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About the symposium
2026 marks the centennial of the Loewe additivity framework, the first formal method for calculating drug synergy. Over the past century, combination therapy has become a cornerstone of treatment for many diseases. Rather than a single “magic bullet” envisioned by Dr. Paul Ehrlich at the dawn of the 20th century, modern pharmacology increasingly relies on coordinated therapeutic strategies that reflect the biological complexity of disease. Advances in automation, artificial intelligence, and large-scale chemical libraries now make it possible to explore drug combinations at an unprecedented scale. Yet, as the search space expands, it is essential that new discovery efforts remain grounded in the clinical lessons learned from a century of combination therapy.
St. Jude is a particularly fitting venue for this conversation. Combination therapy has been central to the institution’s mission since its earliest days under the leadership of Dr. Donald Pinkel, whose “Total Therapy” approach for pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia demonstrated the transformative potential of rationally designed therapeutic combinations.
The goal of this symposium is to bring together thought leaders across disease areas to identify shared conceptual, methodological, and translational challenges in drug combination research, with the aim of helping to shape the next century of discovery.
Registration
The symposium will be hosted in person and virtually at St. Jude. Registration is free.
Abstracts
Researchers, clinicians, fellows, and students are invited to submit abstracts for the Therapeutic Combinations Symposium. Abstracts should highlight original research related to therapeutic combinations across disease areas.
Submission Deadline: Wednesday, September 16, 2026
Agenda
| Time | Event | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 8:00-9:00 a.m. | Breakfast & Registration | ARC Lobby |
| 9:00-9:10 a.m. | Introductory remarks: Anang/Christian |
ARC M10 |
| Mathematical models in drug combination Tracing from the simple mathematical methods for quantifying drug synergy |
||
| 9:10-9:40 a.m. | Adam Palmer, UNC | ARC M1003 |
| 9:40-10:10 a.m. | Jeffery West, Moffitt | ARC M1003 |
| 10:10-10:25 a.m. | TBA | ARC M1003 |
| 10:25-10:40 a.m. | Selected abstract | ARC M1003 |
| 10:45-11:00 a.m. | Break | |
| Preclinical screening of drug combinations | ||
| 11:00-11:30 a.m. | Jay Metettal, AstraZeneca | ARC M1003 |
| 11:30 p.m.-12:00 p.m. | Jen Roth, BROAD Institute | ARC M1003 |
| 1200-12:15 p.m. | TBA | ARC M1003 |
| 12:15-12:30 p..m. | Selected abstract | ARC M1003 |
| 12:30-1:30 p.m. | Lunch | ARC penthouse |
| Combinations in infectious disease | ||
| 1:30-2:00 p.m. | David Weiss, Emory | ARC M1003 |
| 2:00-2:30 p.m. | Roy Kishony, Technion | ARC M1003 |
| 2:30-2:45 p.m. | TBA | ARC M1003 |
| 2:45-3:00 p.m. | Selected abstract | ARC M1003 |
| 3:00-3:15 p.m. | Break | |
| The clinical practice of combinations | ||
| 3:15-3:30 p.m. | Patient advocate/Emilie Lynch | ARC M1003 |
| 3:30-3:55 p.m. | Brooke Bernhardt, St. Jude | ARC M1003 |
| 3:55-4:00 p.m. | Closing remarks | |
| 4:00-5:00 p.m. | Poster session | ARC Lobby |
Speakers
Brooke Bernhardt, PharmD, MS, FCCP, BCOP, BCPPS
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
Roy Kishony, PhD
Technion University
Jerome (Jay) Mettetal, PhD
AstraZeneca
Adam Palmer, PhD
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Jennifer Roth
Broad Institute at MIT
David Weiss, PhD
Emory University
Jeffrey West, PhD
Moffitt Cancer Center
Overview
Event: Therapeutic Combinations Symposium
Date: November 9, 2026
Location: St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN and online
Host: Organized by the Department of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and the Department of Chemical Biology and Therapeutics
Organizing Committee:
Christian Meyer, PhD
Department of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
Anang Shelat, PhD
Department of Chemical Biology and Therapeutics
Charlie Wright, PhD
Department of Computational Biology
Nathaniel Twarog, PhD
Department of Chemical Biology and Therapeutics
Contact:
TBD