Press Release
Oct 11, 2024
Contact: Chris Martin, cmartin@davidjamesgroup.com
(Denver, CO, USA – September 27, 2024) – The International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) named four thoracic oncology experts to co-chair the 2026 World Conference on Lung Cancer, to be held September 12 -15, 2026 in Seoul, South Korea.
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- Myung-Ju Ahn, MD, PhD, from Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea
- Wentao Fang, MD, from Jiaotong University School of Medicine in Shanghai, China
- Jiraporn Setakornnukul. MD, PhD, from Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University in Bangkok, Thailand
- Yasushi Yatabe MD, PhD from National Cancer Center of Japan, Tokyo, Japan
WCLC is the world’s largest international and multidisciplinary conference drawing attendees from over 100 countries to discuss the latest findings in lung cancer and thoracic malignancies, and how they impact daily practice. The co-chairs, in collaboration with the program committee, plan the content of the meeting, select faculty and presenters, and serve as ambassadors for the clinicians, researchers, patients, caregivers and advocates who attend the meeting. The co-chairs are IASLC members selected to reflect the organization’s commitment to diversity, thought leadership and global, multidisciplinary inclusion.
Myung-Ju Ahn, MD, PhD, is a Professor of Hematology-Oncology in the Department of Medicine at the Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea. Her research interests include the development of predictive and prognostic markers for personalized lung cancer therapy. She has focused on early clinical trials for drug discovery, the repositioning of targeted therapies, and the development of a genome atlas for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). She has authored more than 400 cancer research publications and received numerous awards in recognition of her contributions to cancer research.
Professor Ahn earned her medical and doctoral degrees from Hanyang University College of Medicine, Seoul, and completed her residency at Hanyang University Hospital, followed by a postdoctoral research fellowship at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. She is a member of the IASLC Educational Committee and an Editorial Board Member of the IASLC’s Journal of Thoracic Oncology. She is also a member of numerous professional associations, including the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), and the Korean Society of Medical Oncology (KSMO), where she served as President. She is currently the Chairperson of the Korean Association for Lung Cancer (KALC).
Professor Wentao Fang is the Chief Director, Department of Thoracic Surgery of Shanghai Chest Hospital (SCH) at Jiaotong University School of Medicine, in Shanghai, China. He is also the Chief, Division of Respiratory Surgery in the Department of Thoracic Surgery, SCH. Professor Fang is a practicing thoracic surgeon whose research focuses on innovative surgery, multi-disciplinary treatments, disease mechanism studies, and development of novel drugs. He is an editor and editorial board member of several leading journals in multiple countries.
Professor Fang serves on the IASLC Staging and Prognostic Factors Group and is also a member of the International Thymic Malignancy Interest Group (ITMIG), the International Society for Diseases of the Esophagus (ISDE), the American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS), and the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (ACTS).
Dr. Jiraporn Setakornnukul is an Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology in the Division of Radiation Oncology, Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University in Bangkok, Thailand. She specializes in radiation oncology, with over 16 years of experience, and is also interested in clinical epidemiology, especially in clinical prediction modeling and decision making in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). She has been published in over 16 international journals.
Dr. Setakornnukul graduated with her doctoral degree from Thammasat University and her medical degree from Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University. She has earned her Board for Radiation Oncology from Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University.
Dr. Yasushi Yatabe holds two titles in the National Cancer Center of Japan: Chief of the Department of Diagnostic Pathology, National Cancer Center Hospital and Chief of the Division of Molecular Pathology, National Cancer Center Research Institute. His research has paved the way for the molecular classification of lung cancer, as he has been instrumental in defining the clinicopathological characteristics of EGFR mutations and has also explored the role of the other driver alterations in lung cancer.
Dr. Yatabe is the past chair of the IASLC Pathology Committee, and the past co-chair of the CAP/IASLC/AMP Molecular Testing Guidelines (2015-2017). He has also served as chapter editor for the 2015 and 2022 WHO classifications of lung tumors and as an editor for the Journal of Thoracic Oncology and Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. Dr Yatabe received the 2017 IASLC Mary J. Matthews Pathology/Translational Research Award for his work.
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About the IASLC: The IASLC is the only global multidisciplinary organization solely dedicated to the eradication of all forms of thoracic cancers in the 21st Century. The IASLC supports and disseminates research findings through its publications, including the Journal of Thoracic Oncology (JTO) and the JTO Clinical and Research Reports (JTO-CRR), which are leading source of scientific research and reviews related to thoracic cancers. The organization hosts the World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC), the largest gathering of multidisciplinary experts on thoracic cancers, as well as other meetings and online and in-person educational programs. The IASLC serves more than 10,000 international members consisting of medical, surgical, and radiation oncologists, pathologists, radiologists, pulmonologists, statisticians, basic scientists, nurses, patient research advocates, patients, and their caregivers. The IASLC also supports collaborative research projects across the spectrum of thoracic oncology. The extensive activities of the IASLC improve the care of patients with thoracic cancers. To learn more, visit www.iaslc.org.