21st Annual Industry/Academia
Precision Oncology & RadMed Symposium
Date: November 5, 2025Location: The Alexandria at Torrey Pines Conference Center
10996 Torreyana Rd, San Diego, California 92121
Symposium Committee
Ida Deichaite, PhD, UCSD, Committee Chair
Neal Bloom, Rising Tide Partners
Scott Lippman, MD, UCSD
Tom Miller, PhD, Iambic Therapeutics
Hunter Reed, Alexandria Venture Investments, Alexandria Real Estate Equities
Nicole Steinmetz, PhD, UCSD
Benjamin Titz, PhD, Alkyon Therapeutics
ABOUT THE 21ST ANNUAL SYMPOSIUM
The Annual Industry/Academia Precision Oncology & RadMed Symposium, now in its 21st year, brings together global leaders in life sciences to explore the latest innovations in cancer research and translational medicine. Attendees will engage in interactive sessions covering key areas shaping the future of oncology, including:
AI • Immuno-Oncology • Radioligand Therapies • Small Molecule Renaissance
Panel discussions and networking receptions provide opportunities for meaningful collaborations across academia and industry, fostering partnerships that accelerate translational research and clinical impact. This premier forum facilitates discussions on how recent scientific developments translate into clinical applications, aiming to provide lifesaving therapeutic options for cancer patients.
A distinguished highlight of the symposium is the Duane Roth Achievement Award, which honors patient-focused leaders in healthcare whose work has overcome significant scientific, financial, institutional, political, and cultural challenges to create new paradigms in research and treatment. Named after Duane Roth, a visionary biotech leader, the award recognizes individuals who demonstrate his deep commitment to innovation and patient care. Learn more about those who have significantly advanced cancer treatment and translational oncology while embodying perseverance, passion, and commitment to patients.
About the Location
San Diego provides an ideal environment for successful partnerships and collaborations: The intersection of academia, biomedical research, top-notch health care providers, and entrepreneurship allow innovation to abound. San Diego’s position as a global hub for biomedical innovation serves as a role model for translational oncology on a national level.
Please use the following booking links to secure the UC San Diego rate at these local hotels:
Symposium Testimonials
Hear from attendees and collaborators about their experiences at our annual Precision Oncology & RadMed Symposium.
Click through these testimonials that highlight the impact, insights, and connections formed at the event.
Thank you for your efforts in keeping Duane’s name alive – and for your contributions toward advancing the understanding and treatment of cancer.
I really enjoyed the symposium, great job.
Great to be out with my team yesterday for a day of insightful talks at the Next Generation Precision Oncology Symposium in La Jolla. Distinguished scientists, including Devon J Shedlock, CSO, Cell Therapy at Poseida Therapeutics, Inc., gave us a glimpse into novel approaches in development that someday could provide new therapeutic options for patients fighting cancer. Keynote speaker Dr. Levi Garraway from Roche, which has an ongoing collaboration with Poseida, was another highlight. Thank you Ida Deichaite and the UC San Diego Health for an outstanding symposium.
Congratulations on an excellent symposium! I found it highly engaging.
Are you able to share email addresses of other speakers? Several potential collaborations came to mind, which is another measure of success.
Thank you for having me!! You did a beautiful job with the meeting. I can’t imagine how hard it was juggling yet one more thing!!
Thank you and congratulations on another successful symposium!
Thank you Ida for your support and great photos ! I really enjoyed the symposium ! It is a great event.
Thanks for inviting me to the 19th Oncology Symposium. This is an event that I look forward to every year.
It provides insight and collaboration opportunities for local companies to connect on as well as the potential for new connections with outside experts and global organizations.
I came this year’s meeting with some specific goals in mind and it delivered.
Thanks to you, I attended and enjoyed the conference. I'd like to know of other conferences in the area of precision medicine and sponsor this conference the next time.
Thank you Ida! I appreciate being asked to participate this year and found the symposium was extremely valuable from a collaborative perspective and I really enjoyed connecting with giants in the field as well.
Hope to see you next year if not before.
It was a great event, congratulations! I found attending the UCSD symposium a valuable way to connect with academics and clinicians from the UCSD network that I would not normally meet. The relationships I started at the meeting have the potential to lead to collaborative research, clinical consultation and potentially clinical trial development. The speakers were very good and discussions were inspiring.
I just want to thank you again for your invitation and for introducing me to Inhibrx. It’s been a very fruitful connection.
As a mother on a mission to help fund and find a cure for SDH-deficient GIST, I found this special event to have excellent speakers and content and it also offered a great opportunity to make connections, as well.
I met the Inhibrx team, Brendan Eckelman, Heather and Nadia. At lunch, I met the Blueprint team and Shannon of Astellas Oncology and others.
Thank you for all your hard work to make this 19th Symposium amazing…and I look forward to your 20th!
Thank you very much for another fantastic quality event. It is always a pleasure. I look forward to next year and would happily help you prepare for the next meeting if you see fit.
It was a great symposium yesterday, like every year. Thanks for all your efforts.
Thank you again for allowing me to chair the session!
I wanted to follow-up and let you know what a great symposium you put on yesterday. We probably say this every year, but I think this was the best one yet. Thanks for allowing me to contribute and I am glad Shoreline was able to help provide support.
Ida- I do want to catch up sometime about a couple items. Let me know if there may be a good time for getting together- maybe lunch or end of the day if you want, sometime in the next few weeks.
Thank you very much, Ida! These photos are great. I appreciate it. I also want to thank you for including me in the program. I learned a lot from it.
Thanks again for the opportunity to participate and present! It was a lot of fun and there were many great discussions. Thanks, too, for sending along the pictures! Much appreciated. I hope to see you again soon.
Thank you Ida for such a wonderful event again this year !
Wonderful work. We look forward to connecting in the coming weeks.
In response to your request when we spoke last Thursday, the connections that I have made during your recent UCSD Oncology Symposium are extremely valuable to me. As President of a start-up, TumorGen, Inc. we are a biotechnology start-up dedicated to creating new therapies that will prevent the spread of cancer. TumorGen has developed a novel drug discovery engine to identify unseen therapeutic targets directly associated with cancer metastasis.
Frequently, I have approached the speakers following their presentations and engaged in a conversation about how our technology may be of interest to their therapeutic development programs.
Hello! Hey sorry – I had a quick question for you. The talk from Cardiff Oncology (Dr. Kabbinavar) during the session you moderated today was about a new PLK1 inhibitor, and I was curious if you maybe had the speaker’s contact information? PLK1 has been published as a potential target for therapy in neuroblastoma, and I would be interested (if they are willing) in connecting with them to see if there is shared interest.
Hope all is well with you and see you around UCSD!
Leisa, thank you again so much for having us. Katie was such a big help the day of. And we unknowingly had some friends in the audience who messaged us after the event too—so it was great.
If you have any photos of the Councilmember, I’d love to have them or to look through any album you have.
Thank you very much for sending those photos along and for putting on a fantastic symposium. It has already led to many follow up conversations and potential new collaborations!
Thank you very much for organizing such informative symposium and reaching out for feedback! I’ve learned much about new modalities and treatments. The Keynote presentation was great.
It was great to meet and reconnect with old colleagues and connect with a new folk from Pfizer. Overall, I have nothing, but positive feedback! 😊
Many thanks for all the effort putting together these events every year!
Bravo -! Bravo - ! Fantastic! I hope your inbox is filled with good stories and effective connections for further cancer solutions.
Certainly what I experienced as an observer was seeing many conversations and many people with keen interest and focus - taking notes throughout the presentation -- and felt a high degree of energy at breaks.
Thank you for organizing this great event that I have attended multiple times in the past. I would love to have more time to interact with other attendees in the future, perhaps longer breaks in between sessions.
This event was good for me to network with UCSD.
Thanks for organizing this great meeting today! May I please ask if the slides could be shared to the attendees. Thanks!
Thank you for always including BMS with the opportunity to participate/attend at the Annual UCSD Precision Oncology Symposium.
You….as always did a wonderful job…..you are so patient, organized and CALM when walking up to the podium to help with those slides😊. We really need to get Ida a pair of “Roller Blades”….. how is it possible that Ida is everywhere basically at the same time.
You two where extremely busy. Sorry we did not get to connect live – but watching you both live orchestrate what “great looks like” is always a pleasure~
Sure appreciate your guidance and consideration ALWAYS! Talk Soon – lets get together live and catch up!
I’m an Oncology account manager at Pfizer covering the San Diego area. I wanted to see if you might be able to put me on a mailing list for this conference (and other similar events). We are very interested in these topics and would like to have an opportunity to sponsor, if possible.
Hello Ida and Leisa – congratulations on another fantastic symposium!
Kristin Yarema, who has joined Poseida as President, Cell Therapy, very much enjoyed the program. She has posted on LinkedIn here.
Thanks again for the opportunity for Poseida to support the symposium.
A couple folks from the Natera team recently attended the Precision Oncology Symposium and presented a poster, and they let me know that it was a fantastic event!
They are asking that I reach out to gauge opportunities for Natera to have greater involvement in future symposia, and to plan for that in our budget forecast.
I know this symposium has just passed and the next one is still a while away, but are there any materials you could share with me regarding the options for sponsorship and/or an attendee list for this past event that could help us gauge whether and how we could partner? Thanks!
I wanted to thank both of you for inviting us to share our poster at yesterday’s Oncology Symposium. It was a great learning event for us, and we were thrilled to be there. Will you be sharing an attendee list? Thanks again!
Congratulations on another successful Symposium – what an impressive turnout!
Leisa, as I mentioned this afternoon, we’d love to get a few photos of Kristin Yarema’s presentation – in particular showing how well attended this session was. Standing room only!
Thank you for organizing such an outstanding program!
Wonderful – we appreciate you, Leisa! Congrats on what looks like a lovely evening.
Fantastic job. Amazing event and really large turnout. Enjoy your well-deserved rest. And please keep me in the loop on the date and plans for the 2023 event.
I enjoyed very much the symposium and congratulations for the organization and the logistics. Are you planning to send the attendees a copy of the presentations? That will be great! I thank you very much for your time and look forward to hearing from you.
I'm reaching out to get more information about sponsoring the 2025 Precision Oncology Symposium.
Leisa and Ida - Thank you for having us yesterday! We were pleased to support the symposium attendees and keep them caffeinated all day long :).
i> Thanks it was a great event !
Thanks again for the opportunity to join today, I learned a ton and really appreciated the option to volunteer and try to help out in the morning.
Ida – Thank you for hosting a wonderful symposium last week. I was wondering if there was a recording made of Dr. Langer’s Keynote presentation. If so, it would be great if I could get a copy; I would like to use it as an inspiration talk for some STEM students that I mentor.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE 20TH ANNUAL SYMPOSIUM
Leaders in cancer research from around the world gathered to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Annual Industry/Academia Precision Oncology Symposium. The milestone year highlighted the latest high-impact science and multidisciplinary expertise in cancer treatment and research, while also honoring the enduring community of innovators and collaborators who have supported the symposium over two decades.
The 20th Annual Symposium featured reflections on past achievements, recognition of long-standing contributors, and discussions of current trends in oncology and biotech, marking it as a memorable celebration of the symposium’s legacy.
2024 Speakers |
2024 Agenda in PDF
Click for Press Release
March 11, 2024, 04:00 PM EDT
San Diego, Calif.--The Duane Roth Endowed Lecture Committee announced that Laura Shawver, Ph.D., will be recognized as the 2024 Award Lecture recipient during the 20th Annual Industry/Academia Precision Oncology Symposium on March 21 in La Jolla, California.
Dr. Shawver, a healthcare pioneer, has advanced cancer research and treatment through her roles as a scientist, leader, patient, and patient advocate. She founded The Clearity Foundation following her own ovarian cancer diagnosis in 2006 and currently serves as President and CEO of Capstan Therapeutics.
Read full release at Businesswire.com
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE 19TH SYMPOSIUM
Click for Press Release
April 20, 2023, 09:23 AM EDT
The 19th Annual Industry/Academia Next-Generation Precision Oncology Symposium was held on April 27 at The Alexandria at Torrey Pines Conference Center. The symposium featured advances across hematologic and solid tumors, immune oncology, cellular therapies, and genomics.
Napoleone Ferrara, MD, was honored as the 2023 Duane Roth Achievement Award recipient for his pioneering work in developing bevacizumab (Avastin®). Keynote speaker Levi Garraway, MD, PhD, presented “Frontiers of Therapeutic Development.” Guest speaker Waseem Qasim, MBBS, PhD, discussed “Translational base editing for T cell immunotherapy.”
The symposium emphasized translational oncology, fostering collaborations that accelerate research and clinical impact.
Read full release at Businesswire.com