2026 ACS Annual Meeting Hosted by Northwestern University, Chicago, IL
The Association of Clinical Scientists will hold its 2026 Annual Meeting (147th meeting overall) May 19-22 in Chicago, Illinois. Hosted by the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine of Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, this meeting will follow the ACS typical format of 2.5 days of scientific sessions with a cultural tour on the middle afternoon. However, due to Chicago traffic, the meeting days are Wednesday through Friday rather than the usual Thursday through Saturday.
There are three meeting themes: Advances in Understanding of Brain Disorders I: Neoplasia, Understanding of Brain Disorders II: Neurodegeneration, and Advances in Digital Pathology and Clinical Laboratory Informatics. Also being tentatively planned is a vendor night on Tuesday evening at which invited laboratory vendors will make brief presentations about their products and/or services.
The Claude P. Brown Memorial Lecture will be delivered by Daniel J. Brat, MD, PhD, Magerstadt Professor and Chairman, Department of Pathology, Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, 
on “A Contemporary View of Diffuse Gliomas: Two Decades of Data-Driven Evolution”.
The banquet speaker at the Annual Awards Reception and Banquet will be Lance Shaner, PhD, JD, Co-Founder of Omega Yeast Labs, LLC, who will talk about his career and his founding of a craft yeast company.
The cultural tour on Thursday afternoon will be a Chicago River architectural boat tour. The Annual Meeting will conclude with the typical Musicale and Art Show on Friday evening.
The members of the Program Committee are Christopher Crutchfield, PhD, Program Committee Chair, Sam Weinberg MD, PhD, Dept. of Pathology. Lucy Fu, MD, MSc, Dept. of Pathology, Tina Siebenaler, Feinberg School of Medicine, Christy Lopez, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Jonathan Hoyne, PhD, Erica Fatica, PhD, and Charles Hawker, PhD, MBA (ex officio).