AACR Grants: Investing in Innovation

“Every grant is an investment in hope, and today, we saw that hope in action.”
—AACR CEO Margaret Foti, PhD, MD (hc)

The AACR has awarded more than 1,100 grants totaling more than $540 million to meritorious investigators since the launch of its grants program in 1993. However, the AACR’s investment in promising scientists goes far beyond research funding; the AACR also provides grantees with a wide range of opportunities for networking, mentoring, and professional development. These opportunities were showcased at the second annual AACR Grantee Summit, which took place October 5-7 in the AACR’s home city of Philadelphia.

Chaired by Manuel Hidalgo, MD, PhD, FAACR, and Sheila A. Stewart, PhD, the summit brought together recent AACR grant recipients to present their work; learn more about cutting-edge science, career advancement, and science policy; and make connections with fellow grantees, experts in academia and industry, and AACR leaders . The program featured keynote addresses by AACR President (2025-2026) Lillian L. Siu, MD, FAACR, AACR President-Elect Keith T. Flaherty, MD, FAACR, and AACR Board Member Katerina A. Politi, PhD, as well as a Fireside Chat with AACR Past President Patricia M. LoRusso, DO, PhD (hc), FAACR . Additional sessions showcased the insights of leading AACR members such as AACR Past President Michael A. Caligiuri, MD, FAACR, Jorge S. Reis-Filho, MD, PhD, Yu Shyr, PhD, FAACR, and William Pao, MD, PhD.

AACR Industry Roundtable: Strengthening Partnerships

Immediately following the Grantee Summit, the AACR welcomed its Sustaining Members to the annual AACR-Industry Roundtable on October 8-9 in Philadelphia. For more than two decades, the Industry Roundtable has brought together the AACR’s partners in progress to share ideas, make connections, and advance the frontiers of cancer science and medicine.

A total of 40 representatives from biopharmaceutical companies that support the AACR’s mission attended the event, which also included cancer researchers, AACR leaders, and cancer survivors as invited speakers.

The theme of this year’s roundtable was “Context Matters: Creating Customized Dose Optimization Strategies.” The program—which commenced with a keynote lecture by AACR President-Elect Keith T. Flaherty, MD, FAACR—included sessions on topic such as determining a “tolerable” dose for daily oral cancer therapies, dosing considerations across therapeutic modalities, and a cancer survivor’s perspective on smarter oncology dosing.