By Caitlyn Romanski

Photos taken by Sirtaj Grewal

On October 6, 2026, nearly 170 researchers, clinicians, industry partners, healthcare leaders and university faculty, staff and students from across campus gathered together for the Center for Precision Medicine’s 5th Annual Advancing Precision Medicine Symposium.

This full-day event featured an array of distinguished guest speakers and highlighted innovative research initiatives and significant clinical and technological advancements within the growing field of precision medicine.

The day kicked off with opening remarks and center updates from symposium co-chairs Drs. April Hall and Mehreen Kisat and Director of the Center for Precision Medicine Dr. Muhammed Murtaza.

Dr. Erika Kim, Senior Program Director for the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), followed with an engaging keynote lecture that spotlighted how innovative analytics and scalable health data infrastructure are accelerating precision medicine for patients of all ages. Her presentation, “Accelerating Precision Cancer Therapy through ARPA-H ADAPT and PCX Programs,” showcased the Advanced Analysis for Precision Cancer Therapy (ADAPT) and Pediatric Care eXpansion (PCX) programs, two groundbreaking national initiatives designed to overcome key barriers in precision medicine.

Later in the afternoon, more field experts engaged with symposium attendees through several scientific talk sessions. Presenters included Dr. Corinne Engelman, Professor, Director of Graduate Programs, Population Health Sciences, UW School of Medicine and Public Health; Dr. Huy Dinh, Assistant Professor, Department of Oncology, UW McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research; and Dr. Akash Kumar, Chief Medical and Scientific Officer and co-founder of MyOme, a clinical whole-genome sequencing platform company specializing in helping families understand their risk for inherited diseases.

Additionally, in between event sessions, Center for Precision Medicine lab members participated in poster sessions, creating opportunities to discuss ongoing research and network among peers and precision medicine leaders.

This year’s symposium also hosted an inaugural “Shark Tank”-style Innovation Accelerator Award competition. After a competitive application process, five finalists were selected to pitch and presented their innovative research ideas to a panel of expert judges for the chance to win $25,000 in pilot research funding. Following an afternoon filled with creative and impactful research proposals, medical physics doctoral student Abram Bell took home first place with his research titled “Early Detection of Metastatic Triple-Negative Breast Cancer in the Lung Using a Fibronectin-Targeting PET Tracer.”

We appreciate everyone who joined us for this year’s symposium, and we look forward to bringing the precision medicine community together once again next year. Make sure to save the date for our 6th Annual Advancing Precision Medicine Symposium, which is scheduled to place on Tuesday, October 5, 2027.