Advances in targeted therapy, cancer genomics, and eliminating treatment disparities were among the topics presented by UCSF cancer researchers at this year’s annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR). [read more]

Wendell Lim, PhD, has earned a $30 million contract from ARPA-H to develop a cellular toolkit for therapies targeting diseases of the brain and lung.

Cancer Center members were among the UCSF Department of Medicine's largest grant recipients and most cited researchers of 2023, according to a new research metrics report.

Travel Grants for LEAD Conference

The HDFCCC Gender Equity Committee is offering travel grants for women and gender minorities to attend LEAD, a conference designed for women in oncology and hematology. Apply by April 30.

Community-Engaged Research Pilot Awards

Now available: pilot project awards of $25,000 to support community-engaged cancer research and translation, education, and outreach within the cancer center's catchment area. Apply by May 6.

Hui Lin, PhD - Associate Member, Neurologic Oncology

Elizabeth Seashore, MD - Associate Member, Pediatric Malignancies

Betsy Young, MD - Associate Member, Pediatric Malignancies

Hope Rugo, MD will receive the 2024 ESMO Breast Cancer Award for exceptional contributions to breast cancer clinical research.

Pamela Munster, MD was honored with the Mariam Moghadam Safinia Distinguished Professorship in Hereditary Cancer Research.

Felix Feng, MD received the Richard D. Williams, MD Prostate Cancer Research Excellence Award from the American Urological Association.

Zulekha A. Qadeer, PhD received the 2023 AACR-Sontag Foundation Brain Cancer Research Fellowship Award for a project, "Targeting epigenetic drivers in group 3 medulloblastoma."

Paola Betancur, PhD received the 2024 BCRF-AACR Career Development Award to Promote Diversity and Inclusion for a project, “A genomic insertion variant activates immune escape in breast cancer.”

Andreas Rauschecker, MD, PhD received a 2024 NCCN Young Investigator Award for a project, "Deep Learning Radiogenomic Analysis of Primary CNS Lymphoma on Brain MRI."

Salma Shariff-Marco, PhD, MPH received an Outstanding Poster Award at the 2024 American Society of Preventive Oncology (ASPO) Annual Meeting.

Ana Velázquez Mañana, MD, MSc was named an ASCO Advocacy Champion at the 2024 ASCO Advocacy Summit.

Emily Bergland, MD; Peter Carroll, MD, MPH; Rebecca Olin, MD, MSCE; Jie Jane Chen, MD; and Melissa Zimel, MD were named UCSF Health Exceptional Physicians.

Congratulations to the recipients of 2024 Research Fellowship Awards supported by University College Dublin and the UCSF Quantitative Biosciences Institute.

The UCSF Cancer Services APP Fellowship Program has been awarded Accreditation with Distinction, the highest recognition awarded by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Accreditation Program.

Kulkarni AA, Jain A, Jewett PI, Desai N, Van 't Veer L, Hirst G, Yee D, Blaes AH; ISPY2 consortium. Association of antibiotic exposure with residual cancer burden in HER2-negative early stage breast cancer. NPJ Breast Cancer. 2024 Mar 26;10(1):24.

Chang H, Marquez J, Chen BK, Kim DM, Cheng ML, Liu EV, Yang H, Zhang L, Sinha M, Cheung A, Kwek SS, Chow ED, Bridge M, Aggarwal RR, Friedlander TW, Small EJ, Anderson M, Fong L. Immune Modulation with RANKL Blockade through Denosumab Treatment in Patients with Cancer. Cancer Immunol Res. 2024 Apr 2;12(4):453-461. doi: 10.1158/2326-6066.CIR-23-0184.

Umashankar S, Li M, Blevins K, Kim MO, Majure M, Park J, Huppert LA, Melisko M, Rugo HS, Esserman L, Chien AJ. Characterizing attitudes related to future child-bearing in young women diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2024 Apr;204(3):509-520.

Yang J, Wang L, Byrnes JR, Kirkemo LL, Driks H, Belair CD, Aguilar OA, Lanier LL, Wells JA, Fong L, Blelloch R. PVRL2 Suppresses Antitumor Immunity through PVRIG- and TIGIT-independent Pathways. Cancer Immunol Res. 2024 Apr 1:OF1-OF17.

The Fijian Health Fair & Family Fun Day is an annual event hosted in collaboration with the Regional Pacific Islander Task Force (RPITF). The HDFCCC Office of Community Engagement worked in partnership with Umoja Health to administer pre & post colorectal cancer knowledge and intent surveys, assess eligibility for FIT tests, and promote general cancer awareness.

DEIA Office Hours and Advising Appointments

The Office of DEIA will be hosting drop-in office hours on April 24 from 12 - 1 pm. Faculty, trainees, and staff are welcome to join via Zoom to ask any DEIA-related questions or just to meet our staff! 

Career Development Events

Grant Review for Faculty

The CARE Program provides HDFCCC faculty with grant review for multi-year, independent grants. Learn more and apply.

April 17: CAB2ChatnChew: Lecture from the Office of Community Engagement 

Myrnelle Gomez and Heather Levanduski, LMSW, MPA, will present, "American Cancer Society Supports for People with Cancer."

April 23: LCA-Genome Core Hosts BioTechne’s Spatial Biology Seminar

The HDFCCC LCA-Genome Core presents a seminar, "Visualization of Diverse RNA Biomarkers to Advance Spatial Biology."

April 25: Using Twitter (X) in Science and Medicine

This seminar will discuss best practices and case studies on using Twitter (X) and give you ideas on how to amplify your work through this powerful tool.

April 26: “It’s About a Billion Lives” Tobacco Research Symposium

Presented by the UCSF Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, this half-day symposium features a keynote panel on "Ending the Tobacco Epidemic."

April 26: Cancer Center Friday Seminar in Basic and Translational Research

Natasha Diba Sheybani, PhD (University of Virginia) will present, "Toward Precision Immuno-Oncology with Focused Ultrasound."

April 30: BRCA and Hereditary Cancer Workshop: Colorectal Cancer Risk

Dr. Pamela Munster and her colleagues will cover key topics in hereditary colon cancer, including associated genes, individual risks, and screening and prevention.