This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
ASCO establishes leadership award
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
ASCO established the Allen S. Lichter Visionary Leader Award.
The award will recognize society members who have transformed the field of oncology or significantly advanced the mission of the society, its Conquer Cancer Foundation or CancerLinQ, the society’s health information technology platform.
Allen S. Lichter
The award — named after Allen S. Lichter, MD, FASCO, who is retiring after 10 years as the society’s CEO — will be presented for the first time at next year’s ASCO Annual Meeting.
“Allen is really the catalyst behind ASCO as far as looking to the future,” Julie M. Vose, MD, MBA, FASCO, who served as ASCO’s 2015-2016 president, said in a press release. “Any seeds planted over the last few years are going to take years to develop. If we have success in the years to come, it will be from what he seeded.”
During Lichter’s tenure as CEO, society membership grew to more than 40,000 people, including a large number of allied health professionals and more than 13,000 international members. He also contributed to the launch of CancerLinQ and the TAPUR study, an ASCO-led clinical trial designed to address gaps in the understanding of and access to targeted therapies.
Prior to becoming ASCO’s CEO, Lichter served as chair and professor of radiation oncology, as well as dean of the medical school at University of Michigan. He also served as director of the radiation therapy section of NCI’s radiation oncology branch.