Overview
About the Retreat
A Cancer Biology Research Retreat is held annually at the UMSOM. These retreats offer postdoctoral and clinical research fellows, graduate students, young investigators, and faculty involved in cancer research an outstanding opportunity to learn about the science going on at our campus, and to meet and get to know each other, the faculty, and other researchers in a relaxed setting.
These goals are accomplished through oral presentations by distinguished guest speakers, fellows, and students, and poster presentations. Trainee posters and platform talks are judged by faculty for cash awards.
15th Annual Cancer Biology Retreat
The 15th Annual Cancer Biology Research Retreat was held on June 4, 2025 on the UMB campus in MSTF Leadership Hall and the surrounding MSTF Atrium.
The retreat was planned and organized by the Cancer Biology T32 trainees with the assistance of Dr. Tierra Johnson, Dr. Toni Antalis and Ms. Anna Pudder, MAT. The program included oral and poster presentations by junior faculty, research associates, postdoctoral basic researchers and clinical fellows, graduate students, medical students, postbaccalaureate students, and summer interns. And new this year our Career Panel Q&A, where trainees heard from Ken Malone, CEO Early Charm Ventures and Christina Ferrer, Ph.D., Assistant Professor Pharmacology and Physiology University of Maryland, Baltimore. Over $1000 in financial prizes were awarded by Jim Hughes, MBA, Chief Enterprise and Economic Development Officer and President of the UMB Health Science Research Park Corporation. Thank you to our sponsors, UMGCCC, GPILS, and The University of Maryland BioPark!
The Cancer Biology Research Retreat was a great success with approximately 222 registrants (30% graduate students, 3% postbaccalaureate trainees, 17% postdoctoral fellows, 26% faculty and research associates, 16% summer interns, and 8% research technicians and staff).
Keynote Speakers
Mikala Egebald, PhD
Bloomberg Distinguished Professor
Johns Hopkins University
Keynote Title:
“Agents of Progression and Protection: How Innate Immunity Shapes Metastasis"
For more information regarding our keynote speakers, please click the Keynote Speakers tab above.
Poster & Presentation Winners
Outstanding Poster & Oral Presentation Winners
Poster Presentation Winners (5 Winners):
Daniel Bergman: $100 Prize
Salaheldeen Elsaid: $100 Prize
Zahra Gohari: $100 Prize
Blair Ptak: $100 Prize
Julia Whitten: $100 Prize
Oral Presentation Winners (First, Second, and Third Prize):
1st Deborah Delgado: $200 Prize
2nd Christina Kratzmeier: $150 Prize
3rd Megha Pandya: $100 Prize
Prizes:
For each poster presenter winner: $100 Prize
For oral presentation winners: $200 for first place, $150 for second place, and $100 for third place
Organizing Committee
Cancer Biology Research Retreat Organizing Committee
- Erik Nordquist, PhD
- Emmanuel Asiedu, PhD
- Christina Kratzmeier
- Julia Ju, PhD
- Amara Ejikemeuwa
- Kenneth Rosenberg
- Hassan Saadi
- Toni Antalis, PhD, Faculty Advisor
- Tierra Johnson, PhD, Academic Program Specialist, CRTEC, UMGCCC
- Anna Pudder, MAT, Program Specialist, RAMP and CRTEC, UMGCCC
Sponsors
Keynote Speakers
Keynote Speakers
Mikala Egebald, PhD
Bloomberg Distinguished Professor
Johns Hopkins University
Keynote Title:
“Agents of Progression and Protection: How Innate Immunity Shapes Metastasis"
Dr. Mikala Egeblad is an internationally-recognized cancer researcher who joined Johns Hopkins University as a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor in 2023 from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. She studies how the tumor microenvironment—the immune cells, blood vessels, chemical signals, and support matrix surrounding a tumor—regulates cancer initiation, progression, and metastasis. A current line of research involves learning more about how the brain regulates the immune system to combat cancer. Dr. Egeblad serves as associate director of the Giovanis Institute for Translational Cell Biology, co-leader of the Kimmel Cancer Center’s Cancer Invasion and Metastasis Program, and is part of the Kimmel Cancer Center’s Convergence Institute. She was most recently elected to the AACR Board of Directors for the 2025 – 2028 term. She joins an esteemed group of colleagues in service to AACR’s mission to prevent and cure all cancers through research, education, communication, collaboration, science policy and advocacy, and funding for cancer research. Her ultimate goal is to help cancer patients mitigate their risk of recurrence and metastasis, and her work holds promise for potential future treatment options.