for early interception of basal-like breast cancer
• Session info: Tuesday, April 21 at 12 pm PT in Room 17 - Mezzanine Level - Convention Center

Amulya Sreekumar, PhD, a research associate in Cancer Biology, is one of AACR’s 2026 NextGen Stars, a program that provides graduate students, postdocs, and assistant professors with high-profile presentation opportunities to share highly significant scientific findings with the AACR Annual Meeting audience. Her research into how leftover breast cancer cells maintain a “dormant” state after cancer treatment will be part of the Advances in Understanding Disseminated Tumor Cells Session chaired by her PI Lewis Chodosh, MD, PhD, chair of Cancer Biology. As part of the same session, Chodosh will share his research on preventing breast cancer recurrence by targeting disseminated tumor cells, which was recently translated to a phase II clinical trial.

• Presentation title: Residual breast cancer cells co-opt SOX5-driven endochondral ossification to maintain dormancy
• Session info: Sunday, April 19 at 1 pm PT in Room 31 - Upper Level - Convention Center

Experts from the Perelman School of Medicine are available to comment on a wide range of topics in cancer science and medicine during the meeting on site and by video call, telephone, or email. To arrange interviews, please contact Meagan Raeke at Meagan.Raeke@pennmedicine.upenn.edu or 267-693-6224.