Yin Cao, ScD, MPH

Gary J. Patti, PhD

Graham A. Colditz, MD, DrPH

Thursday, October 1st (Day 1) - 8:45am through 12:45pm
Jeffrey T. Fort Neuroscience Research Building, WashU Medicine Campus (Lunch Included w/ Poster Viewing)

Friday, October 2nd (Day 2) - 8:30am through 10:40am
Clark-Fox Forum, Hillman Hall, WashU Danforth Campus (Breakfast Included)

As the incidence of several cancers rises among younger populations, uncovering the forces driving these changes has become an urgent scientific challenge. Building on the Cancer Grand Challenges Team PROSPECT Annual Retreat at WashU, this symposium brings together population science, experimental and computational biology, environmental science, and emerging technologies to reimagine how we discover the causes of cancer. By connecting changing exposures with underlying biology across the life course, the symposium aims to catalyze new frameworks for identifying cancer causes and ultimately new opportunities for prevention.

Trace the path from host physiology to cancer genomics and multiomics to translation, examining what current approaches have revealed about cancer causation, where critical gaps remain, and what will be needed to move from association to biological understanding and impact.

Welcome Remarks and Intro:
Bruce D. Levy, MD - George and Carol Bauer Dean of Washington University School of Medicine (WashU Medicine)

Timothy J. Eberlein, MD, FACS - Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin Distinguished Professor; Director, Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center, WashU Medicine

David Scott, PhD - Director, Cancer Grand Challenges
Cancer Grand Challenges: A Decade of Innovation

Bruce D. Levy, MD

Timothy J. Eberlein, MD, FACS

David Scott, PhD

Setting the Stage:
Yin Cao, ScD, MPH - Professor of Surgery, WashU; Co-Lead, Cancer Grand Challenges Team PROSPECT
Cancer Cause Discovery: Looking Back, Looking Forward

Keynotes:
Yasmine Belkaid, PhD - Professor and President, Institut Pasteur
Immune Control of Host Physiology: Implications for Early-Onset Cancers

Ting Wang, PhD - Sanford and Karen Loewentheil Distinguished Professor of Medicine, Chair of Genetics, WashU Medicine
Epigenetics Meets Genetics: Decoding Genomic Dark Matter

Ramaswamy Govindan, MD - Anheuser Busch Endowed Chair in Medical Oncology, Professor of Medicine, WashU Medicine
Smoking And Lung Cancer: What We Have Learned And What We Still Don’t Know?

Yasmine Belkaid, PhD

Ting Wang, PhD

Ramaswamy Govindan, MD

Panel Discussion:
From Discovery to Action: Turning Scientific Breakthroughs into Better Health

Chair: Graham A. Colditz, MD, DrPH - Neiss-Gain Professor of Surgery, Director, Division of Public Health Sciences, WashU Medicine

Panelists:
Matthew Vander Heiden, MD, PhD - Lester Wolfe (1919) Professor of Molecular Biology; Director, Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT

Manju George, MVSc, PhD - Assistant Professor, University of Mississippi, Patient Advocate, PROSPECT

Closing Reflections:
Andrew T. Chan, MD, MPH - Daniel K. Podolsky Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Co-Lead, Cancer Grant Challenges Team PROSPECT

Matthew Vander Heiden, MD, PhD

Manju George, MVSc, PhD

Andrew T. Chan, MD, MPH

Explore new paths to discovery by examining changing exposures across the life course, converging biological states, and insights across species and scales, opening new ways to uncover the origins of human cancer.

Welcome Remarks and Intro:
Jennifer M. Heemstra, PhD - Charles Allen Thomas Professor and Chair of Chemistry, WashU

Setting the Stage:
Gary J. Patti, PhD - Michael and Tana Powell Professor of Chemistry, WashU Medicine; Sr. Director, Center for Metabolomics and Isotope Tracing, WashU
Decoding the Environmental Drivers of Cancer: From Discovery to Metabolic Mechanism

Keynotes:
Daniel Giammar, PhD - Walter E. Browne Professor of Environmental Engineering; Director, Center for the Environment, WashU
Our Changing Environment: What Has Changed in Human Exposures?

Erik Herzog, PhD - Viktor Hamburger Distinguished Professor of Biology, WashU
Circadian And Cancer: New Connections And Future Directions

Omer H. Yilmaz, MD, PhD - Professor of Biology; Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT; Director, MIT Stem Cell Initiative
Dietary Control Of Early Tumorigenesis And Interception: Implications For Early-Onset Cancers

Jennifer Heemstra, PhD

Daniel Giammar, PhD

Erik Herzog, PhD

Omer H. Yilmaz, MD, PhD