Top cancer experts to share latest research at UH Cancer Center for Barry & Virginia Weinman Symposium
January 22, 2025
More than two-dozen top cancer experts from around the globe and Hawaiʻi will gather to share their latest research and knowledge at the 16th annual Barry & Virginia Weinman Symposium at the University of Hawaiʻi Cancer Center, Sullivan Conference Center, 701 Ilalo Street, in Kaka‘ako, from Wednesday, Jan. 22, to Friday, Jan. 24, 2025.The symposium is free and open to the public, and members of the community are welcome. High school and college students interested in science are particularly encouraged to attend.
In addition to distinguished speakers from across the United States and Canada, the symposium will feature speakers from as far as China, France, Israel, Italy, and Norway. Nobel Prize laureates in medicine and chemistry will also be present. The UH Cancer Center’s own experts will be among the speakers, including Dr. Naoto Ueno, director of the UH Cancer Center; Dr. Michele Carbone and Dr. Haining Yang, and Dr. Herbert Yu, each offering insights on different aspects of cancer.
The year’s international symposium will focus on gene environment (GxE) research, which studies gene-environment interactions’ impact on cancer. The combination of genetic variants and environmental factors can increase the risk of cancer, and GxE research can identify those who are more likely to develop cancer, to proactively provide prevention and treatment.
“The Weinman Symposium has been one of the most important scientific meetings organized in Hawaiʻi for the past 16 years and has drawn scientists of extremely high quality,” said Dr. Michele Carbone, an expert in human cancer genetics, a co-founder of the symposium and a member of its organizing committee.
“This symposium will be an opportunity to share our research findings with our counterparts from all over the world,” Carbone continued. “It will be an enriching time to get to know our colleagues, their research, and how they have been able to apply their research findings to deliver better outcomes for patients.”
Sponsored by the University of Hawaiʻi Cancer Center and Honolulu-based Weinman Foundation, the symposium is named in honor of two of its co-founders: Barry Weinman, who passed away in April 2024, and Virginia Weinman, who passed away in July 2023. The Weinmans were active champions not only of the UH Cancer Center but also the UH Mānoa John A. Burns School of Medicine.
Barry and Virginia Weinman created the Weinman Foundation Fund for Innovation in 2010, gifting $7.1 million to the University of Hawaiʻi Cancer Center. Through this generous gift, the annual Weinman Symposium was established. The goal of the conference is to bring together international experts from different fields of science and medicine and promote collaboration in cancer research.
For more information, including the schedule and list of speakers for the 16th annual Barry & Virginia Weinman Symposium, visit weinmansymposium.com.
