Dennis Lo, DM, DPhil, Honored With 2026 AACR-Irving Weinstein Foundation Distinguished Lectureship
SAN DIEGO – The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) will award the 22nd AACR-Irving Weinstein Foundation Distinguished Lectureship to Dennis Lo, DM, DPhil, during the AACR Annual Meeting 2026 to be held April 17-22 in San Diego, California.
Lo is the vice-chancellor and president of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where he also serves as the Li Ka Shing Professor of Medicine and professor of chemical pathology. He is being honored with this lectureship for his pioneering contributions to biomedical science, including his seminal discovery of fetal DNA in maternal plasma, a breakthrough that revolutionized noninvasive prenatal testing and laid the foundation for research dedicated to the study of circulating free and tumor DNA.
Lo was the first to identify cell-free fetal DNA, RNA and fetal epigenetic markers in maternal plasma, enabling safer and earlier prenatal diagnostics. Building on this discovery, Lo demonstrated that DNA released by tumors may be used for cancer screening and diagnosis, an insight that has since led to the development of circulating DNA-based tools for early cancer detection. His visionary research has been paradigm-shifting and remains a cornerstone of precision cancer medicine by transforming modern approaches to cancer diagnosis, treatment selection, and disease surveillance.
The AACR-Irving Weinstein Foundation Distinguished Lectureship was established in 2005 to acknowledge an individual whose outstanding personal innovation in science and whose position as a thought leader in fields relevant to cancer research has the potential to inspire creative thinking and new directions in cancer research. The recipient of this special lectureship is selected annually by the AACR President.
“I am deeply honored to announce that Dennis Lo will be the recipient of the 2026 AACR-Irving Weinstein Foundation Distinguished Lectureship,” said AACR President Lillian L. Siu, MD, FAACR. “Professor Lo’s innovative research has been fundamental to the field of liquid biopsy, enabling circulating nucleic acids to be harnessed as powerful biomarkers. He has established plasma Epstein–Barr virus DNA as a transformative screening tool for nasopharyngeal carcinoma and furthered genome-wide approaches for multicancer detection. These advances have redefined noninvasive diagnostics in clinical practice and underscore liquid biopsy’s emerging importance in early cancer detection, prevention, and precision oncology.”
Lo has contributed to several of the AACR’s scientific journals over the years, serving as a scientific editor for Cancer Discovery (2023-present) and as a peer reviewer for Cancer Research and Clinical Cancer Research in previous years.
Lo has been honored with numerous awards throughout his career, including the Fok Ying-Tung Prize of the World Outstanding Chinese Doctor Award (2025), the March of Dimes Richard B. Johnston, Jr., MD Prize (2025), the C.C. Tan Life Science Award (2025), the American Society for Reproductive Medicine Carlos Simón Excellence in Translational Research Award (2024), the British Blood Transfusion Society James Blundell Award (2024), the Jiménez Díaz Commemorative Lecture (2024), Golden Medal of the Palacký University in Olomouc, Czech Republic (2024), the inaugural Tengchong Science Award (2023), the Tatler Impact Award (2023), the Korean Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology ILCHUN Molecular Medicine Award (2023), the Lasker~DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award (2022), International Society for Prenatal Diagnosis Pioneer in Prenatal Diagnosis and Therapy Award (2022), the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences (2021), the European Society of Human Genetics Mendel Lecture (2021), the Association for Molecular Pathology Award for Excellence in Molecular Diagnostics (2020), the China Association for Science and Technology National Award for Excellence in Innovation (2019), the Fudan-Zhongzhi Science Award (2019), the German Society for Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine Award for Biochemical Analytics (2019), the Chinese Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Achievement Award (2018), the Chinese Association for Science and Technology, USA Extraordinary Scientific Innovation Award (2018), Association of Chinese Geneticists in America Excellence in Genetics Research Award (2018), the Hong Kong Adventist Hospital Foundation Men of Hope Award (2018), the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (IFCC) Distinguished Clinical Chemist Award (2017), the Future Science Prize (2016), the Thomson Reuters Citation Laureate in Chemistry (2016), the Precision Medicine World Conference Pioneer Award (2015), the Association for Diagnostics & Laboratory Medicine Wallace H. Coulter Lectureship Award (2015), the International Society of Blood Transfusion Presidential Award (2014), King Faisal International Prize for Medicine (2014), the Association for Diagnostics and Laboratory Medicine (ADLM) Award for Outstanding Contributions to Clinical Chemistry in a Selected Area of Research (2012), the Ernesto Illy Trieste Science Prize (2012), the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine Sir David Todd Oration (2011), the Silver Bauhinia Star (2011), the American Institute of Chemists Chemical Pioneer Award (2007), the IFCC Award for Significant Contributions in Molecular Diagnostics (2006), the ADLM Distinguished Scientist Award (2006), the China Ministry of Education Cheung Kong Scholars Achievement Award (2006), the State Natural Science Award (2005), the Association for Academic Pathology Professors’ Prize (2000), and the Sing Tao Daily, Hong Kong iMail, and CNBC Leader of the Year Award, Technology Category (2000).
Lo has also been included on Nature Biotechnology’s list of Top 20 Translational Researchers (2020, 2019, 2018, 2017). He was also honored with a Royal Medal in Biological Sciences from the Royal Society (2021).
Further, Lo has been elected as an honorary fellow of the Hong Kong College of Physicians (2024), the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine (2019), Emmanuel College (2017), the Hong Kong College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (2013), the Hong Kong College of Pathologists (2011), and a fellow ad eundem of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (2017). He was also elected as a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (2023), the World Academy of Sciences (2013), the Royal Society (2011), the Royal College of Physicians of London (2006) and Edinburgh (2004), and the Royal College of Pathologists (2005). He was also elected as a foreign member of the Academia Europaea (2025); an honorary member of the Czech Society of Perinatal Medicine (2024), the Czech Society of Medical Genetics and Genomics (2024), and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (2017); and member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (2023), as well as an international member of the National Academy of Sciences (2013).
Lo earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Cambridge and his medical and doctorate degrees from the University of Oxford. The date, time, and title of his award lecture will be announced prior to the AACR Annual Meeting 2026.
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