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Huntsman Cancer Institute’s Frontiers Symposium on Transformation in Cancer Care Delivery brought together top researchers, clinicians, and industry innovators to explore transformative models in cancer care. The event featured a dynamic mix of presentations, discussions, and networking opportunities to improve cancer prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and survivorship.
“We brought together expert stakeholders from different backgrounds to envision how we can transform cancer health care in the Mountain West and across the country,” says Thomas Varghese Jr., MD, MS, MBA, FACS, chief of general thoracic surgery at Huntsman Cancer Institute, professor of surgery at the University of Utah (the U), and one of the organizers of the symposium. “Our goal was to innovate and elevate the quality of cancer care, ensuring it is effective, safe, patient-centered, and available to all.”
The symposium kicked off with a keynote address by Karen Knudsen, PhD, MBA, former CEO of the American Cancer Society. Knudsen highlighted a remarkable 34% decline in cancer mortality between 1991 and 2023, emphasizing the role of federal funding and technology in accelerating scientific discovery and transforming cancer care. She called for harnessing new technologies to address persistent gaps in cancer care delivery.
“Technology gives us an opportunity to continue to innovate, continue to do science, and to plunge ourselves more deeply into the next set of questions that are going to allow us to make cancer something that is a manageable disease and to end cancer as we know it for everyone,” said Knudsen in her address.
Innovative industry leaders like Thomas Osborne, MD, chief medical officer at Microsoft, and Othman Laraki, chief executive officer of Color Health, also discussed how new technologies have changed the possibilities of enhanced cancer care and prevention, including across a distance.
Huntsman Cancer Institute is the only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center that has a strategic commitment to serving rural populations. Thus, a central theme of the symposium focused on innovations to effectively provide cancer prevention and care to rural and frontier communities.
Overcoming distance as a barrier to cancer care was a key goal of several presentations and discussions by top Huntsman Cancer Institute researchers. Huntsman Cancer Institute has received extensive funding by the National Institutes of Health and National Cancer Institute to advance research in this area.
Neli Ulrich, PhD, MS, chief scientific officer at Huntsman Cancer Institute, emphasized the importance of Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based innovations in ensuring access to high-quality cancer care for rural patients.
“Improving cancer prevention and care among our rural patients is of utmost importance,” said Ulrich. “We are committed to serving cancer patients in Utah and throughout the Mountain West and are excited about the bright future ahead by bridging distance with state-of-the-art technologies and artificial intelligence.”
The symposium underscored the transformative impact of AI in cancer care. Caroline Chung, MD, MSc, FRCPC, CIP, vice president and chief data officer at MD Anderson Cancer Center, delivered a keynote speech on the importance of improving data quality for optimal cancer care outcomes. Huntsman Cancer Institute researchers Kathi Mooney, PhD, RN, Distinguished Professor in the College of Nursing at the U; Tracy Onega, PhD, professor of population sciences at the U; Jonathan Tward, MD, PhD, FASTRO, professor of radiation oncology at the U; Neeraj Agarwal, MD, FASCO, professor of medicine at the U; and Jessica Moehle, CCRP, also highlighted AI’s groundbreaking applications in diagnostic imaging, chatbots, decentralized clinical trials, and virtual navigation.
“AI has the potential to revolutionize cancer care, offering new possibilities for early detection, personalized treatments, and predictive outcomes,” says Onega, senior director of population sciences at Huntsman Cancer Institute and one of the conference organizers.
Emerging scholars from around the country showcased their findings during the poster session, and five of them were awarded for their contributions to the future of cancer research.
Sachin Apte, MD, MS, MBA, chief clinical officer at Huntsman Cancer Institute, reflected on the progress in cancer care over the past 25 years. He noted the remarkable advancements in treatment and the ongoing need for innovation.
“The treatments that we can deliver today were simply unimaginable when I started my career as a physician more than two decades ago. Progress in translating science into new effective therapies is amazing,” said Apte. “But as our patients and caregivers teach us, we still have much more work ahead. How can we drive more innovation in how we deliver cancer care? A symposium like this one invigorates us as cancer care professionals. This event was just the beginning.”
Huntsman Cancer Institute is supported by the National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute and the Huntsman Cancer Foundation.
The critical research happening every day at Huntsman Cancer Institute is supported by the National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute, including cancer center support grant P30 CA042014, as well as Huntsman Cancer Foundation.