ASCO has elected Lori J. Pierce, MD, FASTRO, FASCO, a long-time member and volunteer, to serve as its President for the term beginning in June 2020. She will take office as President-Elect during the ASCO Annual Meeting in Chicago in June 2019. Six new members were also elected to the ASCO Board of Directors and Nominating Committee. ASCO members also voted to approve the creation of a new 501(c)(6) tax-exempt affiliated association to house ASCO’s policy and advocacy activities and accreditation programs. 

 

“ASCO is a society that prioritizes the various needs of practitioners and our patients across the cancer care continuum,” said Dr. Pierce. “I am honored to be elected as the next ASCO President and will aim to use my varied leadership experience within ASCO and beyond to cultivate collaboration within our field, strategize new treatment approaches and efficiencies in cancer care, and continue to emphasize high quality care.” 

 

An active ASCO member since 1992, Dr. Pierce is a radiation oncologist, professor, and vice provost for Academic and Faculty Affairs at the University of Michigan. She is also director of the Michigan Radiation Oncology Quality Consortium. A national leader in breast cancer research, Dr. Pierce completed her undergraduate degree in biomedical engineering at the University of Pennsylvania and her medical degree at Duke University. She completed her internship at the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and her residency at the University of Pennsylvania.

 

Dr. Pierce has served on the ASCO Board of Directors and is currently chair of the Conquer Cancer Foundation Nominating Committee and a member of the ASCO Special Awards Selection Committee. Dr. Pierce is a past member of multiple ASCO committees including the Government Relations Committee and Scientific Program Committee, and she served as a mentor for the Leadership Development Program from 2015 to 2018. In 2018, she received the Hologic, Inc Endowed Women Who Conquer Cancer Mentorship Award. She was named a Fellow of ASCO (FASCO) in 2015. 

 

 

ASCO's Board of Directors is comprised of oncology leaders who are elected to positions reflecting various specialties within the oncology field. The following physicians will begin four-year terms as members of ASCO's Board of Directors starting in June 2019:

 

Michael A. Thompson, MD, PhD, FASCO, has been elected to a Community Oncologist seat. Dr. Thompson is a medical oncologist and hematologist and is the medical director for the Early Phase Cancer Research Program as well as the co-director of Oncology Precision Medicine Program at Advocate Aurora Health. He is a graduate of ASCO's Leadership Development Program, has served as chair of the ASCO Annual Meeting Education Committee and the Research Community Forum Council, and is a current member of several ASCO volunteer groups.

 

Elizabeth A. Mittendorf, MD, PhD, has been elected to a Surgical Oncologist seat. Dr. Mittendorf is the Rob and Karen Hale Distinguished Chair in Surgical Oncology at Brigham and Women's Hospital, director of research in breast surgery, and director of the Breast Immuno-Oncology Program at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. She has previously served on the ASCO Annual Meeting Scientific Program Committee and is currently chair of the Conquer Cancer Grants Selection Committee and chair-elect of the ASCO-SITC Clinical Immuno-Oncology Symposium Program Committee.

 

Ethan Basch, MD, MSc, FASCO, has been elected to an Undesignated Specialty seat. Dr. Basch is a medical oncologist and a professor of health policy and management and hematology-oncology at the University of North Carolina (UNC), where he is director of the cancer outcomes research program at UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. He serves as an associate editor at the Journal of the American Medical Association, co-chair of the cancer care delivery research committee of the Alliance cooperative group, and a prior member of the NCI Board of Scientific Advisors. He has previously served as chair of both the ASCO Clinical Practice Guidelines Committee and the CancerLinQ Patient Reported Outcomes Committee, and was a member of the Quality of Care Council and the ASCO Annual Meeting Education Committee. He is currently a member of the Measures Steering Group, is on the editorial board of the Journal of Oncology Practice, and will be the faculty chair of the 2019 ASCO Quality of Care Symposium.   

 

 

The following physicians will each serve a three-year term on the ASCO Nominating Committee:

 

Sharon H. Giordano, MD, MPH, FASCO, will serve as the 2021-2022 chair of the ASCO Nominating Committee. Dr. Giordano is a medical oncologist and the department chair of the Department of Health Services Research and the Hubert L. and Olive Stringer Distinguished Professor in Cancer Research at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. She is currently the co-chair of ASCO's Breast Cancer Guideline Advisory Group, a member of the Conquer Cancer Foundation Grants Selection Committee, and a member of the editorial board of Journal of Clinical Oncology. She has previously served as chair of ASCO's Clinical Practice Guidelines Committee, has been a member of the ASCO Annual Meeting Scientific Program Committee, and has served on various other ASCO volunteer groups.

 

Piyush Srivastava, MD, has been elected to a Community Specialty seat. Dr. Srivastava is a practicing gastrointestinal oncologist, the regional medical director of the End of Life Options Program, and the director of outpatient palliative care at Kaiser Permanente Walnut Creek Medical Center. He is a graduate of the ASCO Leadership Development Program. Dr. Srivastava is a coach for ASCO's Quality Training Program, serves as chair-elect of the ASCO Clinical Practice Committee, and is the Patient and Survivor Care Track leader for the ASCO Annual Meeting Education Committee.

 

Colin D. Weekes, MD, PhD, has been elected to an Undesignated Specialty seat. Dr. Weekes is assistant physician in the Division of Hematology and Oncology and director of the Pancreas Medical Oncology Program at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Weekes is the current chair of the ASCO Annual Meeting Education Committee and has served as a past member of the Scientific Program Committee, the Conquer Cancer Foundation Grants Selection Committee, and other ASCO committees and volunteer groups.