Episode 30: What is the ASCO annual meeting and why does it matter? Behind the scenes with past ASCO President Dr. Doug Blayney (Part 1)
There is a lot of buzz around the annual ASCO meeting, which brings together 40,000 oncology professionals from around the world. But as a patient, what does that mean for us? Dr. Douglas Blayney, past ASCO president and oncologist gives us a behind the scenes understanding of the purpose, process and outcomes that are driven by the information shared at the ASCO annual meeting. He shares how different stakeholders in the oncology and healthcare ecosystem play a role at the meeting, and how the information is used to improve patient care and also drive innovation.
About our guest
Dr. Doug Blayney is an oncology physician who specializes in breast cancer. His research focuses on quality improvement in cancer care systems, new drug development, and patient experience improvement. At the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), he was founding Editor-in-Chief of its flagship practice journal, and as President, started the ASCO Quality Symposium and began planning for ASCO’s CancerLinq. He was a founding member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Growth Factor Guideline panel, and is a past member of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Oncology Drugs Advisory Committee and the NCCN Board of Directors. Dr. Blayney leads the Manta Cares Scientific Advisory Board.
Watch the video of our episode on YouTube
Key Moments
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9 minutes:
On what's important about the ASCO annual meeting.
The ASCO annual meeting has a long tradition of having breakthrough therapies announced. Traditionally, on Sunday afternoon, the highest impact scientific findings are announced in the plenary session, which this year had four abstracts featured.”
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27 minutes:
On the importance of scientific meetings for clinicians and patients.
Most clinicians and oncologists want to do the best for our patients. Having said that, we can't be everywhere, and we can't know everything, so we do rely on other sources of information, maybe secondary or tertiary sources of information about what went on at the ASCO meeting and other scientific meetings.”
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33 minutes:
On the integrity of scientific data presented at the ASCO annual meeting.
ASCO is a largely volunteer professional society, with the exception of the elected officers, or actually the president and board chair, etc. So three or four elected officers and the journal editors are compensated, and all other ASCO activities are essentially donated by interested parties. And part of the American tradition, as de Tocqueville pointed out in the early 1800s, is that there's this large tradition of volunteerism in our society, which is great and very satisfying. And which ASCO takes advantage of and gives a very positive outlet for clinicians, doctors, and other advocates who want to volunteer to make the world better.
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