The 2010-2011 Leadership Development Program (LDP) participants are meeting this week at ASCO headquarters to attend their fall three-day session. This session includes communication skills training, presentations by ASCO staff, a visit to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and attendance at the Clinical Practice Committee meeting.

ASCO’s year-long program is designed to set oncologists in the early phases of their career on the path to becoming future leaders within the Society. This is the group’s second official visit to ASCO headquarters. They visited in August for orientation, strategy management training, and an introduction to this session’s interactive learning projects, which focus on ASCO’s conflict of interest policy, member communications, and clinical guidelines. Findings related to the projects will be presented at the ASCO Board of Directors Meeting in June 2011.

“I have come to believe that there is no such thing as a ‘natural-born’ leader,” said Chair of the Leadership Development Program Patrick Loehrer, Sr., MD. “The birth of respected leaders comes from a long and arduous process of personal experiences, missteps, self-reflection, and the final realization that the causes of a noble organization are more important than one’s personal ambition. Such people listen more than they talk, take more criticism than they deliver, and do what is right over self-righteousness. It is a life-long journey. The Leadership Development Program of ASCO helps set the course for this ride.”

Participants in the 2010-2011 class will graduate from the Leadership Development Program during the 2011 ASCO Annual Meeting in Chicago, Illinois. Upon completion of the program, graduates have opportunities to take on roles within ASCO’s committees and task forces.

“Among these men and women are future Board members and ASCO Presidents,” said ASCO CEO Allen S. Lichter, MD. “I look forward to working with the new class and helping them develop their leadership potential.”

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2010-2011 Leadership Development Program Participants Marcia S. Brose, MD, PhD; University of Pennsylvania; 2000 Young Investigator Award (YIA) recipient Melissa S. Dillmon, MD; Harbin Clinic, LLC Ana M. Gonzalez-Angulo, MD, MSc; The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center; 2006 Career Development Award (CDA) recipient Stephen R. Grobmyer, MD; University of Florida John M. Goldberg, MD; University of Miami Miller School of Medicine; 2006 CDA recipient Arti Hurria, MD; City of Hope; 2002 YIA recipient, 2005 CDA recipient Edward S. Kim, MD; The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center; 2002 YIA recipient A. Craig Lockhart, MD; Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine Luke T. Nordquist, MD; Nebraska Cancer Specialists Suresh S. Ramalingam, MD; Emory University; 2006 CDA recipient Kimryn Rathmell, MD, PhD; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Catherine H. Van Poznak, MD; University of Michigan

Photo credits: Andrea Smiley Back row left to right: Suresh Ramalingam, Stephen Grobmyer, Catherine Van Poznak, Arti Hurria, Luke Nordquist, A. Craig Lockhart, W. Kimryn Rathmell, Marcia Brose Front row left to right: Ana Maria Gonzalez-Angulo, Melissa Dillmon, John Goldberg, Edward Kim

For current participant biographies, visit ASCO.org/leadership.