The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) looks forward to hosting the AACR Annual Meeting 2025, April 25-30, in Chicago, Illinois. As the touchstone of the cancer research community, the AACR Annual Meeting is the place where science and medicine come together—where cancer scientists, clinicians, other healthcare professionals, survivors, and patient advocates gather to discuss the latest breakthroughs, make connections, and forge new collaborations.

The theme of this year’s scientific program, “Unifying Cancer Science and Medicine: A Continuum of Innovation for Impact,” reflects the critical importance of advancing cancer research from the bench to the clinic and back to the bench—a synergistic process in which basic and translational research findings lead to innovations that improve patient outcomes, and patient experiences inform future research and discoveries. This concept is at the heart of this year’s Annual Meeting and is central to the AACR’s mission of preventing and curing all cancers.

I would like to express my profound gratitude to our esteemed AACR President, Patricia M. LoRusso, DO, PhD (hc), FAACR; our AACR Annual Meeting Committees; and our dedicated program chairs, Matthew G. Vander Heiden, MD, PhD, and AACR President-Elect Lillian L. Siu, MD, FAACR, for so generously devoting their time and expertise in planning such a comprehensive scientific program.

From cutting-edge basic science to practice-changing clinical trials, this year’s meeting promises to showcase groundbreaking science and education that will have immediate and future impact on cancer care.

• Six Plenary Sessions will highlight cutting-edge advances in cancer research, emphasizing transformative scientific discoveries and innovative technologies (including the Opening Plenary on Sunday, April 27, and a closing Plenary Session featuring key meeting takeaways on Wednesday, April 30).
• Seven types of “Advances” Sessions will present the latest research in areas such as early detection, prevention, new technologies, and therapeutics.
• Four Clinical Trial Plenary Sessions will report novel clinical research as well as the science behind the trials that offers significant clinical benefit to patients.
• More than 7,000 proffered abstracts will be presented.
• Seven Forums and eight scientific Special Sessions will discuss topics such as bringing science to the clinic, fostering effective science communication, and cell-based immunotherapies.
• Countless opportunities for networking and professional development will be available. 

All Annual Meeting scientific sessions, including the Educational Program via the Educational Program Pass, will be live-streamed on the virtual meeting platform.

Annual Meeting attendees can add the Educational Program Pass to their registration to secure their opportunity to choose from more than 65 Educational Sessions and Methods Workshops. If you miss a session and wish to view it again, recordings will be available on our virtual meeting platform for six months after the meeting.

There are many ways to see what the Annual Meeting has to offer.

• The Online Itinerary Planner provides fully searchable access to the full text of all proffered abstracts.
• The AACR Annual Meeting App will be available soon and will contain the full text of all proffered abstracts.
• The Proceedings of the AACR Annual Meeting containing the full text of all regular proffered abstracts (clinical trials and late-breaking abstracts are not included) can be downloaded as a PDF to your computer or device on April 21.

As you prepare for the Annual Meeting in Chicago in just a few weeks, we hope you will enjoy reading all the great coverage of our meeting in AACR Annual Meeting News. We look forward to seeing you there!