Caleb Sutherland Conference Summary

Caleb Sutherland Conference Summary

Caleb Sutherland

Ph.D. Candidate (Graduated 08/24, 2015)
Cancer Biology, GIDP
Conference Summary

American Association for Cancer Research  (AACR)
Annual Meeting 2015

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
April 18-22, 2015

 I recently attended the AACR conference in Philadelphia to showcase my dissertation work and see what others in cancer biology are working on. This conference is great because while I was there I was able to locate lab members with whom I am currently collaborating. I was able to go visit posters from their lab and talk about our research and future plans for working together. Many of the people I collaborate with are from other universities and I have never met them in person until this conference. Also, I was able to make new connections with people who were interested in my work and through these interactions I may have found new opportunity for collaborations.

This summer will be my last here at the University of Arizona and I wanted to use the AACR conference to find research areas and labs that I may consider doing a postdoc with. One particular professor from Oregon Health and Science I really want to work with was presenting in one of the awarded lectureships, which allowed me to learn the most current projects in her lab. Afterwards I introduced myself to her and invited her to my poster to speak further about opportunities that I may have in her lab. In addition I met a few other professors who I am currently contacting to potentially work with.

During the conference down times I was able to visit some of the sites that made Philadelphia famous. I visited some of the American historical sites including the Liberty bell, Independent Hall the birthplace of the Declaration of Independence and Benjamin Franklin’s gravesite. I also participated in a guided tour of the old Eastern State Penitentiary, visited the natural science museum and caught a Philadelphia Philly’s baseball game.

The Carter Travel Award of $600 made it possible for me to attend this conference. Overall the experience was one I will remember for a long time. I had a lot of fun at the conference learning about the latest and greatest in cancer biology and molecular techniques. I was able to reunite with so many people who helped me get this point in my scientific career and share my work with them. I hope that next year when the conference comes up my new position will allow me to attend.