Damon Runyon scientists and industry partners gathered on Thursday, March 27, for the 2025 Accelerating Cancer Cures Symposium, hosted by Novartis in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Accelerating Cancer Cures is a multi-million-dollar collaborative project aimed at supporting a new generation of clinical investigators as they translate the latest scientific discoveries into new diagnostics and therapeutics for patients. Founded in 2011 and led by the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, the initiative has included participants from AbbVie, Amgen, ARIAD, Celgene, Eli Lilly and Company, Genentech, Gilead, Merck, Novartis, Pfizer, and Takeda Pharmaceuticals International Co., in addition to scientists from the nation’s top universities and research institutes. This year, the Foundation welcomed Jennifer Lauchle, MD, Global Head of Translational Clinical Oncology at Novartis and H. Michael Shepard, PhD, of Biooncology, LLC, to its Accelerating Cancer Cures Advisory Committee. The annual Symposium is designed to foster communication and collaboration between cancer researchers in industry and academia.
Damon Runyon President and CEO Yung S. Lie, PhD, and Damon Runyon Board of Directors member and Chair of the Accelerating Cancer Cures Advisory Committee Richard B. Gaynor, MD, President and Chief of Research and Development at BioNTech, welcomed symposium attendees to kick off the day’s events.
"What's the purpose of ACC? To bring together basic scientists, translational scientists, and clinicians,” said Dr. Gaynor. “All of us in the field want to have an impact on patients—and that’s what this initiative facilitates."
Following opening remarks from Shiva Malek, PhD, Global Head of Oncology Disease at Novartis, Vesselina Cooke, PhD, Director of Oncology Drug Discovery at Novartis, moderated a panel of scientific presentations from Damon Runyon Clinical Investigators Aaron D. Viny, MD, Steven M. Corsello, MD, and Megan L. Insco, MD, PhD. Each is working to identify new potential targets for recalcitrant cancers, including metastatic melanoma and pancreatic cancer.
After a motivating keynote address from Jennifer Brogdon, PhD, Head of Cell and Gene Therapies at Novartis, attendees also heard from Damon Runyon scientists Nora Kory, PhD, Alex M. Jaeger, PhD, Sydney M. Shaffer, MD, PhD, and Santosha Vardhana, MD, PhD, each of whom are applying cutting-edge tools to the study of tumorigenesis and anti-tumor immunity. Their presentations were moderated by Ramu Thiruvamoor, PhD, Director of Oncology Translational Research at Novartis.
Later in the afternoon, Pamela Ting, PhD, Associate Director of Hematology at Novartis, led a panel discussion among industry leaders and medical oncologists about pathways to the development of breakthrough therapies. Among the panelists was former Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovator Eric S. Fischer, PhD, now a Professor of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
“Finding the right person to talk to can mean the difference between success and failure,” he noted. “I spend a lot of my time matchmaking, and I get a lot of joy out of it.”
“There has to be a mutual interest between investigators,” added Zainab Jagani, PhD, Director of Oncology Drug Discovery at Novartis. “A continuous dialogue between collaborators is key.”
