Wafik S. El-Deiry, Director of Legorreta Cancer Center at Brown University and Chair of the WIN Consortium in Cancer Personalized Medicine, shared a post on LinkedIn:
“Dr. El-Deiry delivers Keynote Address at the Israel Cancer Association USA event, MAR-A-LAGO CLUB, West Palm Beach, Florida on Saturday, April 18, 2026 before heading to AACR26 in San Diego, California and hosting Legorreta Cancer Center reception on Sunday April 19, 2026 at the Annual American Association for Cancer Research Meeting.
El-Deiry spoke about some highlights of his research on p53, discovery of WAF1 in the early 1990’s while at Johns Hopkins, work that connected the p53 tumor suppressor to the innate immune system, and work 19 years ago in 2007 that led to discovery of ONC201/TIC10 in his lab at University of Pennsylvania. ONC201 was tested in clinical trials and was approved in August of 2025 as dordaviprone/modeyso, the first ever treatment for diffuse gliomas (aggressive brain tumors) with H3K27M mutations. He continues to work in this area including preclinical research of combinations across tumor types including brain tumors.
Dr. El-Deiry shared with the audience at the ICA event information about the field of Precision Oncology with active WIN Consortium Molecular Tumor Board, pursuit of data around the world on cancer risk and treatment efficacy, AI, digital pathology and functional precision medicine. He extended an invitation for collaboration between the WIN Consortium in cancer personalized medicine and the Israel Cancer Association.
He ended on a personal note describing his 8-hour open heart surgery at the Brigham and Women’s on July 30, 2025, and mentioned the book ‘God Was In The Room’ (available on Amazon) that he wrote while recovering in August, 2025. He thanked the audience for their support of cancer research and encouraged them to take out their checkbooks and support the ICA in its impactful work.
Dr. El-Deiry’s 12 minute Keynote Presentation was followed by greater than 15 minutes of audience questions not included in the video. There were general questions about rising cancer rates, cancer in younger individuals, particular cancers whose rates and mortality continue to be very challenging in terms of progress.
There were questions about pancreatic cancer, colon cancer, melanoma, questions about COVID vaccines and cancer, questions about nutrition, physical activity, lifestyle, discussion of limitations of cancer immunotherapy, questions about precision oncology, and questions about the best cancer centers to get opinions from around the US.
While the event was held at the winter home of President Trump, the ICA is apolitical and non-partisan. President Trump was not at Mar-a-Lago at the time of the event. Dr. El-Deiry was honored to visit Mar-a-Lago for the second time in 2026. President Trump was present at Mar-a-Lago and stopped by the last event Dr. El-Deiry attended there in late March of 2026.”
Other Articles Featuring Wafik S. El-Deiry on OncoDaily.