On July 16, the cancer center hosted congressional staff from the regional offices of Senators Todd Young and Jim Banks and Representatives André Carson and Jefferson Shreve for an immersive visit. Organized by the IU Office of Federal Relations and the cancer center’s Office of Inclusive Excellence, the visit included presentations from cancer center members on the broad impact of IU cancer research, a cancer survivor’s personal story, and a lab tour at the Brown Center for Immunotherapy.
August 2025 news briefs
Congressional staffers visit cancer center
2025 summer programs is largest cohort ever
The cancer center’s summer programs included 76 participants this summer, making it the largest cohort ever. Crucial to the program’s success were the 49 mentors who hosted these students in their labs and research spaces.
Apply for the SAM@SIMON program: Deadline extended to Aug. 29
The Strategy and Management Succession Program (SAM@Simon) is seeking applications for its 2025 cohort. SAM@Simon seeks to provide clinical or research faculty and staff a safe space to enhance leadership and development skills and to accelerate participants’ careers with an in-depth understanding of the core concepts that drive academic cancer centers.
The program includes a retreat that will occur in mid-September 2025. An asynchronous course will run from September through December 2025. The application deadline has been extended to Aug. 29.
Cancer Burden Across Indiana symposium brings together statewide collaborators
The 2025 Cancer Burden Across Indiana: Connecting Molecular Mechanisms to Treatment, Care, and Community Symposium was held June 26 in Indianapolis. The cancer center event brought together 118 attendees representing clinical and research faculty, administrative and research staff, care providers, trainees, community members, and industry partners from across the state.
Cancer center connects with community at Indiana Health Fair
The IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center was a sponsor at this year’s Indiana Health Fair, an event that has provided free healthcare, resources, screenings, and education to thousands of Hoosiers, annually, for almost four decades. Held in conjunction with the Indiana Black Expo’s Summer Celebration and in the same venue as the WNBA All Star festivities, the weekend-long health fair was held July 17-20 providing the opportunity to connect directly with community members from across the state and country.
The Office of Community Outreach and Engagement and End Lung Cancer Now joined forces to coordinate the cancer center’s presence, with volunteer staff, researchers, students and members from different departments and disciplines. They informed the fairgoers about the cancer center’s mission to lower the cancer burden through education on cancer prevention and screening, tobacco control, lung cancer awareness and clinical trials.
Those interested in volunteer and service-learning opportunities or in engaging the community at other health fair and resource events, can contact Tanya J. Street at 317-278-6151 or taejohns@iu.edu, or fill out the interest form.
Search launches for new director of breast cancer research center
If you or someone you know is a collaborative and transformational leader who has a nationally recognized, extramurally funded research program in breast cancer, consider applying for or nominating someone for the open director position at the Vera Bradley Foundation Center for Breast Cancer Research.
Ideal candidates' research would focus on biology, genomics, immunotherapy, drug discovery, survivorship, epidemiology or behavioral research across the spectrum of breast cancer control. Priority application review deadline is Aug. 7.
Search underway for Division Chief of Hematology and Oncology
The Department of Internal Medicine at the IU School of Medicine seeks a nationally recognized, dynamic, and visionary leader, to become its next division chief of hematology and oncology and the inaugural deputy director for the IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Cancer center participation at the 17th Annual AACI CRI Meeting
Cancer center members and clinical trials office staff presented at the 17th Annual AACI Clinical Innovation Meeting held June 23-25 in Chicago. See the full program details.
Highlights include:
- Mario Contreraz, MBA, MSN, RN, was among presenters for the session “Operating Leaner: Tech Integration to Transform the Clinical Trials Office.”
- Amber Bauchle and Contreraz co-presented the session, “Continuing the Conversation: Optimizing Multi-Site Structures in Cancer Centers.”
- Nine abstracts were chosen for poster presentations. See the 2025 abstracts.
Upcoming events
Big Ten CRC Summit is Sept. 12
Registration is open for the Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium Summit, taking place at the Big Ten Conference Headquarters on Sept. 12 in Rosemont, Ill. This event is geared towards senior and junior faculty and fellows involved in clinical oncology research, basic scientists involved in drug discovery and translational research, cancer center leadership and administration, industry leaders and medical science liaisons, and patient advocates.
IU Genitourinary Cancer Symposium is Sept. 26
The “From Cells to Cures: The IU Genitourinary Cancer Symposium” will spotlight the evolving landscape of GU oncology research from enhancing survivorship and improving quality of life beyond treatment, to uncovering novel therapeutic targets through the lens of epigenetics and metabolism. The symposium will also feature how artificial intelligence and data science are transforming diagnostics, treatment planning, and personalized care.
The symposium will be held in Joseph E. Walther Hall on Sept. 26 and is sponsored by the IU School of Medicine’s Department of Urology.
This is your opportunity to learn from cancer center researchers and our guest speakers:
- Christina Dieli-Conwright, PhD, MPH, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
- Michael Hoyt, PhD, University of California-Irvine
- Anders Berglund, PhD, Mayo Clinic Jacksonville
- David Labbe, PhD, McGill University
Questions? Contact Clint Cary, MD, department of urology chair, and Asmaa El-Kenawi, PhD, at urometab@iu.edu.
Reminder: Sign up for AACI’s Defending Cancer Research Digest
Through its Defending Cancer Research Digest, the Association of American Cancer Institutes (AACI) seeks to keep its members informed about what is happening at other cancer centers around the country. If you don’t already receive emails from the AACI and would like to get future issues of Defending Cancer Research and the newsletter, you can be added to the circulation list by sending an email to aaciupdate@aaci-cancer.org.
Member headlines and highlights
Christopher Collier, MD (TMM), was recently named one of the 2025 winners of the Trustees’ Teaching Award, representing the IU School of Medicine. Read more.
Hari Nakshatri, PhD (TMM), is an author on July’s AACI commentary, “Training the Oncology Workforce: An Indispensable Role of NCI-Designated Cancer Centers.”
Karen Pollok, PhD (EDT), is profiled in an IU School of Medicine blog post, “Pediatric cancer researcher explores novel treatments for solid tumors.”
