In This Section

NextGen Stars

AACR Annual Meeting 2026 NextGen Stars Program

The AACR Annual Meeting 2026 marked the 12th anniversary of the prestigious and competitive AACR NextGen Stars program. The Annual Meeting Program Committee invited AACR Associate Members and early-career and early-stage Active members to apply for the opportunity to give a talk in a major session at the meeting. Applicants who were selected to give talks at the Annual Meeting received travel support and complimentary registration for the meeting.

    Congratulations to the 2026 NextGen Stars!

    CheukMan Cherie Au, PHD

    CheukMan Cherie Au, PHD

    Assistant Professor 
    Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, New York
    First-in-class dual AR/AR-V7 molecular glue degraders targeting the undruggable N-terminal domain to overcome therapeutic resistance in prostate cancer  

    Daniel D. Azorín, PhD

    Daniel D. Azorín, PhD

    Postdoctoral Researcher
    ETH Zurich, Basel, Switzerland
    Screening for tumor microtube-targeting drugs identifies PKC modulators as multipotent inhibitors of glioblastoma progression

    Jian Carrot-Zhang, PhD

    Jian Carrot-Zhang, PhD

    Assistant Professor
    Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York
    Understand germline determinants of cancer progression using multi-ancestral real-world data

    Steven Corsello, MD

    Steven Corsello, MD

    Assistant Professor
    Stanford University, Stanford, California
    Discovery of TRIM21 molecular glues that drive potent anti-tumor efficacy via nuclear pore complex degradation

    Alvaro Curiel Garcia, PhD

    Alvaro Curiel Garcia, PhD

    Associate Research Scientist
    Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, New York
    BMAL2 is a KRAS-driven master regulator of hypoxic adaptation and EMT in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma

    William Freed-Pastor, MD, PhD

    William Freed-Pastor, MD, PhD

    Assistant Professor
    Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts
    Cancer-restricted cryptic antigens: Novel targets for next-generation T cell-based therapies

    Adam Grippin, MD, PhD

    Adam Grippin, MD, PhD

    Resident/Post-doctoral candidate
    UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
    Mechanisms by which mRNA vaccines augment responses to immune checkpoint blockade

    Long Nguyen, MD, PhD

    Long Nguyen, MD, PhD

    Instructor, Pathway-to-Independence
    University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
    BACH1 drives hypoxia-induced stem-like transition states and immune evasion in breast cancer

    Ray Pillai, MD

    Ray Pillai, MD

    Instructor
    NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, New York
    Autocrine LIF signaling: A novel therapeutic target to eliminate inflammatory and immunosuppressive cancer stem cells in LKB1 mutant lung adenocarcinoma

    Amulya Sreekumar, PhD

    Amulya Sreekumar, PhD

    Research Associate
    University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
    Residual breast cancer cells co-opt SOX5-driven endochondral ossification to maintain dormancy

    Daniel Zabransky, MD, PhD

    Daniel Zabransky, MD, PhD

    Assistant Professor
    Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
    Overcoming aging-driven barriers to effective immunotherapy in pancreatic cancer