Oncology Frontier: As the co-chair of WCLC 2023, Could you please talk about the theme and characteristics of 2023 WCLC conference?
Dr. Hegi-Johnson: I think the first thing to say is that we
are so excited that this conference is returning to the Heart of Asia again,
and we have a very strong showing from the Asian research and academic
community, both in the development of the program and the presentations that
are being presented at this meeting, plus a lot of trials that are really
relevant to this population as well. It is really a mark of the commitment of
IASLC to the Asian region that we are here and engaging with our Asian
colleagues. It is very exciting to see this happening. We have a whole program
of cutting-edge research with a number of practice-changing trials being
presented in our Plenary Sessions, as well as our Presidential Symposium. We
also have an educational program that is tailored to the needs of conditions in
this area. It is very exciting to meet everybody in person, and to see so many
colleagues and friends from across Asia. I was saying yesterday that it is
wonderful to see Asia really pulling together as a family and as a community to
serve the needs of its patients. That is clearly what we are hoping for in this
meeting
Oncology Frontier: The 2023 WCLC has released the results of a number of thoracic cancer studies. Please talk about the studies that you are most interested in? What studies do you think could change clinical practice?
Dr. Hegi-Johnson: I can't talk in too much detail, because
we are going to get those results live in the next few days and I don't want to
steal the thunder of the presenters, but I think it is open knowledge that they
are big studies that are being presented in: lung cancer, particularly
mutation-driven lung cancer, so expect the results of trials using
third-generation TKIs such as osimertinib in the FLAURA study, which is very
exciting; we expect the results of the MARS 2 study, which is a very important
trial in mesothelioma patients, looking at the question of whether patients
should have surgery for mesothelioma; and also in some of our other sessions,
very important new data coming out in the neoadjuvant immunotherapy space. So
we are offering hope, new ideas and strategies for a broad population of
patients across the region.