UH Cancer Center hosts annual International Lung Cancer Consortium (ILCCO) 2026 meeting for the first time

March 13, 2026

Event draws nearly 80 leaders from around the globe to collaborate, share data and studies

The 22nd International Lung Cancer Consortium (ILCCO) 2026 Annual Meeting was hosted by University of Hawaiʻi Cancer Center researchers Dr. Lani Park (ILCCO Steering Committee member) and Dr. Loïc Le Marchand on March 11-13, 2026, at the center’s Sullivan Conference Center for the first time. The annual meeting brought together nearly 80 attendees — epidemiologists, biologists, behavioral scientists, oncologists, pulmonologists, and other leaders from across the U.S. and around the globe who are dedicated to advancing research in lung cancer through sharing comparable data from ongoing lung cancer case-control and cohort studies. Importantly, this scientific meeting underscored that collaborative and interdisciplinary work is critical for advancing lung cancer prevention and improving disease survival.

The meeting featured two keynote speakers: Dr. Sylvia Plevritis, who spoke on “AI and Spatial Biology of the Lung Tumor Microenvironment”; and Dr. Stephen Hecht, who spoke on “Mechanisms of Ethnic/Racial Differences in Lung Cancer Due to Cigarette Smoking.” Highlighted research advances made by consortium members in diverse areas included: biomarkers, geospatial research, screening implementation, genetics, international research, tumor molecular typing, clinical outcomes, AI, and “real world data” mining.

The UH Cancer Center’s Multiethnic Cohort Study (MEC) data was well represented, with contributions in many of these areas for both etiology and translation. The MEC is a large epidemiological study which follows over 215,000 residents of Hawaiʻi and Los Angeles for development of cancer, other chronic diseases, and to better understand factors responsible for the differences in cancer occurrence among different populations.

Lung cancer is the third most common cancer in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control. More people in the United States die from lung cancer than any other type of cancer. This is true for both men and women. In Hawaiʻi, lung cancer continues to be the leading cause of cancer death in the state. Among females, Native Hawaiians had among the highest lung cancer incidence and mortality rates, according to data in “Hawaiʻi: Cancer at a Glance, 2014-2018.”

To learn more about the International Lung Cancer Consortium, go to its website.

To learn more about cancer in Hawaiʻi, go to the “Hawaiʻi Cancer Statistics” page on this website.

To learn more about the UH Cancer Center’s Multiethnic Cohort Study, go to its page on this website.