Objective: “For the first time in eight years, cancer researchers from throughout Alberta will gather at a conference to share their ideas, challenges, and achievements.” – taken from Nathan Fung’s article in Taproot Edmonton, featuring Christine Friedenreich and Pamela Round.

The overall aim of the Alberta Cancer Research Conference for 2021 was to increase awareness and knowledge of the research activities within Alberta. The conference was last hosted in Banff, Alberta in 2013.

The specific objectives were:

  • To promote collaborations and networking within and across research institutions and organizations in Alberta;
  • To increase impact of cancer research conducted in Alberta;
  • To recognize research excellence in Alberta.

The original goal was to have 150 people from across Canada register for the event, a combination of speakers and attendees.

Outcome: The 2021 virtual conference had a total of 616 attendees, both Alberta-based and international. Some important information and facts specific to the 3-day conference:

  • Programming included roundtable discussions, panels, plenaries, keynote speakers, concurrent sessions, and poster presentations.
  • An evening event on October 26th, “From Lab to Bedside and Beyond: The Future of Cancer Research is Here”, was open to conference attendees and the public.
  • The event included an awards component for the following categories (a total of 16 awards were given):
    • Alberta Awards for Excellence in Cancer Research
    • Oral presentation awards
    • Poster presentation awards
  • The conference was approved for CPD Credits
  • There were 7 event partners involved in the event
  • The event had 13 event sponsors
  • There were 6 Committees involved, of which Tycoon chaired and co-chaired two of these Committees.
  • There were over 130 speakers involved
  • There were 5 concurrent sessions throughout the conference. Each featured 5 different session options.
  • Over 600 hours of planning went into the conference.
  • The event featured The Gairdner Science Week Symposium’s closing event titled, “From Gene to Genomics and Epigenomics: The Future of Cancer Precision Medicine”. Attendees of the ACRC could take in the aligned conference without having to register for both events to make the experience seamless.


Event Website: For more information about the event, please visit the event website via this link.

Taproot Article: To read the full article by Taproot Edmonton’s Nathan Fung, please visit this link.

Livestream Platform: PheedLoop