The Case CCC community made a strong showing at the 2026 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting, one of the world’s leading forums for cutting-edge cancer science.
Faculty, trainees, and collaborators from across the consortium—Case Western Reserve University, University Hospitals, and Cleveland Clinic—contributed to a wide range of presentations spanning basic, translational, and clinical research. Together, these efforts reflect the depth and collaborative strength of cross-institutional cancer research.
Presenters
Case CCC members were featured in oral presentations and education sessions, highlighting high-impact discoveries and emerging areas of innovation:
- Ty Miller, MD, PhD: Redefining and targeting immunosuppressive myeloid cells in solid tumors
- Afshin Dowlati, MD, presented work from a first-in-human clinical trial: Early clinical activity from the Phase 1 evaluation of CID-078, a novel Cyclin A/B-RxL inhibitor in patients with advanced solid tumors
- Sandy Markowitz, MD, PhD: Biomarker based early detection of Barrett's esophagus and its cancer progression
- Heather Hurwitz, PhD: Multiple myeloma screening education
- Nickolas Stabellini, MD, PhD: Biological pathways of response to neoadjuvant chemo-immunotherapy in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC)
- Chao Wei, PhD: HER3 inhibition sensitizes metastatic colorectal and pancreatic cancer to immunotherapy
- Iluja Gautam, PhD: Baseline peripheral immune signatures associate with toxicity to immunotherapy in melanoma
Trainee and Undergrad Participation
Trainees also played a prominent role at AACR this year. Graduate students Omid Hajihassani and Jordan Cress delivered oral presentations: A ketogenic diet sensitizes pancreatic cancer to metabolic therapies (Hajihassani), and WNK1 inhibition induces AML differentiation via ERK-CEBPB signaling (Cress), representing the next generation of cancer researchers contributing to advances in the field.
In addition, Jeyasri Venkatasubramani, former Cancer-focused Summer Undergraduate Research (CanSUR) program participant, was recognized with an honorable mention and the Margaret Foti Foundation Undergraduate Student Award for Cancer Biomedical Research for her poster presentation. Her work with Case CCC Population and Cancer Prevention Program members Christina Farr, PhD, and Adam Burgener, PhD, also Director of the Center for Global Health and Diseases, explored the vaginal microbiome and cervical HPV infection and disease pathogenesis in women from Cleveland, highlighting the importance of community-focused research and creating training and education pathways accessible to learners as early as possible.
Capturing Camaraderie
Case CCC members and colleagues gathered during the conference to connect and celebrate the collaborative spirit that drives discovery across the consortium.
