Overview

America's Center

701 Convention Plaza, Saint Louis, MO 63101
America's Center

Innovations for Cancer Research and Care

The Eleventh Computational Approaches for Cancer Workshop 2025 (CAFCW25) is being held as part of SC25, the international conference for high performance computing, networking, storage, and analysis, at America's Center in St. Louis, Missouri on Monday November 17, 2025. 

This year's workshop will bring together a wide range of individuals including clinicians, cancer biologists, mathematicians, data scientists, computational scientists, engineers, developers, vendors, thought leaders and others with an interest in advancing the use of computation to better understand, diagnose, treat and prevent cancer. As an interdisciplinary workshop, the sharing of insight and challenges fosters collaborations and future innovations accelerating progress in computationally and data-driven cancer research and clinical applications.

High performance computing plays a transformative role in advancing cancer research and improving patient care by enabling the analysis of complex, large-scale biological data at unprecedented speed and scale.  These capabilities accelerate the development of precision medicine approaches, allowing for more accurate diagnoses and tailored therapies. Additionally, high performance computing supports large-scale clinical data integration, helping to uncover patterns and outcomes that inform evidence-based care. As cancer research becomes increasingly data-driven, the impact of high performance computing continues to grow, bridging the gap between scientific discovery and clinical application.

The special emphasis for CAFCW25 will build on the theme 'HPC Ignites Innovations in Cancer Research and Care' which will specifically seek presenters and submissions who show novel uses of HPC technologies in enabling efforts, clinical applications, translation for patient impact, and improving communication with visualization and education around cancer. 

Key Dates

• July 9: SC25 Registration opens
• July 18: Abstract submissions close
• Week of August 25th: Notification of acceptance
• Oct. 15: Early-bird registration closes
• Nov. 16-21: SC25
• Nov. 17: CAFCW25 

Student Track

Beginning in 2020, CAFCW expanded its reach by adding a focus on workforce development. Again, this year, we will incorporate a student track. We encourage students, including undergraduates and students from non-technical degrees to submit accepted research. They will have a highlighted presentation during the workshop, opportunities to engage with the Student@SC program, special programing focused on training and workforce development, and further awards to be announced.  Students can submit their abstracts at Student Submissions. 

Given the interdisciplinary nature of computational biology and AI, we invite all students to participate in this workshop as an opportunity to collaborate with experts in computational chemistry, computational biology, AI, data science, computer science, and other disciplines fostering a well-rounded approach for cancer research and innovation. 

IMPORTANT: SC25 is planning for an in-person event. By submitting an abstract for CAFCW25, you acknowledge that AT LEAST ONE author of an accepted submission is required to pay the registration fee and present at the conference in person.

Over a Decade of Computational Workshops

The importance of high performance computing is ever increasing as a critical component of cancer research and clinical applications. The current global cancer ecosystem includes new scientific methods, AI, ever expanding sources of data, and use of simulations. These dynamic changes have set the stage for tremendous growth in HPC for cancer research and clinical application, particularly with the US Cancer Moonshot 2.0 initiative, which aims to reduce the mortality of cancer by 50% in 25 years. 

Originally established 11 years ago as part of SC2015 during the advent of the Precision Medicine and the US National Strategic Computing Initiative, this workshop provides a key venue for multiple disciplines and interests to converge, share insights, and develop collaborations in which HPC and computational approaches will advance the frontiers of cancer research and cancer care. Over the past eleven years, the CAFCW has brought together cancer researchers and advanced computing scientists to share ideas and challenges, establish collaborations and identify common needs. 

Workshop Goals

As the workshop has evolved and popularity of the topic has grown, the expected outcomes of the workshop have increased. The current outcomes of the meeting include:  

1. Educate and raise awareness of the impact that HPC has in the cancer research and clinical domains  
2. Build collaborative connections among attendees to address complex problems in cancer research 
3. Extend the community with additions to the growing email lists  
4. Introduce the combined fields of cancer research and advanced computing to students 
5. Develop a permanent online presence for the workshop presenters and presentations for a long-term reference with potential opportunities for follow-on interactions
6. Catalyze discussions on additional computing and cancer workshops in other conferences, further building the community nationally and internationally 

Organizing Committee 

• Eric Stahlberg, Ph.D., MD Anderson Cancer Center 
• Sean Hanlon, Ph.D., National Cancer Institute
• Sally Ellingson, Ph.D., University of Kentucky
• Patricia Kovatch, Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai
• James Lillard, Ph.D., Morehouse School of Medicine 
• Lynn Borkon, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research
• Lauren C. Lewis, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research 

The CAFCW website will move to a new platform later this summer. 

Please note our new contact email: CompCancerWorkshop@gmail.com. Stay tuned for updates!