Newswise — The International Society of Gastrointestinal Oncology (ISGIO), a not-for-profit global educational organization committed to gastrointestinal oncology, announced that Weijing Sun, MD, FACP, has been elected the society’s next leader. Dr. Sun serves as The University of Kansas Cancer Center’s director of the division of Medical Oncology and associate director for clinical research.

“We are proud to welcome Dr. Sun as the new president-elect of ISGIO,” said Mike Hennessy Jr., the president and CEO of MJH Life Sciences™, the parent company of ISGIO. “Dr. Sun has a wealth of experience in GI oncology and we believe he will lead ISGIO wonderfully.”

Dr. Sun is well-known as a national and international expert in gastrointestinal cancers. He has served as a member of the ECOG-ACRIN GI core committee and on the National Cancer Institute’s GI Cancers Steering Committee Hepatobiliary Task Force. He has been principal investigator for many investigator-initiated studies and pharmaceutical companies’ trials and served on the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) scientific program committee.

Serving as the head of the colorectal cancer education committee of the 2020 ASCO annual meeting, Dr. Sun also holds the position of deputy editor-in-chief of the Journal of Hematology & Oncology and associate editor of the Journal of Practical Oncology (China). He also is editor-in-chief of the Multidisciplinary Therapy of GI Malignancies textbook and has been recognized on U.S. News & World Report's American Top Doctors list.

“It is my greatest honor to be the president-elect of ISGIO, the prestigious society of international oncologists in the GI cancer field,” said Dr. Sun. “Within the field of GI malignancies, it becomes very challenging to make sure the knowledge and advances are being applied to patient care in a timely and accurate fashion. It is equally important to train and mentor our fellows and young physicians to handle these challenges, stay on top of translational research as investigators and to treat patients at the personal level. With the guidance from ISGIO experts, leaders and superb work of our staff, ISGIO will play an important and leading role in facilitating these challenges in academics, communities and industries.”

As ISGIO president, Dr. Sun will support the organization’s mission and help develop the scientific agenda and faculty for future conferences. After his two-year term as president-elect, he will take over as president from Ghassan Abou-Alfa, MD, medical oncologist from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

“Dr. Sun is the perfect candidate to succeed me as the president of ISGIO,” said Dr. Abou-Alfa. “I am looking forward to working with him over the next two years, and I believe he will do a great job leading the society.”

Established in 2003, the International Society of Gastrointestinal Oncology promotes excellence in education, research and patient care in the rapidly evolving management of gastrointestinal cancer. The organization also provides an authoritative forum for communicating cutting-edge research and practice issues in gastrointestinal oncology.