Crowded Kruh Cancer Research Symposium
Tuesday, April 7, 2026
The 215 researchers, trainees, community members, students and faculty members who gathered for the University of Illinois Cancer Center annual Dr. Gary Kruh Cancer Research Symposium were treated to a day of engaging scientific presentations, motivational guidance from featured speakers, and a bustling student/trainee poster competition with 60 entrants showing off their work.
The day's roster of speakers engaged the audience with insightful observations and detailed discussions of their work in cancer at the April 3 symposium.
- Angela Waller, Founder and CEO of Elevated Survivorship, reminded the audience that cancer innovation only matters if it reaches the people who need it most.
- Elaine Mardis, PhD, the co-Executive Director of the Steve and Cindy Rasmussen Institute for Genomic Medicine at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, discussed the scientific and medical challenges of pediatric cancer.
- Amy Trentham-Dietz, PhD, the Associate Director for Population Sciences and Community Engagement at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Carbone Cancer Center, explained the science behind evidence-based breast cancer screening recommendations.
Regrettably, the scheduled speaker, Matthew Vander Heiden, MD, PhD, the Director of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was unable to attend due to travel issues.
The Kruh Cancer Research Symposium is held in honor of the late Cancer Center Director Gary Kruh, MD, PhD, in recognition of his lasting impact on the Cancer Center’s scientific mission and continuing his commitment to collaboration, discovery, and improving cancer outcomes for all patients and communities.
Always a highlight of the Kruh symposium is the popular student/trainee poster competition, where rows of boards covered in posters commandeer one end of the large meeting room at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) Student Center West, where the event is held. The Cancer Center is part of UIC and its academic health enterprise, UI Health.
Judging the posters were 50 Cancer Center members and 11 community advocate judges. Two winning posters were selected in each of three categories: cancer biology, translational oncology, and cancer prevention and control. One winner was selected for a multidisciplinary poster. Each winning poster was awarded $500.
The winners are:
Cancer Biology
- Jane Miglo, “It’s Not Just a Phase! Luteal Influences on Early Events in Ovarian Cancer Development”
- Monica Haughan, “Signaling in Adipocytes Drives Ovarian Cancer Cell Invasion”
Translational Oncology
- Subaranjana Saravanaguru Vasanthi, “Enhancing Awareness and Access to Low-Dose Computed Tomography Screening for Early Lung Cancer Detection in Rural and Minority Communities of Northern Illinois”
- Hannah Maluvac, “HER3 Overexpression is a Targetable Biomarker in Aggressive Prostate Cancer”
Cancer Prevention and Control
- Kaitlin Chakos, “Feasibility of Time-Restricted Eating During Chemotherapy for Breast Cancer”
- Hannah Choi, “Heterogeneous Symptom Responses to Acupuncture in Breast Cancer Survivors”
Multidisciplinary
- Joohyun Im, “PAX8-Dependent Signaling Networks as Drivers of Progression and Immune Evasion in High-Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer”
