Lindsey B. Cotton, Chief Strategy Officer at tensorblack, shared a post on LinkedIn:
“ASCO 2026 is a wrap, and I’m still sorting through everything I saw and experienced.
This year was different for me. I came as an attendee only, not a presenter. After years of being on the other side presenting my data, sitting in the audience gave me a different vantage point on the science, and on why I do this work at all.
The science this year felt like it was maturing in the right direction. The pancreatic data was a standout. The RASolute 302 trial of daraxonrasib, nearly doubled median overall survival in previously treated metastatic pancreatic cancer.
For a disease this hard to treat, that earned its standing ovation. Targeting KRAS in pancreatic cancer is no longer theoretical.
On the AI side, the conversation has shifted in a way that tells you the field is growing up (finally!). At the OncoDaily AI Oncology Grand Rounds, the room was Not asking whether these tools work.
Instead, they were asking how to implement them, how to do it at scale, and how to overcome the system/level barriers that slow deployment.
Those are operator questions and ones that make my implementation scientist heart happy. Shout out to the entire panel including Douglas Flora, MD, LSSBB, Sanjay Juneja, M.D., Debra Patt, MD PhD MBA FASCO.
The part that grounded me was advocacy. The IASLC FOUNDATION member reception put me back in the room with lung cancer advocates, and those conversations are a reminder of who all of this is for. Especially grateful to get to spend more time with my friend and collaborator, Jill Feldman!
I spent the last day differently. I drove up to Wisconsin, and visited with my father who I lost to NSCLC KRAS G12s during ASCO the yr before last.
He got his own 1:1 ASCO debrief fresh off the press! He would have had opinions. He always did. Sitting there in silence soaking it in reminded me why I care so much about getting real innovation to the people still waiting, and why I will keep showing up for this work, podium or no podium.
Lastly, I genuinely valued the 1:1 time with the people building this future, including my colleagues and peers. Not just founders, but the teams and individuals working on platforms that are becoming catalysts and collaborators with institutions, the kind of partnerships that actually move care delivery and outcomes forward.”
A few of those people deserve a real thank you: Jordan Johnson, MSHA, M.Jurr/MLS, Clynt Taylor, Sarah Clark, Shafin Kalyan, Jeff Meehan, Lauren Campbell, MPH, Erica Conroy, Ph.D., Misha Kaur, Patrick Emedom-Nnamdi, PhD, Viz.ai, Azra AI, Andrea Flora, CPA, PFS, David R. Penberthy, MD MBA, FACCC, Olalekan Ajayi PharmD, MBA FACCC, Precision Medicine Group, Caitlin Schonewolf, MD, MS, oncologic.ai Josh Myers, PhD, LPC-S, Haymarket Media Group.
Curious what stood out to others from this year and what the takeaways were!”
Other articles featuring Lindsey B. Cotton on OncoDaily.
