If there’s one lesson to take away from the past five years of cancer research, it’s that a diversity of thought is an asset, said AACR President Lisa M. Coussens, PhD, FAACR, in her address at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2023. Diversity of thought is what helped her unearth unique research on how to use leukocyte communication to interrupt the tumor microenvironment. As the Deputy Director for Basic & Translational Research of the Knight Cancer Institute at Oregon Health & Science University, she tied together concepts from immunology, data science, and biology in her own lab to make these discoveries. Dr. Coussens discussed her past and current research, as well as her hopes for the future of cancer research during her presidential address on Sunday, April 16. The 45-minute presentation, Identifying Immune Vulnerabilities in Solid Tumors – Leukocyte Communication Networks Regulate Neoplastic Progression and Response to Therapy, traversed the entirety of her career, as she explained how her own research is emblematic of the direction the field should take as a whole.