Please note that this meeting will take place as an in-person event in Vancouver and will not live-stream content for virtual participation. The meeting content will be recorded and made available as an on-demand program after the conference. Please see the registration page for details.

All presentations are scheduled to be live, in-person presentations at the date and time specified below unless noted otherwise. Program in progress.

*-Short talk from proffered abstract

[R] – Remote Presentation

Saturday, July 18

• Welcome and Opening Keynote
• Panel Discussion: Rare Cancers, Broad Insights: Translating Niche Discoveries into Universal Oncology Advances

SUNDAY, JULY 19

• Plenary Session 1: Genomic Drivers of Rare Cancers – Discovery and Translation
• Plenary Session 2: Navigating Genomic and Epigenomic Complexity in Rare Cancers
• Plenary Session 3: From Bench to Bioinformatics: Advanced Modeling of Rare Cancers
• Plenary Session 4: Diagnostic Challenges and Novel Classification Strategies in Rare Cancers
• Proffered Talks Session

MONDAY, JULY 20

• Plenary Session 5: Harnessing Immunotherapy for Rare Cancers: Progress and Pitfalls
• Plenary Session 6: Breaking New Ground: Emerging Therapeutic Strategies for Rare Cancers
• Plenary Session 7: Innovative Clinical Trial Design for Rare Cancers
• Closing Remarks

REGISTRATION

3-8 p.m.

WELCOME AND OPENING Keynote

5-6:15 p.m.

• Radical collaboration for rare cancers
  Jesse Boehm, Broad Institute, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Additional speakers to be announced

Break

6:15-6:30 p.m.

Panel Discussion: Rare Cancers, Broad Insights: Translating Niche Discoveries into Universal Oncology Advances

6:30-7:30 p.m.

• Panelists:
  Andy Futreal, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas

Additional panelist to be announced

Opening Reception

7:30-9:30 p.m.

Breakfast

7-8:30 a.m.

Networking Roundtables

7:15-8:15 a.m.

Plenary Session 1: Genomic Drivers of Rare Cancers – Discovery and Translation

8:30-10 a.m.

• 8:35 a.m. | David Huntsman, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
• 8:55 a.m. | How to Understand and Defeat Even Rare Cancers: Lessons from the patient-scientist partnership to defeat Fibrolamellar Carcinoma
  Sanford Simon, The Rockefeller University, New York, New York
• 9:15 a.m. | Why rare is valuable in cancer genomics
  Sam Behjati, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Break

10-10:15 a.m.

Plenary Session 2: Navigating Genomic and Epigenomic Complexity in Rare Cancers

10:15-11:40 a.m.

Session Chair: Patrick Tan, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore

• 10:20 a.m. | Patrick Tan, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore
• 10:40 a.m. | Chromatin and cancer: From mechanisms to emerging therapies
  Charles Roberts, St Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee
• 11:00 a.m. | Atsushi Kaneda, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan 
  

Plenary Session 3: From Bench to Bioinformatics: Advanced Modeling of Rare Cancers

1-2:30 p.m.

Session Chair: Andrew Futreal, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas

• 1:05 p.m. | Eliminating “luck” – learning from rare cancer patients to improve outcomes
  Andrew Futreal, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas 
• 1:25 p.m. | Eric Holland, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, Washington 
• 1:45 p.m. | Bissan Al-Lazikani, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas 
• 2:05 p.m. | Functional Precision Oncology in Rare Cancers: From Biobank to Drug Discovery
  Taran Gujral, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, Washington

Break

3:00-3:15 p.m.

Plenary Session 4: Diagnostic Challenges and Novel Classification Strategies in Rare Cancers

2:45-4:15 p.m.

Session Chair: Brooke E. Howitt, Stanford University, Stanford, California

• 3:20 p.m. | Challenges and Updates in the Classification of Uterine Mesenchymal Tumors
  Brooke E. Howitt, Stanford University, Stanford, California
• 3:40 p.m. | Using DNA Methylation to Identify and Classify Rare Cancers
  David Capper, Charité University Hospital, Berlin, Germany 
• 4:00 p.m. | Cancer pathology: Rare just ain’t as rare as it used to be
  Alexander J. Lazar
• 4:20 p.m. | Therapeutic targeting of NUP98-rearranged acute leukemia
  Charles G. Mulligan St Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee

Break

5:00-5:15 p.m.

Proffered Talks Session

5:15-6:30 p.m.

Poster Session & Reception

6:30-8:30 p.m.

Breakfast

7-8 a.m.

Plenary Session 5: Harnessing Immunotherapy for Rare Cancers: Progress and Pitfalls

8-9:30 a.m.

• 8:05 a.m. | Immunotherapy for Sarcoma
  Sandra P. D’Angelo, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York
• 8:25 p.m. | Lessons Learned From Treating Melanomas Unrelated to Sun Exposure
  Alexander N. Shoustari, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York
• 8:45 p.m. | Mark Yarchoan, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland

Break

9:30-9:45 a.m.

Plenary Session 6: Breaking New Ground: Emerging Therapeutic Strategies for Rare Cancers

9:45 a.m.–11:15 a.m.

• 10:10 a.m. | Turning the Tide: How We Doubled the Survival of Patients with Renal Medullary Carcinoma
  Pavlos Msaouel, MD Anderson Cancer Research Center, Houston, Texas

Additional speaker to be announced

Break

11:15-11:30 a.m.

Plenary Session 7: Innovative Clinical Trial Design for Rare Cancers

11:30 a.m.–1 p.m.

• 11:35 a.m. | On the Right TRACK: Operationalizing a National, Patient-Centric Fully Remote Precision Trial offering Comprehensive Genomic Profiling and a Molecular Tumor Board for Rare Cancers
  Jim Palma, Target Center Foundation, Cambridge, Massachusetts
• 12:15 p.m. | Razelle Kurzrock, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Additional speaker to be announced

Closing Remarks & Departure

1-1:15 p.m.