After the successful conclusion of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual conference in Chicago on June 9, 2025, Elizabeth Mittendorf, an outstanding scholar with multiple doctoral degrees and multiple MHCM certifications, will officially assume the position of ASCO president in 2026 – 2027. As the inauguration date approaches, Dr. Mittendorf has clearly and firmly outlined the core work directions for her tenure, covering key areas such as strengthening multidisciplinary care, enhancing the well-being of the medical workforce, expanding clinical trial opportunities, and the prudent and reasonable integration of artificial intelligence in oncology, aiming to inject new vitality and momentum into the development of global oncology.
Focusing on talent cultivation and international expansion
In a recent in-depth interview with OncLive, Dr. Mittendorf emphasized a series of highly forward-looking and strategic measures. She deeply recognized that the younger generation of oncology professionals are the core force driving the continuous progress of the industry. Therefore, she particularly emphasized the urgent need to build and strengthen guidance and sponsorship mechanisms. Through this mechanism, young professionals entering the industry can establish bridges for communication and interaction with senior experts, enabling them to draw rich experience and valuable advice at the beginning of their careers, avoiding detours and growing rapidly, and thus continuously providing fresh blood and innovative thinking to the oncology field.
At the same time, Dr. Mittendorf also turned her attention to the world. She firmly committed to comprehensively expanding ASCO’s influence map globally. Through various diversified methods such as actively organizing and participating in various international academic exchange activities and conducting cross-border cooperative research projects, ASCO’s advanced oncology treatment concepts, cutting-edge research results, and efficient clinical practical experiences will be unreservedly disseminated to every corner of the world, promoting the balanced development of global oncology and benefiting more patients from the latest medical breakthroughs.
Promoting the upgrade of the multidisciplinary collaborative care model
As a senior expert deeply involved in surgical oncology, Dr. Mittendorf, with her rich clinical experience and acute industry insight, has an extremely profound and unique understanding of the importance of the team-based cancer care model. During the daily cancer treatment process, she witnessed the complex conditions and diverse needs of cancer patients. Single-discipline treatment methods often have limitations and are unable to comprehensively and precisely address the complexity of cancer diseases.The multidisciplinary team collaboration model is like a “universal key”, able to bring together experts from different professional fields such as surgery, internal medicine, radiotherapy, pathology, and imaging together, showcasing their respective strengths. Through close communication and in-depth collaboration, they integrate the knowledge and skills of all parties to tailor personalized and comprehensive treatment plans for each cancer patient, significantly improving treatment outcomes and improving the quality of life and prognosis of patients. Based on this, in her future leadership work, Dr. Mittendorf will fully commit to promoting the deep development and continuous improvement of the multidisciplinary care model. She plans to organize regular interdisciplinary exchange seminars to break down disciplinary barriers, promote information sharing and technological integration; establish multidisciplinary joint diagnosis and treatment norms and processes to ensure that patients can receive the most optimized treatment plans at the earliest; and strengthen training and education for multidisciplinary team members to enhance the overall professional skills and collaboration ability of the team， providing more high-quality and efficient medical services to cancer patients. Promote stable research funding and equitable treatment.
Tumor research is like a long and arduous marathon, requiring continuous and sufficient funds as a strong backing. Dr. Mittendorf has a clear understanding of this and firmly stands at the forefront of advocating for the continuous investment of funds in tumor research. She knows that only by ensuring a stable source of funds can researchers focus undividedly on key tasks such as clinical trial design and implementation, basic medical research exploration, etc., continuously uncovering the pathogenesis of tumor diseases, finding new treatment targets, and developing more effective treatment methods, providing continuous impetus for conquering the global problem of cancer.In addition, Dr. Mittendorf has always regarded fair access to evidence-based treatment as ASCO’s inescapable social responsibility and an important goal of its hard work. In the real world, due to various factors such as regional differences and economic imbalance, there are huge disparities in access to advanced treatment options among cancer patients in different regions and with different economic conditions. Some patients, due to excessive financial burden, cannot receive the best treatment based on scientific evidence, missing the chance for recovery. To change this situation, Dr. Mittendorf calls on all sectors of society to pay attention to this issue, advocating for the joint efforts of government, medical institutions, pharmaceutical companies, and charitable organizations, through various means such as formulating reasonable medical policies, optimizing medical resource allocation, and launching public welfare assistance projects, to lower the treatment threshold, allowing every cancer patient, regardless of location or wealth, to equally enjoy the most advanced and effective treatment options, truly achieving medical fairness.
Riching her resume lays a solid foundation for leadership
It is worth noting that Dr. Mittendorf has already accumulated rich and profound volunteer experience within ASCO. From 2019 to 2023, she held important positions on the ASCO board and actively participated in the strategic planning and decision-making of the society, providing advice on the development direction of the society; from 2022 to 2023, she took on the responsibility of the ASCO financial director, relying on her outstanding financial management skills, ensuring the rational allocation and efficient use of the society’s funds, providing solid financial guarantees for the smooth implementation of various academic activities and research projects.Moreover, she has also served as the chairperson of the Cancer Conquering and Award Selection Committees, promoting the recognition and rewards of cancer research results with fairness and rigor, inspiring more researchers to devote themselves to the fight against cancer; as a former member of the Scientific Planning Committee of the Annual Conference and the Best of ASCO Project Committee, she deeply participated in the planning and organization of academic conferences, carefully selecting cutting-edge research results for display and exchange, building a high-quality academic exchange platform for global oncology experts. These valuable experiences have enabled her to have a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of ASCO’s organizational structure, operation mode, and industry development trends, laying a rock-solid foundation for her to lead ASCO to a new stage of development in the future.
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