Stanford Cancer Institute’s recurring seminar series, Breakthroughs in Cancer, is one of the highest-profile seminar series for translational and clinical scientists in oncology.
The series highlights innovations in cancer research across the spectrum of basic, translational, clinical, and population science. Speakers include national thought leaders and dynamic presenters representing a broad range of disciplines across the spectrum of cancer science. The audience for this seminar series includes Stanford University and Stanford Medicine faculty, trainees, staff, and anyone interested in basic, translational, clinical, and population-based cancer research.
2026 Seminars
Beyond Driver Oncogenes: New Paradigms for Personalizing Lung Cancer Therapies
John Heymach, MD, PhD
MD Anderson Cancer Center
Defining determinants of response to cancer immunotherapy
Lawrence Fong, MD
Fred Hutch Cancer Center
2025 Seminars
Homologous Recombination Deficiency in Cancer: Prevalence, Diagnosis, and Novel Targeting Approaches
Simon Powell, MD, PhD, FRCP
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
The Von Hippel-Lindau Hereditary Cancer Syndrome: Insights Into Oxygen Sensing, Cancer, and Drugging the Undruggable
William George Kaelin, Jr., MD
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Leveraging Innovation to End Cancer as We Know It, for Everyone
Karen Knudsen, PhD, MBA
2024 Seminars
A story of tackling cancer prognosis and survivorship: obesity, omics, and oncology trials
Cornelia Ulrich, PhD, MS
Huntsman Cancer Institute
Long Axial Field of View PET/CT: Current State
Lorenzo Nardo, MD, PhD
UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center
3D chromosomal architecture in acute leukemia: impact on disease progression and drug response
Ioannis Aifantis, PhD
New York University
The History of Monoclonal Antibodies and the Future of Cancer Vaccines
Ronal Levy, MD
Stanford Cancer Institute
It Starts Here: Institutional Actions to Promote Representativeness in Clinical Trials
Barbara Bierer, MD
Harvard Medical School
The Best Cancer Is The Cancer That Never Happens
Philip Castle, PhD, MPH
National Cancer Institute
2023 Seminars
Head and Neck Cancer Translational Medicine
Jennifer Grandis, MD
Director, Clinical and Translational Science Institute
Associate Vice Chancellor, Clinical & Translational Research
Professor, Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery
University of California, San Franscisco
Drug Development for Ovarian Cancer: Challenges and Successes
Ursula Matulonis, MD
Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Chief, Division of Gynecologic Oncology|
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Prostate Cancer Initiation and Plasticity
Charles Sawyers, MD
Chair, Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Targeting the Tissue Microenvironment and Microbiome to Promote Health and End Cancer
Jennifer Wargo, MD, MMSc
Professor, Dept. of Genomic Medicine and Professor, Dept. of Surgical Oncology
MD Anderson Cancer Center
Targeting RAS: The Past, Present, and the Future
David Hong, MD
Deputy Chair of the Dept of Investigational Cancer Therapeutics
Associate Vice President of Clinical Research
MD Anderson Cancer Center
Genomic Medicine Meets Cancer Interception
Susan Domchek, MD
Director, Basser Center for BRCA
Abramson Cancer Center
Tumor Intrinsic Features of Immunity
Luis Diaz, MD
Head of the Division of Solid Tumor Oncology
Member of the National Cancer Advisory Board
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Early Phase Clinical Trials: Opportunities for Accelerating Precision Oncology
Leena Gandhi, MD, PhD
Chief Medical Officer
NextPoint Therapeutics
Targeting the Glycocalyx for Cancer Immune Therapy
Carolyn Bertozzi, PhD
Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Chemical & Systems Biology Stanford University