Annual Meeting Program Committee Chairs Keith T. Flaherty, MD, FAACR, and Christina Curtis, PhD, MSc, share a few highlights from today’s schedule to help you plan your day.

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Welcome to the second full day of cancer research sessions and programming. The day starts strong with the Opening Ceremony at 8 a.m. PT in Hall GH. We will hear from AACR CEO Margaret Foti, PhD, MD (hc); AACR President Philip D. Greenberg, MD, FAACR; and National Cancer Institute Director W. Kimryn Rathmell, MD, PhD. Additional highlights include several award recognitions:

• AACR-Margaret Foti Award for Leadership and Extraordinary Achievements in Cancer Research
• AACR Team Science Award
• AACR June L. Biedler Prizes for Cancer Journalism

The Opening Plenary, which expands on this year’s theme of “Inspiring Science, Fueling Progress, Revolutionizing Care,” will follow at 9:30 a.m. PT in Hall GH. The lineup of presenters is truly remarkable, with topics from cell atlases and artificial intelligence-based biomarkers to proteomics and bioorthogonal chemistry. You don’t want to miss it!

We want to welcome the 2024 class of NextGen Stars to this year’s Annual Meeting. This year is the 10th anniversary of the program for early-career scientists. Their presentations begin today and will be happening throughout the meeting. You can find out more about the program from members of past classes, and be sure to check out their individual profiles at AACRMeetingNews.org. 

The 3-part New Drugs on the Horizon series kicks off at 1 p.m. PT with Part 1 in Ballroom 20 CD, on the upper level. Part 2 follows in the same location at 3 p.m. PT. The series is sponsored by the Chemistry in Cancer Research working group, and all presentations will reveal the chemical or biologic structure of the agent under investigation, key highlights of the drug discovery program, and ongoing clinical development plans.

There is plenty of exciting science featured today: Poster sessions begin this afternoon, as well as late-breaking research sessions and minisymposia featuring short talks from proffered abstracts.

Several major symposia and Advances In sessions begin today, including Advances in Technologies and Advances in Hematologic Malignancies, which are both new in 2024. The Technologies sessions include topics such as Unlocking Spatial Complexity: Harnessing Machine Learning for Spatial Biology Insights. And don’t miss the new Data Science track for sessions throughout the meeting. The major symposium Neuronal Signaling, Unlocking a New Hallmark of Cancer at 1 p.m. PT in Room 5, upper level, looks at the field of cancer neuroscience, a field that is relatively new.

The Exhibit Hall opens today at 1 p.m. PT in Hall AF, and the Meet the Editors sessions begin at 2 p.m. Visit the AACR Publications Booth 4043 to participate in the sessions. The Sails Pavilion will be the site for Exhibitor Spotlight Theater presentations, which start at 1:30 p.m. PT.

Be sure to check out the second of four clinical trials plenary sessions, Novel Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Combinations, which starts at 3:30 p.m. PT in Hall GH. The sessions feature presentations paired with discussions that take a deep dive into the information.

The Presidential Address, Engineering T Cells to Eradicate Tumors – Identifying and Overcoming the Obstacles, wraps up the evening at 5:30 p.m. PT in Ballroom 20 CD.

Other sessions and events of note today:

• Eight awards lectures will be given today.
• Working groups will have Town Halls today through Tuesday.
• Meet others in your field or area of interest at AACR Networking Hubs. The timely topics range from entrepreneurship to data science, and there is plenty of opportunity for informal discussion.

All Annual Meeting registrants are invited to attend the Annual Reception, Featuring the Checkpoints from 8:30 – 11:30 p.m. PT in the Seaport Ballroom of the Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego! The Checkpoints were founded by Thomas Gajewski, Patrick Hwu, James Allison, and Rachel Humphrey at a meeting on Cancer Immunotherapy in Banff in 2007. The group has expanded to include 13 musicians—including a horn section and backup singers—all of whom are scientists working in the immunology and cancer fields.

Have a great day of discovery and learning, and end your night on the dance floor!

For the most up-to-date program information, visit the AACR Annual Meeting 2024 app or online planner.