At the opening general assembly of the World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC) 2023, four leading figures in the thoracic tumor field were recognized. The International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) announced the winners of the IASLC Distinguished Service Award:

– Dr Myung-Ju Ahn from Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine in South Korea received the IASLC Merit Award.

– Dr Suresh Ramalingam from Emory University’s Winship Cancer Institute in the USA received the IASLC Paul A. Bunn, Jr. Scientific Award.

– Dr Fernando Lopez-Rios from 12 de Octubre University Hospital in Madrid, Spain was honored with the Mary J. Matthews Pathology/Translation Research Award.

– Dr. William Evans from McMaster University in Canada received the IASLC Joseph W. Cullen Prevention/Early Detection Award .

At the 2023 WCLC conference site, Dr. Ramalingam was interviewed by Oncology Frontier and shared his wining statement on receiving the award.

The Paul A. Bunn, Jr. Scientific Award, bestowed by IASLC, aims to honor the lifelong scientific contributions of IASLC scientists to thoracic cancer research. Dr. Ramalingam’s research focuses on developing new treatment strategies for lung cancer patients. His team developed innovative treatment regimens for lung cancer patients with EGFR mutations, which led to the FDA’s approval of a third-generation EGFR inhibitor for metastatic non-small cell lung cancer. Additionally He also led clinical and translational research on new immunotherapies for treating lung cancer , resulting in over 400 published, peer-reviewed publications. He also served on the IASLC board of directors (2017-2021) and the NCI Thoracic Malignancy Steering Committee (2012-2021). He is currently the chief editor of the journal 《Cancer》 published by the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Dr. Ramalingam: “My name is Suresh Ramalingam, a thoracic oncology physician. I‘’m  the Executive Director of Emory University’s Winship Cancer Institute.

I am deeply honored to receive the Paul A. Bunn, Jr. Scientific Award from the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer. Dr. Bunn was a leader who made significant contributions to thoracic oncology and IASLC. To receive an award named after him, recognizing the work I’ve done in my career, is profoundly meaningful to me. While there is still much work ahead, I am proud of the collective achievements we’ve made in the fight against lung cancer, giving hope to patients for long-term survival, even in advanced stages.”