The 2026 ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium (ASCO GI 2026) is being held January 8–10, 2026, at Moscone West in San Francisco, California, with both in-person and online participation available for the global GI oncology community.
Building on its reputation as a premier forum for gastrointestinal cancer research and clinical progress, ASCO GI 2026 convenes medical oncologists, surgeons, radiation oncologists, gastroenterologists, pathologists, radiologists, researchers, trainees, and patient advocates to spotlight advances spanning translational science, precision therapies, and multidisciplinary care.
Across scientific sessions, educational programming, and featured abstract presentations, the meeting highlights emerging data and practical insights across the spectrum of GI malignancies supporting timely knowledge-sharing and broad accessibility through its hybrid format.
Mark Lewis, Director of Gastrointestinal Oncology at Intermountain Healthcare in Utah, shared some key highlights from the ASCO GI 2026:
“A very nice summary of the current state of evidence for neoadjuvant chemo-immunotherapy in gastric cancer by Dr. Christopher Hallemeier.”
“Dr. Hallemeier Mayo Clinic concludes that neoadjuvant chemoradiation should NOT be routinely recommended in gastric cancer (but highlights exceptional circumstances that should be discussed at multidisciplinary treatment planning conferences).”
“Phase II ILUSTRO data suggest that claudin 18.2 targeting (zolbetuximab) and immunotherapy (nivolumab) don’t have to be either/or in metastatic GEJ adenocarcinoma.”
“Dr Lin addresses the history of anti-her2 targeting in metastatic gastroesophageal cancer from the seminal ToGA study onward, also mentioning negative trials like JACOB (where the addition of pertuzumab did not confer benefit).”
“Dr. Joshua Meyer weighs post-chemoradiation non-operative management vs surgery (including patient preferences and willingness to make survival tradeoffs for organ preservation) in esophageal adenocarcinoma.”
“Dr. Daniela Molena argues that cCR in esophageal adenocarcinoma is not pCR, and furthermore that pCR does not equal cure (due to micrometastasis)”
“An absolutely damning indictment of the costs of care (in the fiscal meaning of the word): just as many patients fear financial toxicity as death!”
“Such a powerful quote to end a magnificent talk about DPD deficiency and 5FU/capecitabine black box warnings by Dr. Thomas Holden (citing a patient advocate who lost her mother to chemo toxicity, and who likened this testing to knowing LFTs & creatinine before chemo).”
“Updated analysis of CheckMate 9DW shows mOS ~ 2 years, ~30% of patients alive at 4 years with ipi/nivo (a remarkable milestone in unresectable HCC!).”
“Remarkable to see evidence of benefit for immunotherapy (durvalumab, atop olaparib) in DNA damage repair-deficient (BRCA or PALB2 mutant) pancreatic adenocarcinoma (s/p platinum).”
You can also read: 15 Posts Not To Miss From ASCO GI 2026, part 1
