A Message from the President
As I celebrated Thanksgiving after the 38th Annual Meeting & Pre-Conference Programs, I found myself reflecting on the remarkable generosity of our community. Over the last 12 months, you collectively dedicated your creativity, energy, and expertise to a set of incredibly strategic and impactful SITC initiatives. From investigating immune excluded tumors, to exploring opportunities in premalignant immunity, to fostering our understanding of myeloid cells on immune response, the science we sought, challenged, and advanced this year was groundbreaking.
Given our influence on the field through our strategic programming this year, the Board of Directors is excited to build on our 2023 programs and launch new initiatives, with your leadership, in 2024. We are eager to launch a long-term strategic plan to harness the power of artificial intelligence to advance immunotherapies for patients. Our initial phase of the AI and IO initiative is to provide baseline education for our community to understand the breadth of opportunities. SITC’s Big Data & Data Sharing Committee will lead this first phase of our initiative with a nine-part webinar series. The first of those webinars will launch in early spring, with details available early in 2024.
Just as we envision opportunities to integrate AI into our activities, we also see opportunities to advance our field through supporting the broad spectrum of innovative cancer immunotherapies in development. You’ll see in the coming months that we have an array of virtual programs in 2024 that will highlight immunomodulation by antibody drug conjugates, opportunities for IO in the field of glycobiology, and novel targets for IO.
In each of the initiatives SITC champions, we maintain a focus on ensuring that the next generation of diverse leaders and innovators in tumor immunology and cancer immunotherapy is supported, engaged, and elevated through travel grants, fellowships, and volunteer and presentation opportunities.
We would not be able to support the next generation without the support of SITC’s Forward Fund, which provides critical financial support for all our early career investigator initiatives. As you plan your year-end giving, please consider a gift to SITC’s Forward Fund to support the future of the field through fellowships and awards for early career investigators. If you make your gift before Dec. 31, your impact will double through the generosity of a matching gift from an anonymous donor.
Here’s to a new year full of opportunity and progress. Happy holidays to the entire SITC family!
Leisha A. Emens, MD, PhD
SITC President