2024 Dr. Gary Kruh Cancer Research Symposium and Poster Competition

An annual celebration of scientific inquiry and innovations in cancer research, the University of Illinois Cancer Center’s Dr. Gary Kruh Cancer Research Symposium and Poster Competition is held in honor of the late Gary Kruh, MD, PhD, a previous director of the Cancer Center. The event features presentations by nationally renowned cancer researchers in the basic, population and clinical/translational disciplines, and then ends with a student poster competition.

Register For Dr. Gary Kruh Cancer Research Symposium

Poster Submission Abstracts

Speakers

Wenora Johnson

Patient Advocate
Cancer Survivor

Victoria Seewaldt, MD, PhD

Associate Director, City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center
Ruth Ziegler Professor and Chair, Department of Population Sciences

John Blenis, PhD

Weill Cornell Medicine
Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center
Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Professor in Cancer Research
Associate Director, Basic Science
Professor, Pharmacology
Director, Pharmacology PhD Program

Peter Sorger, PhD

Harvard Medical School
Otto Krayer Professor of Systems Pharmacology
Department of Systems Biology
Head, Harvard Program in Therapeutic Science
Acting Director, Harvard-MIT Center for Regulatory Sciences

Agenda

8:15 a.m. Breakfast and Registration. Posters must be hung by 9 a.m.

9 – 9:10 a.m. Welcome and Opening Remarks
Jan Kitajewski, PhD
Director, University of Illinois Cancer Center

9:10 – 9:15 a.m. Campus Greeting
Robert Barish, MD, MBA
Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs

9:15 – 9:20 a.m. Introduction of Wenora Johnson
Carla Gabriela Floricel
Pre-doctoral student, Fall 2023 Travel Award winner

9:20 – 10 a.m. The Important Role of Patient Advocacy
Wenora Johnson
Patient Advocate and Cancer Survivor
Q&A by Moderated by Dedra Ries

10 – 10:05 a.m. Introduction of Victoria Seewaldt, MD
Vipin Singh Rawat
Postdoctoral Trainee, Spring 2024 Travel Award winner

10:05 – 10:45 a.m. Insulin-resistance, Inflammation, and Breast Cancer Risk – From the Community to the Lab and Back
Victoria Seewaldt, MD, PhD
Associate Director, City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center
Ruth Ziegler Professor and Chair, Department of Population Sciences
Q&A by Moderated by Lisa Tussing-Humphreys, PhD

10:45 – 10:50 a.m. Introduction of John Blenis, PhD
Dahee Jung
Pre-doctoral student, Fall 2023 Travel Award winner

10:50 – 11:30 a.m. Dietary, Metabolic and Aging-linked Contributions to Cancer Progression
John Blenis, PhD
Anna Maria and Stephen Kellen Professor of Cancer Research and Professor of Pharmacology
Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center
Weill Cornell Medicine
Q&A Moderated by Ekrem Emrah Er, PhD

11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m.Lunch, Poster Competition Review, and Judging

1 – 1:05 p.m. Introduction of Peter Sorger, PhD
Manoela Lima Oliveria, MS, RD, LDN
PhD Candidate

1:05– 1:45 p.m. Highly Multiplexed Profiling of the Tumor Microenvironment for Discovery and Diagnosis
Peter Sorger, PhD
Otto Krayer Professor of Systems Pharmacology, Systems Biology
Head of Program, Harvard Program in Therapeutic Science
Harvard Medical School
Q&A Moderated by Ekrem Emrah Er, PhD

University of California, San Francisco
Q&A by Moderated by Jan Kitajewski, PhD

1:50 – 2 p.m. Poster Awards Presentation and Closing Remarks
Jan Kitajewski, PhD

2– 3 p.m.  Speaker Panel Discussion with Trainees
Moderated by Larisa Nonn, PhD

3 p.m. End of Program

Prearranged individual meetings following the symposium

Kruh was appointed as director of the Cancer Center in 2007 and remained in the position until his death in January 2011. During his tenure as Cancer Center Director, Kruh made great strides in creating a strong Cancer Center identity and unifying a diverse group of laboratory, clinical and population science researchers to work together toward a common goal. He reconfigured the Cancer Center’s research programs to focus on cancer control and population science, carcinogenesis and chemoprevention, experimental therapeutics and imaging, and tumor cell biology. He was instrumental in the development of a partnership between the American Cancer Society and UIC clinical oncology programs, which led to the opening of the first Comprehensive Patient Navigation Center at UIC. His ability to bring disparate groups together and inspire them toward a common goal was truly a gift and he will always be remembered for his leadership, vision, energy, sense of humor and integrity.