From June 9–11, 2025, a gathering of prominent cancer researchers took place in Greenwich, Connecticut. The event focused on exchanging research findings, fostering collaboration, and strategizing advancements in the treatment of fibrolamellar carcinoma (FLC). This marked the sixth international summit of key FLC researchers hosted by the Fibrolamellar Cancer Foundation (FCF).
Introductory panel discussion
The summit’s keynote was open to participation by the entire fibrolamellar community. Titled Oncogene Targeted Immunotherapy in FLC, the discussion was moderated by Dr. Mark Furth (FCF) and featured panelists Dr. Juliane Walz (University of Tübingen), Dr. Mark Yarchoan (Johns Hopkins University), and Molly Hones (FLC patient). A recording of the session is available on FCF’s YouTube channel.
Main meeting agenda
The remainder of the conference operated under a multi-party non-disclosure agreement to promote the exchange of unpublished data and ideas. FCF has long believed that such collaboration is essential to make rapid progress in developing new therapies for fibrolamellar patients. We thank all the presenters (listed below) who were willing to share their latest findings!
After an introduction by FCF, the main convening began with discussion of the development of consensus treatment guidelines for FLC, led by Drs. John Gordan (UCSF) and Allison O’Neill (Dana-Farber). This was followed by a deep dive into targeted therapies, with presentations from Drs. John Scott (University of Washington), Yasemin Sancak (University of Washington), John Gordan (UCSF), Taran Gujral (Fred Hutch), Nabeel Bardeesy (Massachusetts General Hospital), and Boris Pasche (Wayne State University).
Immunotherapy was the focus of the next session, featuring emerging insights from Drs. Juliane Walz (University of Tübingen), Mark Yarchoan (Johns Hopkins), Paul Thomas (St. Jude), Praveen Sethupathy (Cornell), and Jason Carter (University of Washington).
The conversation then shifted to oncogenesis and new potential therapeutic targets for treatment. Speakers included Drs. Sean Ronnekleiv-Kelly (University of Wisconsin–Madison), Anneliese Gest (UCSD), Theo Hirsch (INSERM–Paris), Aleksander Skardal (Ohio State), Benedetta Artegiani and Delilah Hendriks (both from Princess Máxima Center, Utrecht), and Wencheng Zhang (Tongji University, Shanghai).
A panel discussion on clinical trial strategies featured Drs. William Harris (University of Washington), James Geller (Cincinnati Children’s), Ghassan Abou-Alfa (Memorial Sloan Kettering), Juliane Walz (University of Tübingen), and Allison O’Neill (Dana-Farber). This was followed by updates on active FLC clinical trials, presented by Drs. Marina Baretti (Johns Hopkins), Michael Ortiz (Memorial Sloan Kettering), Kimberly Riehle (Seattle Children’s), Jessica Gartrell (St. Jude), and Razelle Kurzrock (Medical College of Wisconsin).
The summit concluded with a discussion of the FCF Biobank, presented by Patty Cogswell, and a session on the role of big data in FLC research. A presentation about the new FLC Data Initiative and a presentation about multi-omics by Don Long (Cornell University) highlighted how the availability of data is enhancing research capabilities.
Overall impact
Feedback from the event has been extremely strong. This event illustrates the growing level collaboration among the many fibrolamellar researchers who are committed to sharing insights and working together to develop new treatment approaches for this disease. FCF thanks all the world-class researchers and clinicians who made the conference a success!