40 Years Forward: Shaping Tomorrow Together

Let's celebrate 40 Years of moving the field forward! The Anniversary Party featuring the The CheckPoints is an extraordinary evening of music and community. This event will not only showcase their talents but also serve a deeply meaningful purpose: raising critical funds to support early career scientists through SITC's Forward Fund.

Supporting this initiative invests in the future of innovation. Early career scientists face increasing challenges in securing resources, mentorship, and visibility. Events like this help provide not only funding but also recognition and community—two essential ingredients in fostering scientific progress.

Highlights of the Illustrations:

Origin Story: The book A Cure Within: Scientists Unleashing the Immune System to Kill Cancer by Neil Canavan includes a unique and personal set of illustrations created by the scientists themselves. These drawings are not typical textbook diagrams but rather hand-drawn sketches that reflect the scientists' own ways of explaining their research and ideas.

The idea began when Dr. Zelig Eshhar, a pioneer in CAR-T cell therapy, drew a sketch in Neil Canavan’s notebook to explain his research. Canavan later framed it and continued collecting similar illustrations from other scientists. [ascopost.com]

These illustrations add a human and creative dimension to the scientific narrative, helping readers connect with the researchers not just as professionals, but as individuals with artistic inclinations and personal stories.

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About the Forward Fund

The future of cancer immunotherapy is rooted in research and education, primarily by early career scientists.

We established the SITC Forward Fund in 2012 to help support the science, development and application of cancer immunology and immunotherapy.

The Forward Fund endeavors to provide grants and financial support to:

Help attract the brightest young minds in cancer and/or immunology research to the cancer immunotherapy domain
Inform those outside of the cancer immunotherapy field about the promise of this modality. Cancer immunotherapy offers the potential to create long-term remissions and/or prolonged survival for people suffering from advanced cancer of a wide variety of types
Educate clinical oncologists regarding the application and potential benefits of this treatment modality

About SITC

The Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) is the world’s leading member-driven organization specifically dedicated to improving cancer patient outcomes by advancing the science and application of cancer immunotherapy.

Our Goals

Education and Scientific Exchange: Serve as the leading resource for information and education on cancer immunotherapy
Professional Standards: Set industry standards for the field of cancer immunotherapy
Global Access and Impact: Advance the science and application of, and equitable access to, cancer immunotherapy worldwide to eliminate disparities and improve outcomes
Policy and Advocacy: Inform and influence the research, regulation, quality of patient care and equity of patient access impacted by public policy
Science and Research: Challenge the thinking, seek and advance the best research to improve outcomes and develop tumor immunology and cancer immunotherapy
Leadership Development: Cultivate the next generation of leaders and innovators in tumor immunology and cancer immunotherapy

40 Years Forward: Shaping Tomorrow Together

Celebrate four decades of innovation in cancer immunotherapy by powering the future of science.