ASCO is pleased to announce that Don S. Dizon, MD, FACP, has been appointed Editor of the ASCO Educational Book. Dr. Dizon is an academic medical oncologist specializing in breast and gynecologic malignancies, sexuality and intimacy in cancer survivors, and cancer survivorship. He is an Assistant in Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, Gillette Center for Women’s Cancers, and has published extensively, including as a co-editor of an interdisciplinary book on gynecologic cancers, Gynecologic Tumor Board: Clinical Cases in the Diagnosis and Management of Cancer of the Female Reproductive System (Jones & Bartlett, 2008).

Dr. Dizon currently serves on a number of editorial boards, including as an Associate Editor (Medical Oncology)for the American Journal of Clinical Oncology and as a Deputy Editor (Oncology) for UpToDate. Within ASCO, Dr. Dizon is Immediate Past Chair of the Integrated Media and Technology Committee and an active columnist on ASCOconnection.org.

The ASCO Educational Book, which is published in conjunction with the ASCO Annual Meeting, publishes peer-reviewed manuscripts by Meeting faculty on a variety of cancer topics, highlighting both standards of care as well as therapeutic possibilities. Dr. Dizon views his appointment as Editor as a “tremendous opportunity to help shape the future of one of the most important educational assets for clinical oncologists.”

Dr. Dizon succeeds RamaswamyGovindan, MD, of Washington University School of Medicine, who made many significant contributions to the ASCO Educational Book during his tenure as editor, including the implementation of a formal peer-review process.

New for 2013
The ASCO Educational Book has recently been accepted for indexing in the National Library of Medicine’s MEDLINE database, making all Educational Book articles citable and discoverable via PubMed.

Building on the strong foundation the ASCO Educational Book has developed over the years, Dr. Dizon plans to expand its scope and purpose to enhance its utility as an educational reference. “The Educational Book is a great resource, and I hope to raise awareness and increase its prominence as a multidisciplinary resource for all of us in oncology—from trainees to attendings,” said Dr. Dizon.

Dr. Dizon will use his editorial experience to modernize the content of the 2013 ASCO Educational Book “by taking advantage of richer ways we can impart data. By using an online format, we can embed multiple tools, whether they are surgical videos, pathology images, and radiographic findings. The challenge will be to modernize yet make it accessible everywhere, which is especially important given ASCO’s global reach,” he said.

In pursuit of these goals, Dr. Dizon encourages Annual Meeting faculty to submit articles to the 2013 Educational Book: “This is an opportunity for leaders in their respective disciplines to reach members beyond the Annual Meeting. Authors get to be a part of the creation of enduring materials, which go a long way in furthering the messages imparted during the Meeting itself.”