Annual All Center Symposium 2025

8:00am

Registration, Lobby & Exhibit Hall Open

Breakfast served in Centennial Hall Pre-Function Area

8:50am

Welcome & Opening Remarks

Michael Teitell, MD, PhD
Director, UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center
President, Jonsson Cancer Center Foundation
Associate Dean, David Geffen School of Medicine, Cancer Research and Care
Harrison and Lya Latta Endowed Chair in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Professor, Departments of Pathology, Pediatrics and Bioengineering
Director, T32 Tumor Immunology Training Program

Steven M. Dubinett, MD
Dean, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Associate Vice Chancellor for Research, UCLA
Distinguished Professor of Medicine, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, and Molecular and Medical Pharmacology
Gerald S. Levey, MD, Endowed Chair

9:00am

UCLA Health JCCC Strategic Overview

Melissa Fitzmaurice Neligan, MPH, CRA
Chief Administrative Officer,
UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center

Zoran Galic, PhD
Professor, Department of Medicine, Hematology/Oncology
Director of Shared Resources, UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center
Director, Flow Cytometry Shared Resource

9:25am

Session I
New Investigators Forum

David Shackelford, PhD (Session Moderator)
Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine

Danielle Schmitt, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
"Illuminating Compartmentalized Metabolic Regulation in Cancer"

Ricky Savjani, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor-in-Residence, Department of Radiation Oncology
"CEREBRO: Clinical Enterprise for Real-world Exploration of Brain Metastases Radiation Outcomes"

Jason Chiang, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Radiological Sciences
"Image Guided Thermal Ablation of Early-stage HCC: Mechanisms of Resistance and Potential Adjuvant Strategies"

Tikvah Hayes, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology
"Landscape of On-target Resistance in EGFR-mutant Lung Cancer"

10:35am

Poster Viewing & Networking

Ballroom CD, Pinnacle, Odyssey, Pathways

11:00am

Session II
Fellowship Trainee Talks

Amar Kishan, MD (Session Moderator)
Professor and Executive Vice Chair
Chief of Genitourinary Oncology Service
Department of Radiation Oncology

Grigor Varuzhanyan, PhD
Postdoctoral Scholar, Laboratory of Owen Witte
"PGC-1α-Induced Mitochondrial Metabolism: Steering Lineage Fate in Small Cell Neuroendocrine Cancers"

Zhiyuan Mao, PhD
Postdoctoral Scholar, Owen Witte and John K. Lee Lab
"Developing T Cell Receptor Immunotherapy Targeting Prostatic Acid Phosphatase"

Jesus Juarez, MD
Resident Physician, Department of Radiation Oncology
"Comparing Progression Following Systemic and Tumor-directed Therapy for De Novo Versus Recurrent PSMA PET-defined Oligo-M1 Prostate Cancer: A Pooled Analysis of SOLAR and SATURN Clinical Trials"

Alexandra Smick, MD
Gynecologic Oncology Fellow
Board-Certified OBGYN
"Mitigating Ovarian Cancer Recurrence After Surgical Resection in Mouse Models via Neutrophil Inhibition"

Raag Agrawal
MD-PhD Candidate, UCLA-Caltech MSTP, Paul Boutros Group
"Identifying Molecular Subtypes of High-Risk Prostate Cancer"

Eulanca Liu, MD, PhD
Resident Physician, UCLA Radiation Oncology
ABR Holman Pathway Postdoctoral Fellow, Savjani Lab
"Patient-Centered Innovation in Radiation Oncology: Enhancing Understanding and Expanding Applications"

12:10pm

Lunch & Networking

Luskin Center Centennial Terrace

1:10pm

Session III
Therapeutics Company Perspectives

Manish Butte, MD, PhD (Session Moderator)
E. Richard Stiehm Professor of Pediatrics, Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics and Human Genetics
Chief, Division of Immunology, Allergy, and Rheumatology

Jay Bradner, MD
Executive Vice President, Research & Development, Amgen
"Modular Cancer Therapeutics"

Otto Yang, MD
Professor, Departments of Medicine and Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics
Chief Medical Officer at CDR3 Therapeutics
"Harnessing Hematopoietic Stem Cells for Cancer Immunotherapy"

Sumant Ramachandra, MD, PhD
Former CEO and Board Director, ImmPACT Bio
Board Director, Lyell Immunopharma
Founder, SR Global Health
"UCLA & ImmPACT Bio: Pursuing A Common Purpose WIth Academic-Industry Relationships"

Ben Wang, PhD
Co-founder and Founding CEO of Chimera Bioengineering, Inc.
Co-founder of Cytokind, Inc.
"Universities as Critical Partners in the Development of Complex Therapies in Cell and Gene Therapies"

2:20pm

Formal Poster Viewing for Judges

Ballroom CD, Pinnacle, Odyssey, Pathways

3:20pm

Session IV
Highlighting New Members of the Cancer Control and Survivorship Program

Beth Glenn, PhD (Session Moderator)
Professor and Vice Chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health
Co-Director for Community Outreach and Engagement and Cancer Control and Survivorship Research Program, UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center
Associate Director of the UCLA Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Equity

Ya-Chen Tina Shih, PhD
Director, Program in Cancer Health Economics Research, UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center
Professor of Health Economics, Department of Radiation Oncology
Professor, Department of Health Policy & Management, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health
"Cancer Health Economics Research (CHEER) Program at UCLA Health JCCC"

Paul Spellman, PhD
Professor, Departments of Medicine and Human Genetics
“Inherited Cancer Syndrome Screening in the Healthy Public”

Mia Hashibe, PhD
Professor, Department of Epidemiology, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health
"Cancer Epidemiology: From Head and Neck Cancer to Cancer Survivorship"

4:30pm

Closing Remarks, Poster Winners, and Shared Resources Voucher Drawing Announcement

4:45pm

Post-Symposium Reception

Appetizers and Drinks in Centennial Hall Pre-Function Area

5:30pm

Symposium Concludes

This Symposium is made possible by the generous philanthropy of Mr. Ali Jassim.