Bernard A. Fox, Co – founder, President, and CEO of UbiVac, shared R. Bryan Bells‘s post on LinkedIn, adding:
“So very proud to be part of this team for the last 32 years and to assume, on an interim basis, the role of Scientific Director for the Earle A. Chiles Research Institute, a division of the Providence Cancer Institute.
I believe that interactions from this Institute Retreat will lead to new, novel, investigator – initiated clinical trials for patients with incurable cancers.
Watch for more to come from Portland, Oregon, on everything from TIL, TCR Gene Therapy, FASL, vaccines to prevent cancer, TGFb, CRISPR, Combo I – O with Radiation/ NIRT, andDark Genome – derived Dark Matter / noncanonical cryptic Cancer Vaccines.”
Quoting Bryan Bells‘s post:
“This week, we brought together the full strength of our Providence Cancer Institute and Earle A. Chiles Research Institute community for an energizing and deeply inspiring 2026 Scientific Retreat. It was a powerful reminder of what happens when clinicians, scientists, researchers, and operational leaders unite around a single mission: harnessing the power of the immune system to improve cancer treatments and outcomes for patients.
We were honored to welcome our keynote speaker, Claudia Palena, PhD, Senior Investigator and Head of the Tumor Immunoregulation Section at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), whose lecture on cytokine – focused strategies to overcome resistance to immunotherapy set the tone for the day; and our guest panelist, Evan Lind, who provided excellent insights throughout program.
The morning sessions featured updates that reflect the remarkable breadth of our programs – from neuro – oncology and thoracic oncology to head and neck cancer, gynecologic oncology, hematologic malignancies, breast cancer, and translational radiation research. Thank you to Drs. Prakash Ambady, Rachel Sanborn, MD, Rom Leidner, Christopher Darus MD, MS, Natasha Edwin, Dr. Kristina Young, alison conlin, Sasha Stanton MD PhD, and Evie Hobbs, as well as our panelists, for showcasing the exceptional clinical and scientific leadership across our institute.
We also appreciated important framing around Providence’s research enterprise from Bill Wright, PhD, and the outstanding work of the Center for Outcomes Research and Education (CORE) led by Keri Vartanian, PhD.
Our afternoon sessions highlighted the rapidly evolving frontier of cancer science – liquid biopsy and ctDNA, AI in research and care, basic science innovations, and tumor – immune interactions – with contributions from Brian Piening, Carlo Bifulco, Thomas Duhen, Allie Grossmann, Terry Medler, Jianguo Huang, Matthew Taylor, and many others. These sessions and panel discussions underscored the collaborative, interdisciplinary environment that defines EACRI.
We closed the day with forward – looking discussions on cellular immunotherapy and inducing and supporting antitumor immunity, led by Andrew Weinberg, Eric Tran, Brendan Curti, Bernard A. Fox PhD, Sasha Stanton MD PhD, Di Wen, and William Redmond – a reminder of the outsized influece that the EACRI has in shaping the next generation of immune – based cancer treatments.
My sincere thanks to every speaker, moderator, panelist, team member, guest, and participant for bringing your expertise, your curiosity, and your passion to Friday’s retreat. A special thank – you to Bernard A. Fox PhD, for organizing the retreat and for continuing to champion the scientific excellence and collaborative culture that make EACRI unique; and to Christine Vilhauer and our administrative team for the hard work in operationalizing a terrific day.
Our momentum is real – and it is accelerating. I am immensely proud of what this community has built, together.”
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