2019 ASCO Annual Meeting: Caring for every patient, learning from every patient

Each year, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), a professional organization representing health care providers of all oncology sub-specialties, holds its annual meeting in Chicago. This year, the conference brought together more than 42,000 oncology professionals from around the globe to promote communication among oncology-related sub-specialties and the exchange of the latest findings from clinical research studies of novel treatments, cancer risk, survivorship and the value of cancer care.

This year’s meeting took place from May 31 – June 4, 2019 and focused on the theme, “Caring For Every Patient, Learning From Every Patient.” Popular topics that were addressed at this year’s conference included optimizing responsiveness to immunotherapy, applying cellular therapy to solid tumors, improving access to care, overcoming challenges in hard-to-treat cancers or undruggable molecular targets, and enhancing patient quality of life.

Many UChicago Medicine faculty, staff and trainees presented their most recent research findings at the conference. The complete list can be viewed Richard. Larson, MD, professor of medicine and director of the Hematologic Malignancies Program, participated in an education session as a panelist discussing the American Board of Internal Medicine’s Maintenance of Certification (MOC) oncology learning and assessments, as well as the new alternative MOC pathway.

Akash Patnaik, MD, PhD; Mark Ratain, MD, FASCO; Tara Henderson, MD, MPH; Ami Desai, MD; Steven Chmura, MD, PhD; Olwen Hahn, MD; Olatoyosi Odenike, MD; Peter O’Donnell, MD; and Christopher Daugherty, MD, presented posters or were senior authors on posters describing their most recent research findings. Many others were co-authors on multi-institutional studies presented.

Several faculty and trainees were also recognized with awards and other honors, including Tara Henderson, MD, MPH, and Sonali Smith, MD, being named ASCO Fellows and Caroline Hesko, MD, MPH, receiving a 2019 Conquer Cancer Foundation of ASCO Annual Meeting Merit Award.