San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium - SABCS 2026

SABCS draws more than 11,000 attendees. In 2025, attendees traveled from 104 countries, and the four-day meeting generated nearly $40 million ($39.6 million) in economic impact for San Antonio, according to a report from Visit San Antonio. Organizers expect over 10,000 attendees from more than 105 countries in 2026. The audience is directed primarily toward academic and private physicians and researchers in medical, surgical, gynecologic, and radiation oncology, as well as nurses, patient advocates, and other health care professionals; historically, about half of attendees come from outside the United States.

Registration for SABCS 2026 opened July 16, 2026, and can be completed online through the official registration provider, Convention Management Resources (CMR). Both in-person and virtual options are available, and there are no daily or partial registration rates.

In-person registration is offered in three tiers:

• Early Registration (7/16–9/25)
• Advance Registration (9/26–11/2)
• Late Registration (11/3–12/11)

Sample in-person early-registration rates include $835 regular, $665 AACR member, $215 resident/postdoctoral fellow, $325 nurse, $85 student, and $75 patient advocate. Virtual rates are lower and are scaled by a country's World Bank income classification; patient advocates register free for the virtual meeting. Group registration is available for organizations registering 15 or more attendees at a flat rate ($955 in-person, $725 virtual).

Accepted payments are credit card, wire transfer, and checks (USD). Cancellations must be received in writing prior to November 20, 2026, and are subject to processing fees; refunds are not granted after that date or for no-shows.

SABCS traces its origins to 1977–1978, when Bill McGuire, MD, and Chuck Coltman, MD, colleagues in the Division of Medical Oncology at what is now UT Health San Antonio, established a local breast cancer symposium to educate oncologists working in the city. The first symposium, held in a small motel near the airport, had no more than about 50 attendees.

The meeting grew slowly until McGuire and Coltman broadened its scope by inviting abstracts for oral and poster presentation, uniting clinicians and laboratory researchers in an early form of what later became known as translational research. Over the following decades it expanded to larger venues and grew into a multi-day international conference. By the late 1990s it was attracting thousands of participants from over 100 countries and had become the world's leading breast cancer research meeting. The 2026 meeting marks the 49th annual symposium. It is founded, owned, and operated by UT Health San Antonio's Mays Cancer Center in collaboration with the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR).