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Cancer Biology Program Research Retreat

Composite of images from a research retreat showing a group photo, the student organizers with the keynote speaker, a wide view of the room, and the winners of the best poster award — The 2025 Cancer Biology Program Research Retreat, held at the Hogan Campus Center at the College of the Holy Cross. (Bottom left) Keynote speaker, Ranjit Bindra, MD, PhD (center), with the student planning committee. (Bottom right) Cancer Biology Program Director Lucio Castilla, PhD (right), with the winners for outstanding poster presentation.

About the Event

The annual Cancer Biology Program Research Retreat is an all-day event that brings together researchers from UMass Chan Medical School studying diverse aspects of cancer biology, and is a free, private event for the UMass Chan community. The retreat is planned by trainees in the Cancer Biology Program in the Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, and is run with the assistance of the MCCB administrative team. Held at the Hogan Campus Center at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, the retreat has a relaxed atmosphere that is conducive to interactions, discussions and networking. The event features presentations by graduate students, postdocs and faculty. Awards are presented for outstanding platform and poster presentations.

Keynote Speakers

The highlight of the retreat is a keynote address from a prominent researcher, who is selected, invited and hosted by a committee of students in the Cancer Biology graduate program. Recent keynote speakers include:

William Sellers, MD | 2018
Core Institute Member, Broad Institute
Professor of Medicine, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
“From Cancer Dependence to Cancer Therapeutics”

Kornelia Polyak, MD, PhD | 2019
Professor of Medicine and Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
“Breast Tumor Evolution”

William G. Kaelin Jr., MD | 2023
Professor, Department of Medicine, DFCI and Harvard Medical School
Associate Director for the DFCI Cancer Center
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
2019 Nobel Prize Laureate in Physiology or Medicine
“The von Hippel-Lindau Tumor Suppressor Gene: Insights into Oxygen Sensing, Cancer and Drugging the Undruggable”

Matthew Vander Heiden, MD, PhD | 2024
Director, Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research
Lester Wolfe Professor in Molecular Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
“How Studying Metabolism has Informed Cancer Biology”

Ranjit Bindra, MD, PhD | 2025
Harvey and Kate Cushing Professor, Departments of Therapeutic Radiology, Pathology, and Neurosurgery
Vice-Chair for Translational Research (Therapeutic Radiology)
Chief, CNS Radiation Oncology
Yale School of Medicine
“Targeted DNA Modification. Journey from Bench to Biotech to Pharma...to Beside?”