RISE UP for Breast Cancer 2026

About This Grant

ABSTRACT The second annual RISE UP (Revolutionizing Investigations to StEp Up Prevention) for Breast Cancer conference will bring together practitioners, scientists, and advocates across women’s health specialties and leverage what we know about breast cancer biology, treatment, and hormonal management to better approach breast cancer prevention and treatment. RISE UP was conceptualized in 2023 by Dr. Laura Esserman. The first meeting was held in November 2024 with over 300 attendees across a variety of disciplines. Our goal is to build on the momentum of the first meeting and concentrate on the following aims for 2026: 1) highlight novel and standard agents that can be applied in the context of response-predictive subtypes in the early-stage setting to eradicate tumors; 2) highlight results from personalized screening programs and the opportunity to personalize both risk reduction and screening; 3) explore opportunities to pair breast cancer risk reduction in interventions across a woman’s life stage to both optimize for breast cancer prevention and improve treatments and quality of life for breast cancer survivors. The conference will include general sessions (including debates, keynote speakers, abstract presenters, and panel discussions) as well as poster sessions to foster cross disciplinary learning, highlight new research, and spark ideas and action. General sessions will be designed to educate attendees about opportunities to improve the health and well-being of women from prevention to treatment of breast cancer. Our goal is to bridge the critical gap in knowledge of breast specialists and gynecologists to make breast cancer management better, engage the gynecologic and primary care community in improvements in breast cancer screening and prevention, and to rethink hormonal control across the continuum of a woman’s life with an eye toward prevention. The conference is designed to foster questions, collaborations, and overall generation of new ideas and ways of thinking about breast cancer. There will be no overlapping sessions so that all attendees will gain the knowledge and ability to improve their practice and upend the way we think about breast cancer prevention. The conference will be held February 19- 21, 2026, at the Hotel Nikko in San Francisco. We aim to bring new energy and novel perspectives to the challenge of breast cancer prevention. The final session of the conference will be a “shark tank” like challenge, with a competition to integrate breast cancer risk reduction into health care products used during a woman’s life course. Last year we awarded four “SPARK” awards to foster early-stage ideas and collaborations, and the winners will present during the meeting and report on their progress. We plan to partner with more investors this year to award both SPARK and IMPLEMENTATION (later stage development ideas) prizes.