Cancer Research Foundation

Last Thursday (World Cancer Research Day!), the Cancer Research Foundation brought together scientists, supporters, and friends for our Annual Meeting.

One of the things we value most at CRF is creating opportunities for people to connect - with the research, with the scientists doing the work, and with one another. The evening included scientist networking and a terrific panel featuring David Chen, MD, PhD, a 2022 CRF Young Investigator; Sung Won Choi, MD, MS, a member of CRF’s Scientific Advisory Committee; and Ben Shogan, MD, a 2020 CRF Young Investigator.

We were also honored to recognize Everett Vokes, MD, for his extraordinary leadership and contributions to cancer research and medicine.

Dr. Vokes serves as the John E. Ultmann Distinguished Service Professor, Chair of the Department of Medicine, and Physician-in-Chief at the University of Chicago Medicine and Biological Sciences.

For 72 years, CRF has supported early-career researchers and novel ideas in cancer research with the hope of contributing to major discoveries in prevention, treatment, and cures.

Thank you to everyone who joined us and helped make the evening so meaningful.

Siteman Cancer Center At Barnes-Jewish Hospital & Washington School of Medicine, Washington University in St. Louis, Northwestern Medicine, The University of Chicago Medical Center

We’re excited to share the Cancer Research Foundation’s 2026 Annual Report: Where Bold Ideas Begin.

Meet the researchers behind the work, learn more about what CRF is investing in, and see what your support helped make possible.

Read the report:

CRF Annual Report 2026 Online Flipbook created with Publuu Flipbook Maker.

Last week, we had the opportunity to hear an update from The University of Chicago Dream Team supported by the Cancer Research Foundation.

Led by Kay Macleod, PhD, the team is studying how pancreatic tumors use and alter fats, or lipids, and how those processes may help cancer grow and resist treatment.

The need for this work is urgent. Pancreatic cancer is currently the third-leading cause of cancer death in the United States and is projected to become the second by 2030.

We were also excited to hear just how collaborative the work has become. Findings from one scientist's lab are helping guide experiments in another, bringing together researchers with different areas of expertise to tackle the same difficult problem from multiple directions.

That's exactly what the Dream Team Award was created to make possible: giving exceptional scientists the resources to work together, follow the science and pursue questions that are too complex for any one laboratory to answer alone.

We are proud to support this work and excited to see where the team's research leads.

Cancer research doesn’t happen in silos.

CRF was proud to sponsor The University of Chicago Medicine University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center’s 3rd Annual IGNITE Cancer Research Symposium on August 24, which brought scientists from different disciplines together to exchange ideas, make connections and explore new collaborations.

The day included a keynote from Dr. Eileen White of Rutgers University Cancer Institute and conversations about the enormous potential of team science.

CRF is proud not only to support IGNITE, but also to fund promising collaborative research projects that have grown from it. Bringing scientists together and giving new ideas the opportunity to take shape is an important part of moving cancer research forward.

Thank you to everyone at UChicago who made this year’s IGNITE possible!

What if AI could help doctors better predict how a brain tumor will behave — and which treatments are most likely to work?

CRF Young Investigator Junhan Zhao, PhD, of the The University of Chicago's Data for the Common Good, is using artificial intelligence to bring together pathology, medical imaging and clinical information in a new way.

His goal is to help doctors better predict how quickly a patient’s glioma may progress or return after surgery, and how that patient may respond to treatment.

If successful, Dr. Zhao’s research could give physicians another tool for making more individualized treatment decisions — and could eventually help inform similar approaches for other cancers.

We’re proud to support innovative research like this through CRF’s Young Investigator Award.

The breakthroughs we hear about in cancer research may feel like the finish line. But they’re built on years of work most of us never see.

CRF CEO Matt is training for a 100-mile ultramarathon this October, and all those early mornings have him thinking about the connection between endurance and research: neither is won in the final mile.

Now, we’re inviting you to be part of the journey.

Join our Virtual 5K and help us cover more than 100 miles together while raising $10,000 for the Cancer Research Foundation.

🏃 Run, walk or roll your own 5K
📍 Anywhere, on your own time
💙 Set a fundraising goal of $300
👟 Help us fill one of just 33 spots

Ready to join us? Learn more and sign up here: https://givebutter.com/the-long-run-zzhutm

Let’s cover new ground together.