It is my pleasure to welcome you to the 113th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research! I’m thrilled to be with you all in the beautiful city of New Orleans—a diverse city that represents the diverse community that we serve—to celebrate our return to an in-person meeting. For those of you who aren’t able to attend in person this year, we are pleased to offer the Annual Meeting in a virtual format.

The multidisciplinary program of the Annual Meeting, under the theme of “Decoding Cancer Complexity | Integrating Science | Transforming Patient Outcomes,” reflects our focus on the various facets of cancer etiology, progression, and treatment and the factors that influence each individual patient’s experience, including genetics, environment, and lifestyle factors. Our concerted goal is to put patients at the center of the meeting’s content and to bring the best science to bear on transforming those outcomes into long-term survival.

This year’s program has a spectacular array of comprehensive session types, including:

• Five plenary sessions and a wrap-up plenary session;
• Four clinical trial plenary sessions;
• Three clinical trial minisymposia;
• 51 major symposia;
• 34 minisymposia featuring proffered abstracts;
• 37 advances sessions;
• 10 special sessions;
• More than 5,000 poster presentations featuring proffered abstracts;
• Many educational sessions and networking opportunities.

The scientific sessions, including the Educational Program, will be livestreamed to the virtual meeting platform, and in-person and virtual attendees are encouraged to submit questions to the speakers using the platform or the meeting app.

This year also marks a major milestone in the history of our organization—the 115th anniversary of the founding of the AACR in 1907. Throughout the meeting we will be celebrating the rich history of progress in cancer research, along with the AACR’s pivotal role at the forefront of every breakthrough against cancer and being the driving force to eradicate cancer.

I would especially like to thank AACR Annual Meeting Program Committee Chair Marcia R. Cruz-Correa, MD, PhD, for spearheading and overseeing the planning of the meeting. We are very grateful to Dr. Cruz-Correa, to our esteemed AACR President David A. Tuveson, MD, PhD, FAACR, to expert members of our Program Committee, and to the entire AACR staff for bringing you a spectacular scientific and clinical program, as well as opportunities for stimulating discussions and fruitful collaborations. If you miss anything from this expansive program while you are in New Orleans, recordings of the scientific and educational sessions can be viewed on our virtual meeting platform through July 13, 2022.

Thank you for joining us this year at the Annual Meeting. The AACR stands with you in embracing our responsibility to work together to make progress against cancer for all. The Annual Meeting is a vitally important part of our shared mission, and we’re thankful that you have joined us in-person and virtually. Enjoy the meeting!

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