Four days of state-of-the-art breast cancer science and engaging discussion await at the 48th annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium®, December 9-12. A robust mix of educational sessions, expert panels, workshops, and more will dive into the topics that are on the minds of today’s breast cancer researchers, clinicians, and patient advocates.

That’s no coincidence — those same groups are represented on the multidisciplinary SABCS® Program Planning Committee, noted SABCS Program Director Kate Lathrop, MD, of the Mays Cancer Center at UT Health San Antonio.

“It’s 25 really smart people sitting in a room,” Dr. Lathrop said. “They start saying, ‘This has been coming up in my clinic, with my patients, all the time,’ or ‘Advocates are talking about this all the time. We need sessions on these topics because it’s what’s happening in the trenches.’ And those are the sessions we come up with.”

The preliminary 2025 program is available now on the official SABCS website. Details will be updated regularly in the months leading up to the symposium, as abstracts are selected and speakers are finalized. Browse the program today, register soon for a discounted rate, and read on for a few highlights.

Hot topics

The 2025 SABCS will kick off Tuesday morning, December 9, with concurrent Special Sessions exploring three major topics — the impact of alcohol consumption on breast cancer risk, lobular breast cancer updates, and breast cancer in young women. Other high-interest subjects, including liquid biopsy and hormone replacement therapy, will be covered in afternoon workshops and educational sessions. Dr. Lathrop said these first sessions will help attendees fill gaps in their knowledge — a trend that will continue in the following days.

“We try to think about not just what’s on the cutting edge, but maybe one step back, where we have a little bit more data and can understand how to implement some things,” she said. “The education sessions are very good for setting foundational knowledge and updating what’s going on in the field, whether it’s laboratory techniques for discovery, clinical care focuses, or a focus on policy and survivorship issues. We try to have a really broad representation.”

New this year

As always, General Sessions, Poster Spotlights, and other programming throughout the week will present brand-new data to the SABCS audience. However, this year’s symposium is setting aside extra time to follow up on developments from earlier in the year. A new Best of AACR session will spotlight notable breast cancer research presented at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2025. Similarly, Clinical Trial Updates will help attendees catch up on recent trial results through a series of eight-minute abstract presentations.

“It’s an opportunity to re-present data — with whatever updates they have — so that people who haven’t gone to these conferences can sit in the room and hear,” Dr. Lathrop said. “For a lot of people, this is their dedicated time for that learning. It’s hard for them to keep up. So, in addition to the most recent and hot-off-the-press data, sometimes it’s good to go back and make sure you’re hitting the big stuff.”

Another new session is the Special Topic Focus: Beyond Cancer – Addressing Body Image, Hair Loss, and Skin Health After Treatment. This session will highlight an important topic for survivors in a smaller, roundtable environment that will be conducive to conversation.

In addition, Anne Welsh, PhD, will once again organize the annual career women’s development workshop at SABCS, and this year plans to hold a session on compassionate leadership — a timely topic for anyone working on a team, especially in academic medicine, Dr. Lathrop said.

“It’s about how you work within a system to not only find mentorship when you need it, but also to mentor those around you — mentoring up, mentoring down — and how do you come together for the good of advancing science,” she said.