Huntsman Cancer Institute to host Frontiers Symposium on AI, Access, and Action: Transforming Cancer Care Delivery
Oct 19, 2026
Read Time: 2 minutes
Takeaways:
The event will explore how AI and digital health can improve cancer prevention, detection, research, treatment, and patient navigation.
A major theme is addressing barriers to care—especially distance and access for rural communities—and finding practical ways to deliver better care beyond major medical centers.
Impact: Researchers, clinicians, policymakers, industry leaders, and computational experts will come together to discuss public-private partnerships and translating emerging technologies into clinically meaningful improvements in prevention and cancer care.
Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah (the U) will host the Frontiers Symposium on AI, Access, and Action: Transforming Cancer Care Delivery on February 10-12, 2027.
The conference will be held at the Marriott in Downtown Salt Lake City. This will be the second Frontiers Symposium in this series, building on the momentum of the first held in 2025.
The Frontiers Symposium will bring together national leaders from research, clinical care, policy, and industry. The topics of discussion will include using AI to revolutionize prevention and cancer care delivery, innovation in addressing distance as a barrier in care delivery to rural communities, and overcoming challenges to innovation through public-private partnerships. Other presentations will tackle optimizing digital health strategies to improve cancer prevention, detection, and care, as well as transforming patient navigation.
David C. Rhew, MD, Global Chief Medical Officer and VP of Health and Life Sciences at Microsoft, and Robin Vanderpool, DrPH, chief of the Health Communication and Informatics Research Branch in the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences at the National Cancer Institute, are keynote speakers.
Tracy Onega, PhD, MA, MPAS, MS, senior director of population sciences at Huntsman Cancer Institute, and professor of population sciences at the U, and Thomas Varghese, MD, MS, MBA, FACS, MAMSE, associate chief medical quality officer and chief value officer at Huntsman Cancer Institute and professor and chief of general thoracic surgery at the U, serve as co-chairs for the event.
To register for the symposium and review the call for abstracts, please visit the website.
Thomas Varghese, MD, MS, MBA, FACS
Tracy Onega, PhD, MA, MPAS, MS
“The Frontiers Symposium is an exciting opportunity to bring together scientists, clinicians, and computational experts to explore how artificial intelligence and emerging technologies can transform cancer prevention, diagnosis, and care,” says Neli Ulrich, PhD, MS, chief scientific officer and executive director of the Comprehensive Cancer Center at Huntsman Cancer Institute, professor of population health sciences at the U, and Frontiers Symposium program committee member. “By bridging disciplines and sectors, we can push boundaries, accelerate the translation of innovative approaches into meaningful clinical advances, and unlock new possibilities for understanding, preventing, and treating cancer.”
We are thrilled to welcome these featured speakers to share their expertise and engage in panel discussions.
• Thomas Osborne, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Microsoft
• Shane Jacobsen, CEO, American Cancer Society [tentative]
• Electra Paskett, PhD, FACE, FAACR, FASCO, The Ohio State University, Director of the Division of Cancer Prevention and Control in the College of Medicine
• Roy Jensen, MD, Vice Chancellor and Director, University of Kansas Cancer Center
• David Wetter, PhD, MS, Senior Director for Cancer Health Implementation at Huntsman Cancer Institute and Professor of Population Health Sciences at the U
• Peggy Han, PharmD, Vice President, Customer Engagement at Genentech
The critical research happening every day at Huntsman Cancer Institute is supported by the National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute, including cancer center support grant P30 CA042014, as well as Huntsman Cancer Foundation.
Media Contact
Heather Simonsen
Associate Director, Public Affairs
Huntsman Cancer Institute
801 646-4120
public.affairs@hci.utah.edu
About Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah is the National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center for Utah, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, and Wyoming. With a legacy of innovative cancer research, groundbreaking discoveries, and world-class patient care, we are transforming the way cancer is understood, prevented, diagnosed, treated, and survived. Huntsman Cancer Institute focuses on delivering the most advanced cancer healing and prevention through scientific breakthroughs and cutting-edge technology to create pioneering cancer treatments beyond the standard of care today. We have more than 400 open clinical trials and more than 300 research teams studying cancer. More genes for inherited cancers have been discovered at Huntsman Cancer Institute than at any other cancer center. Our scientists are world-renowned for understanding how cancer begins and using that knowledge to develop innovative approaches to treat each patient’s unique disease. Huntsman Cancer Institute was founded by Jon M. and Karen Huntsman.
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