The American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting is only a few weeks away, and the excitement is growing for the gathering that offers a wealth of multidisciplinary cancer research topics and, this year, an emphasis on technology and data science. The Annual Meeting 2024 is set for April 5-10 at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California. In-person and virtual registration options are available.

For the first time, the Annual Meeting has two Program Committee chairs who bring different scientific skills to the Annual Meeting: one is a data scientist, and one is a clinical and translational researcher.

Christina Curtis, PhD, MSc, is the RZ Cao Professor of Medicine, Genetics, and Biomedical Data Science at Stanford University where she also serves as the Director of Artificial Intelligence and Cancer Genomics and of Breast Cancer Translational Research.

Keith T. Flaherty, MD, FAACR, is the Director of Clinical Research and a physician investigator at Mass General Cancer Center in Boston and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

As a data scientist, Curtis has a research program that spans fundamental discovery work through to translation. Flaherty’s domain includes elucidating the intersection of therapeutics and cancer biology.

“The strategy behind having two chairs, and what we’ve tried to reflect in this meeting, is to represent the full spectrum of the AACR’s constituent communities’ interests,” Flaherty said.

“The science is becoming more and more complex,” Curtis said. “It’s helpful to have diverse perspectives.”

The many facets of multi-disciplinary research are behind the theme of this year’s meeting, “Inspiring Science, Fueling Progress, Revolutionizing Care.” The theme reflects the full arc of cancer research, from discovery through transforming care, including on vast data from single-cell analyses, how that data can be translated, and what novel diagnostic strategies can be developed and applied.

While the theme may encompass many things, the meeting will have a special focus on the role of technology, and how a multi-disciplinary approach can help move cancer research forward more quickly than ever imagined.

“A big focus this year will be around use of data science, machine learning, and artificial intelligence as tools to bring these data together to inform new insights, biomarkers, and maybe even new targets — and of course, to bring those to patients who desperately need the information,” Curtis said.

The meeting is on track to be the largest AACR Annual Meeting to date, and it also has received the largest number of submitted abstracts in AACR history from researchers around the globe.

While the AACR strives to make the meeting as accessible as possible through online registration, attending in person has obvious benefits for collaboration, the chairs said. Being at the meeting means being exposed to new ideas or processes, or connecting with people who work in complementary research areas.

“There’s the opportunity to talk to colleagues and speakers that isn’t possible on digital platforms,” Flaherty said. “Those unintended collisions can be invaluable.”