26th Annual Young Investigator Symposium to Feature Diverse Clinical and Translational Research

Early-career investigators from across the country will travel to Philadelphia to present their research at the 26th Annual ECOG-ACRIN Young Investigator Symposium on Tuesday, October 20, from 9:00 to 11:00 AM ET as part of the ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group (ECOG-ACRIN)  Fall 2026 Group Meeting. This year's event will showcase innovative clinical and translational research projects spanning a wide range of disease areas and scientific disciplines. All meeting attendees are encouraged to attend and support the next generation of cancer researchers.

The Mentoring Program Committee reviewed 20 abstract submissions and selected nine investigators to present their work during this year's symposium. Abstracts were evaluated based on scientific innovation, significance, and potential clinical impact.

The symposium introduces investigators to ECOG-ACRIN early in their careers while providing a valuable forum for feedback and discussion. Each presenter will deliver a 10-minute oral presentation followed by a question-and-answer session with attendees.

A longstanding tradition is to recognize two symposium presenters with awards of distinction based on the scientific merit of their research, the quality of their presentation, and their command of the subject matter. This year's award recipients will be announced during the Group Meeting General Session on Wednesday, October 21, from 9:00 to 11:00 AM ET.

The following are the 2026 presenters and the titles of their research projects:

Jithma P. Abeykoon, MD                                    
Assistant Professor
Mayo Clinic
Cyclin D1 Overexpression Rewires Replication Fork Protection and Creates ATR/PARP Therapeutic Dependency in Hematologic Malignancies

Fahmin Basher, MD, PhD                                  
Medical Instructor
Duke University
B Cell-Intrinsic DNA Sensing Regulates Survival and Activation of Pathogenic Antibody-Secreting Cells in Chronic Graft-vs-Host Disease

Fed Ghali, MD                                                          
Assistant Professor of Urology
Yale University
Re-Estimating Treatment Effects Under Contemporary Standard of Care

Chanmay T. Jani, MD                                                          
Chief Fellow
University of Miami
Age-Associated Differences in Actionable Genomic Drivers and Immune Phenotypes in 14,246 Patients With Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Catherine H. Marshall, MD, MPH                
Associate Professor
Johns Hopkins University
Clonal Hematopoiesis and Clinical Outcomes Among Men Treated With Bipolar Androgen Therapy and Enzalutamide in The TRANSFORMER Prostate Cancer Clinical Trial

Allison L. Matous, MD                                        
Assistant Professor
Dartmouth College
Assessment of Contralateral Breast Dose in Radiotherapy with Cherenkov Imaging

Shachi Mittal, PhD                 
Assistant Professor                  
University of Washington
AI-Enabled Spatial Tumor-Immune Profiling in Breast Cancer: From Bulk Immune Density to Spatially Resolved Immune Architecture

Varsha Singh, PhD                                                
Postdoctoral Fellow
University of Pennsylvania
Chromosomal Lesions and Cooperating Mutations Shape Leukemia Cell States in TP53-Mutant Acute Myeloid Leukemia Revealed by Single-Cell RNA Sequencing

Fangdi Sun, MD                                       
Assistant Professor
Stanford University
Comparing BamHI-W and Single-Copy EBNA1 DNA in Non-Endemic EBV-Positive Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma: A 13-Year Experience