By Margaret (Peggy) Rosenzweig, PhD, FNP-BC, AOCNP®, FAAN
ONS Scholar-in-Residence
If you are an oncology nurse scientist desiring connection with a broader scientific community, or if you are hungry for methodologic rigor, insight into new methodology, and collaboration that your home institution cannot fully provide, the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting may be exactly where you need to be.
For oncology nurses who are also scientists, two annual conferences serve distinct and complementary purposes. The ONS Congress® is a place where colleagues know your clinical language: You feel comfortable in the culture, and nursing practice and research are natural companions. AACR is something different. It is a multidisciplinary window into the full breadth of cancer science. For nurse scientists, AACR provides direct access to deep expertise in genomics, biostatistics, population sciences, implementation science, or emerging trial designs and investigators. The two meetings are complimentary.
The AACR and the Oncology Nursing Foundation (ONF) have maintained a longstanding collaboration with an annual joint lecture at ONS Congress. To expand that partnership, the ONF and AACR met in late 2025 and quickly built something remarkable: a program offering $2,000 stipends for 10 oncology nurse scholars to attend the AACR Annual Meeting in San Diego in April 2026. The dedicated mentorship, structured networking, and a curated scientific experience across the full meeting. I attended as the ONS scholar-in-residence and as a member of the inaugural cohort.
What I witnessed was striking on two levels. The broader scientific community at AACR is actively seeking the kinds of questions, populations, and perspectives that oncology nurses bring. And the nurse scholars themselves arrive open and prepared, to take full advantage of the opportunity. The underappreciated value of a program like this is not only what nurses learn at the meeting, but also who they meet and what that collaboration may allow after they return home.
I have been an AACR member for several years, one of the relatively small number of nurses in the organization’s membership. My own entry came through collaboration: A medical oncology fellow I was working with on a research project wanted to submit an abstract to an AACR conference. She needed a member to support the application. I looked at the organization and thought that I could grow scientifically, particularly in the areas of cancer care disparities and population health, my areas of focused research.
The AACR Annual Meeting covers the full spectrum of cancer sciences, including basic, translational, clinical, and population sciences, with particular emphasis on clinical trials. AACR also convenes specialized conferences throughout the year on focused topics, offering additional entry points depending on your area of science.
The nurse scholars I met in San Diego through the collaboration were remarkable. PhD students and seasoned clinician scientists attended; many were deeply embedded in clinical trials at their institutions, managing protocols, and navigating trial-related toxicities. A clear and shared desire emerged across the cohort: to understand the full arc of clinical trial development, including the complex art of protocol writing and development, trial management, publication, and to possibly step into the role of principal investigator.
If you are a nurse scientist, or a nurse or nurse practitioner who is taking responsibility for clinical trials, I really encourage you to consider applying for the 2027 AACR–ONF Oncology Nurse Scholars Program. The knowledge gained and collaboration are invaluable.