Forbeck on the Forefront

Dr. W. Kimryn Rathmell first connected with the Forbeck Foundation as a Scholar in 2006. Today, after serving as the 17th Director of the National Cancer Institute, she leads The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center and takes the helm of our Scientific Advisory Board. We sit down to celebrate her appointment and trace a remarkable path defined by discovery, dedication, and an enduring...

In this episode, we preview the upcoming Forbeck Forum on Cellular Plasticity, chaired by Dr. Ben Stanger (University of Pennsylvania) and Dr. Cory Abate-Shen (Columbia University). The conversation explores a rapidly emerging area of cancer research: how cancer cells don't just accumulate mutations, but can actually change what type of cell they are — a process called cellular plasticity — al...

In this episode of Forbeck on the Forefront , we dive into a fascinating discussion between Jason Kwon of AbbVie Pharmaceutical, sommelier Colton Schara of Left Bank Distributors. As a preview to the Foundation’s upcoming April 9 wine dinner titled Sips for Science, we unpack a rich exchange exploring the compelling parallel between winemaking and cancer research, specifically how the environment...

In this episode, we preview the upcoming Forbeck Forum Cancer and Aging: Convergent and Opposing Forces , chaired by Alejo Efeyan, PhD (Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncológicas), and Nada Kalaany, PhD (Harvard Medical School). The conversation explores one of the most fundamental and unresolved questions in cancer research: how aging reshapes our biology in ways that can both suppress and pr...

In this episode, we take a deep dive into the findings from a recent Forbeck Forum on Cell Death in Cancer Therapy , chaired by Kristopher Sarosiek, PhD (Harvard) and Cristina Muñoz-Pinedo, PhD (IDIBELL). The discussion explores—in accessible, lay-friendly terms—how cancer treatments ultimately work by killing cancer cells, and why understanding the differences between cancer cell death and normal...

In this podcast episode, we recap a Forbeck Forum that explored how cancer’s rapid evolution makes it so difficult to treat. Experts from experimental, computational, and clinical backgrounds discussed the fundamental principles of cancer evolution and potential therapeutic vulnerabilities. Across four sessions—covering everything from genetic mutations to chromosome instability and tumor populati...

AI is reshaping cancer research and drug discovery. In this podcast, Dr. Peter Winter (Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard) and Dr. Barbara Engelhardt (Stanford University and Gladstone Institutes) explore how AI is helping identify drug targets, design better molecules, and accelerate the path to new treatments. They also dive into the challenges of data quality, model validation, and building col...

In this debut episode we dive deep into the Forbeck Foundation as it celebrates its 40‑year anniversary. Our hosts break down how the foundation’s unique, intimate “Forbeck Forums” bring together world‑leading cancer researchers in small, unconstrained gatherings—far from the usual massive conferences—to spark real‑time problem solving and accelerate breakthroughs. ‍ What you’ll hear Why intimacy...