The Science of Childhood Cancer is an interactive, weekly lecture series designed to engage the scientific community on key questions in pediatric cancer research. The Fall 2025 lecture season will run August 14 through November 20. You may register below for future seasons of the series, hosted by the St. Jude Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Invited speakers are leading experts across the spectrum of basic, translational, clinical and population science. The Rising Stars of Cancer Research lecture in the 15-week series will feature thematically related talks by two early- to mid-career investigators conducting exciting and innovative work in the field.
Lectures occur each Thursday from 12 pm – 1 pm Central time / 1 pm – 2 pm Eastern time and are often followed by an extended Q&A session. Available recordings will be posted the week following the live event.
Hosts
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- Executive Vice President
- Director, Comprehensive Cancer Center
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- Co-Leader, Hematological Malignancies Program
- Medical Director, St. Jude Biorepository
Upcoming lectures
150th SCIENCE OF CHILDHOOD CANCER LECTURE
August 14, 2025
The Von Hippel-Lindau tumor suppressor: insights into oxygen sensing, tumor immunity, and drugging the undruggable
William G. Kaelin, MD
Professor
Dana Farber Cancer Institute
August 21, 2025
Deciphering the molecular and cellular basis of fusion driven ependymoma to uncover novel therapies
Stephen Mack, PhD
Associate Member
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
August 28, 2025
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children with Down syndrome: insights and challenges
Karen Rabin, MD, PhD
Professor
University of California, San Francisco
September 4, 2025
Inherited risk for and resilience to blood cancers
Vijay Sankaran, MD, PhD
Professor
Boston Children's Hospital & Harvard Medical School
RISING STARS OF CANCER RESEARCH
September 11, 2025
Next-generation cell therapy approaches for high-risk leukemias
Paulina Velasquez, MD
Associate Member
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
Advancing CAR T cell therapies for pediatric patients with solid tumors
Chris DeRenzo, MD
Associate Member
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
September 18, 2025
Developmental mutagenesis: A unified theory of why young people develop cancer
Alex Kentsis, MD, PhD
Director, Tow Center for Developmental Oncology
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
September 25, 2025
Developmental origins of infant acute lymphoblastic leukaemia
Anindita Roy, MRCPCH, FRCPath, PhD
Professor
University of Oxford
October 2, 2025
Pediatric melanocytic tumors: a 34-year journey of discovery and progress
Alberto Pappo, MD
Member
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
October 9, 2025
‘Faster, higher, stronger’ (together) - clinical drug development in children and young people with cancer
Lynley Marshall, PhD
The Royal Marsden Hospital and The Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK
October 16, 2025
CAR T-cell therapy: experience from SCMC
Benshang Li, MD
The Director of Cell Therapy Center
Shanghai Children’s Medical Center
October 23, 2025
Killing cancer stem cells
Jeremy Rich, MD, MHS, MBA
Deputy Director for Research & Chief Scientific Officer at UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
October 30, 2025
Bridging surveillance and mechanistic insights to address cardiometabolic risk in childhood cancer survivors
Danielle Friedman, MD
Associate Member
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
November 6, 2025
Title to come
Ken Aldape, MD
Senior Investigator
National Institutes of Health
November 13, 2025
Joint lecture: Working together for timely pediatric cancer drug development: EMA and FDA perspectives
Martha Donoghue, MD
Associate Director for Pediatric Oncology and Rare Cancers
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Dominik Karres, MD
Senior Scientific Officer
European Medicines Agency
November 20, 2025
Overcoming the undruggable nature of the most common human oncogene: K-Ras
Kevan Shokat, PhD
Professor
University of California, San Francisco
Hosts
-
- Executive Vice President
- Director, Comprehensive Cancer Center
-
- Co-Leader, Hematological Malignancies Program
- Medical Director, St. Jude Biorepository
Comprehensive Cancer Center
St. Jude is the first and only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center devoted solely to children.
