2026 Bladder Cancer Think Tank Meeting

Welcome and Opening Remarks

Welcome and opening remarks with BCAN CEO Meri-Margaret Deoudes and Co-founder Diane Zipursky Quale; Chair Max Kates, MD, Johns Hopkins and Co-Chair Parminder Singh, MD, Mayo Clinic.

Patient Voice Panel with Diane Zipursky Quale

“Beyond Survival: What Patients Need to Thrive” – a discussion with BCAN patient advocates: Gail Dykstra, Gigi Gray, Chris Parente and Sandy Weicher.

Meet the 2026 John Quale Travel Fellows

The John Quale Travel Fellowship (JQTF) Program is a special opportunity for early career investigators interested in bladder cancer research to attend the annual Bladder Cancer Think Tank Meeting.

BCAN 2024 and 2025 Young Investigator Awardees

With introductions by Scientific Review Group Chair, Neelam Mukherjee, PhD, University of Texas Health Center San Antonio.

2024 Awardee:

• Aditi Gupta, MD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center: Identifying Biomarkers of Response and Mechanisms of Resistance to Enfortumab Vedotin with and without Pembrolizumab in Metastatic Urothelial Cancer

2025 Awardees:

• Meera Chappidi, MD, MPH, University of California, San Francisco: Optimization and External Validation of a Histopathology-based, Machine Learning Biomarker to Predict Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy Response in Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer
• Mohamed Osman, MBBCh, Weill Medical College of Cornell University: Higher Burden of Extrachromosomal DNA in African Americans Drives Worse Clinical Outcomes in Bladder Cancer
• Patrick McGilivray, MD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center: Deconvolving the Drivers of Differentiation and Treatment Resistance in Micropapillary Urothelial Carcinoma at Single-Cell Resolution

EV + Pembrolizumab in Urothelial Cancer: Key Questions in a Changing Treatment Landscape

Co-Chairs: Vadim Koshkin, MD, University of California San Francisco and Josh Meeks, MD, PhD, Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine

Invited Discussion Leaders:

• Jon Treffert, BCAN Patient Advocate
• Pooja Ghatalia, MD, Fox Chase Cancer Center
• Ashish Kamat, MD, MBBS, FACS, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
• Abhinav Khanna, MD, Mayo Clinic
• Nataliya Mar, MD, University of California Irvine
• Sima Porten, MD, MPH, University of California, San Francisco
• Jonathan Rosenberg, MD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Rapid Research Session: Access, Inclusion and Patient Experience in Bladder Cancer Care and Trials

Moderated by Parminder Singh, MD, Mayo Clinic Arizona.

Think Tank Title Sponsor Speakers:

• Sushant Hardikar, MD, Medical Head of GU Oncology, AstraZeneca: “PATAPSCO: Rethinking Phase 3b Evidence Through a Real-World Lens”
• Ekta Kapadia, MD, Tyra Biosciences: “Recruiting Urologic Cancer Patients in Global Phase 2 Studies”
• Michael Louie, MD, MPH, MSc, Chief Development Officer, UroGen Pharma: “UGN-103 Development Program: Incorporating Patient Input and Patient-Centric Endpoints”
• Josh Meeks, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Urology, Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine for Johnson & Johnson: “A Real-World Evidence Study Assessing the Prevalence and Prognostic Value of FGFR Alterations in Patients With Intermediate-Risk Non–Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer”
• Sarah Psutka, MD, MSc, Professor of Urology, University of Washington, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center for CG Oncology: “Expanded Access and Compassionate Use of Cretostimogene in BCG-Unresponsive NMIBC”
• Dharanija Rao, PhD, Senior Medical Director, Bladder & Kidney Cancer, Pfizer Oncology: “Real World Evidence in first-line treatment patterns for patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma utilizing the Flatiron database”
• Daniel Shoskes, MD, MSc, FRCS(C), Vice President, Global Medical Affairs, Uro Oncology, Ferring Pharmaceuticals: “A Real-World Case Series of Re-Induction with Nadofaragene Firadenovec in Patients With Carcinoma in Situ with or without Papillary Non–Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer”

Breakout Sessions

Closing the Gap: Implementation Science and Quality Improvement

Chairs: Matthew Mossanen, MD, MPH, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School; and Parminder Singh, MD, Mayo Clinic Arizona

Invited Discussion Leaders:

• Whitney L. Archer, DNP RN OCN, Mayo Clinic
• Peter Clark, MD, Atrium Health, Levine Cancer Institute
• Jennifer L. Ridgeway, PhD, Mayo Clinic
• Minhaj Siddiqui, MD, University of Maryland School of Medicine

You Are What You Drink: Arsenic Exposure and Bladder Cancer Risk

Chairs: Philip Abbosh, MD, PhD, Fox Chase Cancer Center; and Robert Schreiber, BCAN Patient Advocate

Invited Discussion Leaders:

• Mario Fernández, MD,Clínica Alemana Universidad del Desarrollo
• Steve Wilson, MS, Illinois State Water Survey at the University of Illinois

Trimodality Therapy 2.0: Radiation and Multi-Modal Bladder Preservation Advances

Chairs: Omar Mian, MD, PhD, Fred Hutch Cancer Center; Sameer Jhavar, MD, PhD, Baylor College of Medicine; and Rick Bangs, BCAN Patient Advocate

Invited Discussion Leaders:

• Leslie Ballas, MD, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
• Scott Delacroix, MD, FACS, Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center
• Shilpa Gupta, MD, Cleveland Clinic
• T. Martin Ma, MD, PhD, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center

From Legacy to Discovery: Rapid Autopsies & the Metastatic Blueprint

Chairs: Petros Grivas, MD, PhD, University of Washington Medicine; and Hikmat Al-Ahmadie, MD, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

Invited Discussion Leaders:

• Andrew C. Hsieh, MD, Fred Hutch Cancer Center
• Hung-Ming Lam, PhD, University of Washington
• Rohit Mehra, MD, University of Michigan
• Dave Wold, BCAN Advocate

Advancing Bladder Cancer Research Through Integrated Human-Relevant Animal Models

Chairs: Burles “Rusty” Johnson III, MD, PhD, Johns Hopkins Medicine; and Karin Allenspach, DVM, MS, PhD, DECVIM-CA, University of Georgia

Invited Discussion Leaders:

• John Cheville, MD, Mayo Clinic, Rochester
• Deborah W. Knapp, DVM, MS, DACVIM, Purdue University
• Leonardo Oliveira Reis, MD, MSc, PhD, MBA, Pontificia Universidade Católica de Campinas (UNICAMP)

Operationalizing ctDNA in Bladder Cancer Clinical Trials

Chairs: John Sfakianos, MD, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; and Laura Bukavina, MD, MPH, Cleveland Clinic

Invited Discussion Leaders:

• Kent Mouw, MD PhD, Harvard Medical School
• Peter Z. (Zach) Schiller, BCAN Patient Advocate
• Alan Tan, MD, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center

Overcoming Biases in Bladder Cancer Decision Making

Chairs: Biren Saraiya, MD, Rutgers Cancer Institute; and Pooja Ghatalia, MD, Fox Chase Cancer Center

Invited Discussion Leaders:

• Ronald D. Ennis, MD, Rutgers Cancer Institute 
• Login S. George, PhD, Rutgers Institute for Health
• John Morley, BCAN Patient Advocate  
• Debasish Sundi, MD, The Ohio State University
• Erin K. Tagai, PhD, MPH, Fox Chase Cancer Center

Awareness to Action in Delivering Affordable Bladder Cancer Care

Chairs: Ruchika Talwar, MD, MMHC, Vanderbilt University Medical Center; and Nikita Baclig, MD, MPH, University of California, Los Angeles

Invited Discussion Leaders:

• Hiba Khan, MD, MPH, University of Washington, Fred Hutch Cancer Center
• Amanda Myers, MD, MS, University of Iowa
• Kristen Skinner, BCAN Patient Advocate

BCAN 2022 Career Development Awardee and 2024 Bladder Cancer Research Innovation Awardees

Introduction by Scientific Review Group Chair: Ludmila Prokunina-Olsson, PhD, National Cancer Institute.

BCAN 2022 Career Development Awardee:

• Roger Li, MD, Moffitt Cancer Center: Oncolytic Immunotherapy with Nivolumab in Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer

BCAN 2024 Bladder Cancer Research Innovation Awardees

• Bishoy Faltas, MD, Weill-Cornell Medical College: Bio-Digital Avatars for Personalized Sequencing of Bladder Cancer Therapies
• Alexander Wyatt, PhD, University of British Columbia: Clinical Phenotyping of Metastatic Urothelial Cancer from Plasma Cell-free Histones

AI in Bladder Cancer: What’s Real, What’s Next, and What to Watch Out For

Chair: Irbaz Riaz, MD, MS, MBI, PhD, Mayo Clinic

Invited Discussion Leaders:

• David Klaus, BCAN Patient Advocate
• Long Le, MD, PhD, Massachusetts General Hospital
• Vivek Natarajan, Google DeepMind
• Travis Zack, MD, PhD OpenEvidence

Breakout Sessions

Sexual Health and Intimacy in the Era of Modern Bladder Cancer Care

Chairs: Armine K. Smith, MD, Johns Hopkins Medicine; and Asia McCoy, MSN-CRN, RN, OCN, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Invited Discussion Leaders:

• Heather Goltz, PhD, LCSW-S MEd, MPH, University of Houston-Downtown
• Gigi Gray, BCAN Patient Advocate
• John Mulhall, MD MSc FECSM FACS FRCSI, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
• Polina Reyblat, MD, Kaiser Permanente
• Xinglei Shen, MD, MS, University of Kansas Medical Center

From Surviving to Thriving: Next-Gen Supportive Care and Lifestyle Optimization in Bladder Cancer

Chairs: Sarah Psutka, MD, MSc, University of Washington; and Stacy Loeb, MD, NYU Langone Health

Invited Discussion Leaders:

• Natasha Gupta, MD, NYU Langone Health
• Kenneth Jacobsohn, MD, Medical College of Wisconsin
• Lydia Saravis, BCAN Patient Advocate

Cracking the HER2 Code: Bench Insights to Bedside Impact in Bladder Cancer

Chairs: Terence Friedlander, MD, University of California, San Francisco; and Funda Meric-Bernstam, MD, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center

Invited Discussion Leaders:

• Virginia Borges, MD, UCHealth, University of Colorado Anschutz
• Gopa Iyer, MD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Improving Clinical Trials and Clinical Trial Conduct in Bladder Cancer: From Protocol to Patient

Chairs: Tom Jayram, MD, Urology Associates PC; and Yair Lotan, MD, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

Invited Discussion Leaders:

• Patrick Hensley, MD, University of Kentucky
• Seth Lerner, MD, Baylor College of Medicine
• Jonathan Rosenberg, MD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Less Is More: De-Escalation Strategies in Bladder Cancer Care

Chairs: Timothy N. Clinton, MD, Brigham and Women’s Hospital; and Stephanie Berg, DO, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Invited Discussion Leaders:

• Abhinav Khanna, MD, Mayo Clinic
• Kriti Mittal, MD, MS, University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center
• Darrell Nakagawa, BCAN Patient Advocate
• Steven Seyedin, MD, University of California, San Francisco
• Bicky Thapa, MD, MS, FACP, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute 

Unlocking Bladder Cancer Risk Signals Through AI-Enhanced Pathology

Chairs: Kun-Hsing Yu, MD, PhD, Harvard Medical School; and Beatrice Knudsen, MD, PhD, University of Utah

Invited Discussion Leaders:

• Gabriele Campanella, PhD, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
• Sumati Gupta, MD, University of Utah‘s Huntsman Cancer Institute
• Yuming Jiang, MD, PhD, Wake Forest University School of Medicine
• Anirudh Joshi, MS, Co-Founder and CEO of Valar Labs
• Joshua Warrick, MD, Yale School of Medicine

Who’s Left Behind? Closing the Gaps in Bladder Cancer Progress

Chairs: Jeannie Hoffman-Censits, MD, Johns Hopkins Medicine; and Andrea Apolo, MD, National Institutes of Health

Invited Discussion Leaders:

• Jonathan Coleman, MD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
• Catherine Fahey, MD, PhD, University of North Carolina School of Medicine
• Petros Grivas, MD, PhD, University of Washington Medicine
• Burles “A.”Rusty” Johnson III, MD, PhD, Johns Hopkins Medicine
• Vadim Koshkin, MD, University of California San Francisco
• Vincent Rossi, BCAN Patient Advocate
• Nicholas Simon, MD, MSc, Medstar Georgetown University Hospital / Washington Hospital Center

Somatic Mutations Before Cancer: Early Detection & Risk Biology

Chairs: Eugene Pietzak, MD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; and Debasish Sundi, MD, The Ohio State University

Invited Discussion Leaders:

• Max Diehn, MD, PhD, FASCO, Stanford University
• Sean Li, PhD, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
• Rosa Ana Risques, PhD, University of Washington