Cancer Frontiers Symposium Highlights Treatment Challenges, Emerging Technologies

Biomedical Graduate Education (BGE) faculty and students in December hosted a symposium focused on challenges and possibilities in cancer treatment. “Cancer Frontiers: Rare Cancer, Emerging Technologies, and Disparities,” held December 9-10, 2025, in the Medical and Dental Building, gave students a chance to learn from respected researchers and to present their own work.

Principal organizer Tomoko Steen, director of the Biohazardous Threat Agents & Emerging Infectious Diseases Program, said that the event combined the expertise of Georgetown’s Department of Oncology and Biomedical Science Policy & Advocacy programs: “The symposium focused on how to reduce disparities by introducing studies on tackling rare cancers, leveraging emerging technologies to detect and treat cancers to address disparities in cancer care over all. 

The symposium revolved around “tackling rare cancers, leveraging emerging technologies to detect and treat cancers, and addressing disparities in cancer care.” Speakers included:

• Tomoko Steen, director of the Biohazardous Threat Agents & Emerging Infectious Diseases Program
• John Casey, chair of Georgetown’s Department of Microbiology & Immunology.
• Louis Weiner, director of Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center and Tumor Biology Program faculty member, on CAR-T cell therapy
• G.P. Yeh, high energy physicist formerly of Fermilab, on boron neutron precision treatment
• Daniel Reynolds, biomedical engineer at Binghamton University, on 3D printing of tumors
• MacLean Nasrallah, assistant professor at University of Pennsylvania Perelmann School of Medicine, on glioblastoma pathological studies
• Zhichao Wu, National Cancer Institute (NCI) research fellow, on molecular classification and diagnostics
• Jaydira Del Rivero, physician scientist in NCI’s Center for Cancer Research, Developmental Therapeutics Branch, on gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors
• Marwa Afifi, assistant professor at Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, on oral cancer and HPV
• Hans-Georg Rammensee, immunologist at the University of Tubingen, Germany, on cancer vaccines
• Tengteng Wang, assistant professor of medicine at Rutgers University Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, on microbiome and breast cancer
• Kristi Graves, oncology professor at Georgetown University School of Medicine, on cancer disparities
• Lightning talks by Georgetown biomedical students: Senna Joshi, Kaylee Yannity, Lauren Librie, Lily Schneider, Meg Ptak, Sage Tawfeeq, and Monica Nguyen