In 2024, the AACR’s NextGen Stars Program celebrates the 10th anniversary of providing high-profile presentation opportunities for graduate students, postdocs, and assistant professors who submitted outstanding applications and highly significant scientific findings to share with the AACR Annual Meeting audience.

The first group of AACR NextGen Stars presented their work at the AACR Annual Meeting 2014 in San Diego. Since that first year, 111 outstanding scientists have been part of the prestigious and competitive program, including this year’s class of 10.

The organization returns in 2024 to San Diego, a fitting site to acknowledge the success of the program in the past decade and to recognize the distinguished alumni and current class of AACR NextGen Stars.

Katherine Chiappinelli, PhD, was a member of the NextGen Stars class in 2015 and is now a member of the AACR Education Committee. Through the program, she gained invaluable experience, including presenting at a large meeting.

“I gained confidence to present my work and field questions on our discoveries,” said Chiappinelli, assistant professor, Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Tropical Medicine at The George Washington University Cancer Center. “I am so grateful to the AACR for giving me the opportunity to present as part of the NextGen Stars, and it encouraged further involvement with the AACR. I am excited to serve on the Education Committee this year and work with others to propose and organize educational sessions for the Annual Meeting.”

Valsamo Anagnostou, MD, PhD, had just completed her medical oncology fellowship and was embarking on a physician scientist journey when she was accepted in the NextGen Stars program in 2017. Recognition of her work gave her more confidence and motivated her to focus her independent research in dissecting the evolving genomic landscape of immunotherapy response.

“Being recognized in the AACR 2017 NextGen Stars cohort allowed me to network with more senior cancer researchers within the AACR community,” said Anagnostou, associate professor of oncology at Johns Hopkins Medicine. “Fast forward several years, now running the Molecular Oncology lab at Johns Hopkins and translating the knowledge learned in the lab to interventions that aim to improve cancer patient outcomes, my AACR badge from 2017 with the AACR NextGen Stars tag hangs in my office, a testament to and a reminder of the importance of this recognition in my scientific career.”

Megan Ruhland, PhD, who was part of the NextGen Stars class in 2023, said the program was instrumental in propelling her career and research forward. Through the program, she gained opportunities for networking with established investigators and peers in the field and fostered new and exciting collaborations.

“Additionally, the visibility and recognition provided by NextGen Stars has opened new doors for me as a new independent investigator,” said Ruhland, assistant professor, Department of Cell, Developmental & Cancer Biology, Oregon Health & Science University. “And it has allowed me to become more involved in AACR including joining the Educational Committee for the Annual Meeting 2024.”

The NextGen Stars application deadline is in the fall for the following year’s Annual Meeting. Early-career scientists can apply to give a presentation in a Major Symposium or Advances Session at the AACR Annual Meeting. Speaking slots are limited and are only available to AACR Associate Members and to AACR Active Members who are not above the level of assistant professor or equivalent. If you are not already an AACR member, join now.

---

2024 NextGen Stars

Israel Canadas, PhD

Assistant Professor
Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Canadas will present during the Annual Meeting session Communication between DNA Damage and Immune Responses in Cancer on Monday, April 8, at 12:30 p.m. PT.

---

Gabriele Casirati, MD, PhD

Research Fellow
Boston Children’s Hospital/Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts

Casirati will present during the Annual Meeting session Ongoing Advances in the Understanding and Treatment of Acute Myeloid Leukemia on Monday, April 8, at 12:30 pm. PT.

---

Kathleen Houlahan, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow
Stanford University, Stanford, California

Houlahan will present during the Annual Meeting session Understanding and Predicting Tumor Evolution on Monday, April 8, at 10:15 a.m. PT.

---

Kara N. Maxwell, MD, PhD

Assistant Professor
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Maxwell will present during the Annual Meeting session Molecular Profiling in Breast Cancer and Racial/Ethnic Minorities: Dedicated to the Memory of Edith P. Mitchell on Monday, April 8, at 10:15 a.m. PT.

---

Arnav Mehta, MD, PhD

Assistant in Medicine
Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts

Mehta will present during the Annual Meeting session Unwrapping Heterogeneity in Pancreatic Cancer on Tuesday, April 9, at 10:15 a.m. PT.

---

Abhijit Parolia, MS, PhD

Assistant Professor
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan

Parolia will present during the Annual Meeting session Androgen Receptor as a Pro-Differentiation and Oncogenic Transcription Factor in Prostate Cancer on Wednesday, April 10, at 10:15 a.m. PT.

---

Olivier Saulnier, PhD

Junior Group Leader
Institut Curie, Paris, France

Saulnier will present during the Annual Meeting session Targeting Aberrant Transcription in Pediatric Cancer on Monday, April 8, at 12:30 p.m. PT.

---

Alison M. Taylor, PhD

Assistant Professor
Columbia University, New York, New York

Taylor will present during the Annual Meeting session Systematic Functional Approaches for Understanding and Targeting Cancer on Monday, April 8, at 10:15 a.m. PT.

---

Claire E. Thomas, PhD, MPH

Postdoctoral Fellow
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, Washington

Thomas will present during the Annual Meeting session Crosstalk within the Tumor Ecosystem on Tuesday, April 9, at 10:15 a.m. PT.

---

Ignacio Vazquez-Garcia, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York

Vazquez-Garcia will present during the Annual Meeting session Mutational Processes in Cancer: From Replication Stress to Complex Genomic Rearrangements on Tuesday, April 9, at 12:15 p.m. PT.