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Letter from the Editor
On behalf of my Associate Editor, Dr. Nate Pennell, I welcome you to the 2015 American Society of Clinical Oncology
(ASCO) Annual Meeting. It is my heartfelt privilege as well to present to you the 35th volume of the NLM-indexed ASCO
Educational Book. The theme of the 2015 Annual Meeting is “Illumination and Innovation: Transforming Data into Learning.”
The Cancer Education Committee, helmed by Dr. John Vernon Cox, has assembled a comprehensive education program that
illustrates how creative transformation of data into knowledge, and knowledge into learning, can change the lives of our patients
in a sustainable and scalable manner.
Long after the halls of McCormick Place have emptied and the echoes of our colleagues’ lectures have faded from our ears, the
2015 ASCO Educational Book will remain as an enduring source of this shared knowledge. We are indebted to the over 100
authors who generously took the time to write and, in some cases, revise, the articles in this volume. In addition, I want to
recognize our truly remarkable volunteer peer reviewers who dedicated their time and effort to careful, thorough, and thoughtful
reviews. I strongly believe this collaborative effort has resulted in articles that are not only highly informative, but worthy of
indexing in the National Library of Medicine. Thank you for your efforts and for your commitment to education and ASCO’s
mission. Special thanks also go out to Lindsay Pickell at ASCO, for whom none of this could ever have been put together.
In the spirit of this year’s theme, Nate and I have included in this printed volume a curated selection of articles that most
embody the transformative power of data into learning. As with the 2014 ASCO Educational Book, this edition includes invited
articles from thought leaders who played leadership roles in ASCO’s many thematic and specially focused meetings. Each invited
author was tasked with bringing forward an article that represented their area of oncology and also spoke to one of the major
themes of the 2015 Annual Meeting. I am proud to say each author delivered high-caliber work that will stand as a major
contribution to the fıeld of oncology.
It is our honor to invite you to read through the exceptional contributions that comprise the 2015 volume, only a selection of
which are found in the print edition. For access to all of the 2015 ASCO Educational Book articles, as well as access to past
volumes, please visit www.asco.org/edbook.
Nate and I welcome your feedback and suggestions on how we can improve the content, so please contact us at edbook@asco.org
with your comments.
Don S. Dizon, MD
Editor
asco.org/edbook | 2015 ASCO EDUCATIONAL BOOK 1