CU Cancer Center Scientific Retreat Spotlights Successes, Challenges

Even though the word “retreat” was in the title of a daylong University of Colorado Cancer Center event, the program was focused on advances in the fight against cancer.

The CU Cancer Center Scientific Retreat, on September 26 at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus Elliman Conference Center, had been in the planning for several months. It put the cancer center’s best and brightest on display, with more than two dozen speakers showcasing innovation in cancer research to an audience of more than 240.

One after the other, investigators outlined their latest scientific work, interspersed with presentations explaining how various cancer center programs, as well as campus shared resources, cores, and CU Innovations – the campus branch specializing in commercializing technology, developing ventures, and building business partnerships – can help investigators in their work and speed their discoveries to the clinic.

Outside the conference hall, panels displayed dozens of posters, many of them from junior researchers who stood by during breaks in the program to explain their studies. The posters were judged, and awards were presented at the end of the retreat (see below).

The retreat was also a prime networking opportunity, attended by about 130 CU Cancer Center member scientists and clinicians along with patient advocates, foundation representatives, and industry partners.

Speakers at the CU Cancer Center Scientific Retreat on Sept. 26, 2024 included (from left) CU Cancer Center Director Richard Schulick, MD, MBA; John Sampson, MD, PhD, MHSc, MBA, dean of the CU School of Medicine and vice chancellor for health affairs; and CU Anschutz Chancellor Donald Elliman, Jr. Photos by Devon Balent | CU Cancer Center.

‘I could not be more proud’

Early in the program, CU Cancer Center Director Richard Schulick, MD, MBA, offered an overview of the center’s scientific work in its four key research programs: cancer prevention and control, tumor-host interactions, molecular and cellular oncology, and developmental therapeutics. He noted that four of the nine CU Anschutz research projects funded this year through the inaugural Anschutz Acceleration Initiative awards, thanks in large part to a $50 million gift from The Anschutz Foundation, are led by CU Cancer Center members.

Schulick also cited clinical success, noting that the relative five-year survival rates for cancer center patients in metro Denver exceed state and national rates for several key cancers. He touted the merits of the center’s interdisciplinary clinics, which he said “have taken a tremendous amount of energy and resources to organize, but they have saved countless lives.”

And Schulick ticked off a number of CU Cancer Center metrics: 502 members, $75 million in cancer-focused direct-cost research funding this year, 2,253 publications by members over the past four years, and 6,087 subjects accrued to clinical trials since 2021.

“It's really a privilege to be up here summarizing all of your accomplishments, and I could not be more proud,” Schulick said. He added: “You, the members of the CU Cancer Center, are doing amazing things. You epitomize the vision of this cancer center, which is to prevent and conquer cancer together.”

Dozens of research posters were featured at the CU Cancer Center Scientific Retreat on Sept. 26, 2024. Photo by Devon Balent | CU Cancer Center.

‘It’s an honor’

In his remarks later in the day, CU Anschutz Chancellor Donald Elliman Jr. praised the CU Cancer Center and its members for their work. As chancellor, he said, “it’s an honor to represent people like you. If you think about things that this campus wants to be known for, there is literally nothing higher on that list than our cancer center.”

Elliman said the slide Schulick presented during his earlier talk on five-year cancer survival rates “is the same slide that I use as the last slide in presentations to legislators and donors and influencer groups, because it speaks volumes about who we are and why we’re here.”

Both Elliman and John Sampson, MD, PhD, MHSc, MBA, dean of the CU School of Medicine and vice chancellor for health affairs, noted the CU Cancer Center’s aspiration to rank among the global elite of cancer centers and its ongoing commitment to excellence.

Sampson, in his keynote address, said: “When students say, ‘Where am I going to come for cancer research? Where am I going to come for my cancer fellowship? Where do I want to be a faculty member?’ I want us to always be on that list that people talk about.”

Sampson shared his own career journey, emphasizing the importance of mentorship and industry partnerships. A neurosurgeon, Sampson highlighted the challenges of brain tumor research and shared success stories of patients treated with innovative therapies.

Among the CU Cancer Center leaders who spoke at the Scientific Retreat on Sept. 26, 2024, were (from left) Jan Lowery, MPH, PhD; Curtis Henry, PhD; Eduardo Davila, PhD; and Hatim Sabaawy, MD, PhD. Photos by Devon Balent | CU Cancer Center.

‘We really have a breakthrough’

Throughout the day, CU Cancer Center investigators offered a tasting menu of their recent or ongoing work, sharing success stories, some setbacks, and challenges ahead. Some examples:

• Eric Kohler, MD, PhD, an assistant pediatrics professor, talked of studying ways to counteract low levels of antigen to make CAR T cell therapy work better against acute lymphocytic leukemia. “We think we really have a breakthrough here,” Kohler said.
• Sachin Wani, MD, executive director of the Katy O. and Paul M. Rady Esophageal and Gastric Center of Excellence, talked of “the paradigm we have to change”: A low rate of screening for esophageal cancers – particularly esophageal adenocarcinoma – early enough to successfully treat them. He spoke of ongoing development of several easier-to-use alternatives to endoscopy that could increase screening rates.
• Laura Scherer, PhD, an investigator with the Adult & Child Center for Outcomes Research & Delivery Science (ACCORDS), followed up on her recently published study based on a survey indicating about 38% of women in their 40s who are presented with information about the pros and cons of mammography prefer to wait until their 50s to get breast cancer Her findings “did not escape controversy,” she said, noting one critical comment on her article suggesting that the dissemination of “confusing statistics” about screening has the potential to harm women. Scherer said she followed up with a series of focus groups that showed most women “wanted to be informed about the pros and cons. Withholding that information is unacceptable to them.”
• Pediatrics professor Rajeev Vibhakar, MD, PhD, talked of the ongoing struggle to find ways to treat diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), a 100% deadly type of childhood brain cancer. “Every single patient that we see in clinic eventually dies,” he said. He projected that he and his colleagues are about 18 months away from a clinical trial involving a promising treatment involving novel gene-edited CAR T cells.

Attendees at the CU Cancer Center Scientific Retreat on Sept. 26, 2024. Photos by Devon Balent | CU Cancer Center.

Data, outreach, inclusion

The audience also heard from various CU Cancer Center leaders about its activities:

• Jan Lowery, MPH, PhD, assistant director for dissemination and implementation in the cancer center’s Office of Community Outreach and Engagement (COE), outlined available tools researchers can use to enhance research, such as COE’s new ECCO mapping platform to display cancer data, and its COE-CARES community advisory committee to enhance research equity.
• Jamie Studts, PhD, co-leader of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program, said Colorado is behind most of the nation in terms of implementing lung cancer screening in rural areas. He outlined efforts to broaden screening, partly by training local hospitals and clinics to provide screening with equipment on hand. “It’s not a technology problem,” he said. “It’s a people, human services, training problem.”
• Eduardo Davila, PhD, associate director of Cancer Research Training and Education Coordination (CRTEC) for the cancer center, talked of efforts to engage with community members, especially from underrepresented groups, as early as middle school “to nurture the pipeline and expand the diversity of those individuals interested in pursuing a cancer research career.”
• Curtis Henry, PhD, deputy associate director for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Access (DEIA), referenced data showing that that the cancer center’s inclusiveness efforts are “very important to improve the quality of our research” as well as to address cancer disparities. He discussed efforts to integrate a DEIA focus into faculty recruitment and retention, and outlined upcoming initiatives, including the Rising Stars over the Rockies program, aimed at increasing diversity among cancer researchers.

Poster winners, planners

At the retreat’s conclusion, the winners of the poster contest as chosen by judges were announced. Each winner receives a cash award to support research or travel to a scientific meeting. The winners:

• Faculty poster: instructor Haley Simpson, MD, PhD -- CD64 CAR T therapy targets venetoclax-resistant monocytic acute myeloid leukemia.
• Non-faculty poster, first prize: fellow Catherine Danis, PhD -- A novel adjunctive LAT-activating CAR T (ALA-CART) cell platform demonstrates enhanced antigen sensitivity and in vivo efficacy against antigen-low leukemia.
•  Non-faculty poster, second prize: trainee Annika Gustafson, BA -- Dissecting the role of SIX1 in the rhabdomyosarcoma core-regulatory circuit demonstrates new potential chemical approaches to targeted therapy.

 The retreat’s planning committee was led by CU Cancer Center members Hatim Sabaawy, MD, PhD, and Jill Slansky, PhD, and included Evelinn Borrayo, PhD; Eric Clambey, PhD; Linda Cook, PhD; Davila; Richard Duke, PhD; Daniel Gustafson, PhD; Tin Tin Su, PhD; and Michaela Montour, PPA.

Photo at top: Attendees gather outside the Elliman Conference Center to network and examine research posters at the CU Cancer Center Scientific Retreat on Sept. 26, 2024. Photos by Devon Balent | CU Cancer Center.