Live Updates From the AACR Annual Meeting 2026: Tuesday, April 20

April 21, 2026 by

Welcome to another exciting day at the AACR Annual Meeting 2026! Today’s schedule includes a Plenary Session on early-onset cancers, the final Clinical Trials Plenary Session, and more. Be sure to keep checking back for live updates throughout the day.

If you missed our previous days’ live coverage of the meeting, catch up here:

Live Coverage

(Refresh your browser to see the latest updates. All times are Pacific Time.)

9:35 a.m. – Meet the New Editors-in-Chief of Cancer Immunology Research

In January, Elizabeth M. Jaffee, MD, FAACR, of the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Antoni Ribas, MD, PhD, FAACR, of the University of California, Los Angeles, were named the new editors-in-chief of the AACR journal Cancer Immunology Research.

These two former AACR Presidents are currently taking questions about their plans for the journal at the AACR Publications Booth (#3537) in the Exhibit Hall until 10:15 a.m.

One final Meet-the-Editor session will be held from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. with Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention Editor-in-Chief Elizabeth A. Platz, ScD, MPH, of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. If you miss Platz then, catch her award lecture at 5:15 p.m. in room 29 on the upper level of the convention center as the recipient of the AACR-American Cancer Society Award for Research Excellence in Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention.

Antoni Ribas, MD, PhD, FAACR, and Elizabeth M. Jaffee, MD, FAACR, meeting with attendees interested in Cancer Immunology Research.

6:15 a.m. – More Meet-the-Expert Sessions

After yesterday’s two Meet-the-Expert Sessions, attendees will have the opportunity today to engage with another four cancer research luminaries:

  • Christopher R. Flowers, MD, MS, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, who will discuss multidimensional approaches that aid in determining the cells of origin and other characteristics of interest for large B-cell lymphoma;
  • Kurt Schalper, MD, PhD, of Yale School of Medicine, who will explore methods for preventing T cells from abetting in tumoral adaptive immune evasion;
  • Daniel S.W. Tan, PhD, of the National Cancer Centre Singapore, who will examine ways to improve clinical trials’ responsiveness to understanding drug resistance; and
  • Maria A. Blasco, PhD, of the Spanish National Cancer Center, who will cover the phosphorylation dynamics at play in telomere conservation and maintenance.

Each session with begin at 5 p.m. Learn more about what you can expect in AACR Annual Meeting News.