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Elizabeth Mittendorf, MD, PhD, shares her ASCO priorities: expanding trial access, strengthening teams, and advancing global, evidence-based oncology care.
Elizabeth Mittendorf, MD, PhD, MHCM
As she prepares to begin her term as the 2026-2027 President-Elect of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), Elizabeth Mittendorf, MD, PhD, MHCM, is focused on advancing key priorities that include fostering multidisciplinary collaboration, broadening access to clinical trials, and strengthening support for the oncology workforce.
In an interview with OncLive®, Mittendorf outlined her goals as ASCO President-Elect, including how she hopes to boost support for team-based cancer care and reinforce mentorship and workforce retention efforts to ensure ASCO continues to drive global engagement and evidence-based practice.
“Our work is evidence based and reflects the full scope of challenges in cancer care, and we are committed to addressing the needs of our patients—as well as the needs of our members who provide that care,” Mittendorf highlighted in the interview.
Mittendorf is the Robert and Karen Hale Distinguished Chair in Surgical Oncology and the vice chair for Research in the Department of Surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. She also serves as director of the Breast Immuno-Oncology Program, co-leader of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and co-leader of the Breast Program for the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center.
Mittendorf: [I am] excited about this opportunity. In June of 2025, I became the [President-Elect] of ASCO, which will be followed [by] my presidential year. I’m excited about the opportunity to help the organization advance its mission and vision. The mission of the organization is to conquer cancer, and our vision is a world where cancer is prevented or cured and every survivor is healthy. [The] organization has put forward a strategic plan that informs how we’re going to accomplish those goals.
We have 3 priority areas: improving access, [advancing] the profession, and [enhancing] knowledge; we’ll do deeper dives on all those. I’m a surgical oncologist, [and this presidency] presents an opportunity within this organization—which serves oncology professionals—to consider the multidisciplinary aspect of cancer care.
It’s critical that we work together across different disciplines—more broadly than [medical oncology, surgical oncology, and radiation oncology]—I mean the entire team, to achieve optimal patient outcomes. I’m confident the organization will leverage the lens I bring as a surgeon.
Other ASCO areas I’ve been interested in advancing include the organization’s efforts to address the workforce, specifically workforce well-being. [In 2021], the organization outlined a roadmap for institutional changes, highlighting the importance of clarifying issues like workload and research support to continue supporting our oncology professionals.1 ASCO has also developed a strong initiative to engage with our advanced practice provider colleagues, who are critical to the care that patients receive.
[Another] area I believe will be a priority during my presidency is artificial intelligence [AI]. [AI is] advancing at a rapid pace, and particularly in oncology, it presents an opportunity to improve patient outcomes efficiently. It also provides an opportunity to support the workforce, as I mentioned earlier.
[The final] area I’ll highlight is continuing the work of our prior and current presidents to expand ASCO’s global effect. We are an organization that serves over 50,000 professionals from more than 170 countries, and we’re committed to working with our global network to ensure high-quality care here in the United States [U.S.] and support optimal care delivery worldwide.
[ASCO is] committed to its mission to conquer cancer. However, to conquer cancer, we need to ensure all patients have access to high-quality cancer care. We have several programs within the organization that aim to address the many well-documented challenges and barriers that we know exist in ensuring every patient with cancer has access to the best possible care. For many patients, and in many diseases, the best care is access to clinical trials.
The organization is also focused on clinical trials. ASCO has made efforts, particularly in light of the current climate, to ensure that appropriate funding is maintained for the conduct of trials.
Additionally, as an organization, all the work we do is conducted in a manner that abides by all legal requirements of anti-discrimination laws and aligns with the best available knowledge we have in cancer care.
The [fact] that I’m going to be only the [fourth] surgeon to be the president of ASCO informs what I think [some of] my opportunities will be. We have already spoken a bit about [multidisciplinary care], but I will aim to take that further and suggest that there’s an opportunity to consider what optimal oncology teams look like. Having optimal oncology teams taking care of our patients will touch on several other issues, such as efficiency, quality, and access to care.
Additionally, a lot of the work [oncologists] do, both through ASCO and in our clinical practice, will be facilitated by technologies, such as AI. One of the things I hope to have the opportunity to do [in this role] is think about how ASCO can provide support to its members on how best to integrate those [kinds] of technologies into their clinical practice to enhance efficiency and improve care for their patients.
There are so many things that can be done, and ASCO is committed to young investigators. We recognize that these are the oncologists who are going to be caring for our patients, doing the research that informs clinical trials, [and] conducting clinical trials [in the future].
We also recognize that in the current environment—with the drastic cuts to funding for the National Institutes of Health—there is a threat to the preeminence of the U.S. as the global leader in biomedical research. This threat is going to have long-term consequences if our junior folks—arguably those most affected by [these changes]—are not supported at a time in their careers when that support is critically necessary.
For decades, ASCO has supported young investigators through grants. The Young Investigator Awards and Career Development Awards [are] efforts led by our Conquer Cancer Foundation, and ASCO remains deeply committed to [them].
ASCO also remains committed to advocacy, and one aspect of advocacy is research funding. I mentioned that ASCO published a manuscript that provides guidance for leaders—folks who run hospitals and cancer centers—on what they should be doing to better support their faculty—including junior faculty—so [those faculty] can have the meaningful careers they intend to have, which may include participating in research.
On a personal level, I was fortunate early in my career to benefit from mentorship. I didn’t have a single mentor—I had multiple mentors. For example, Kelly K. Hunt, MD, FACS, FSSO, [of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston], was a clinical mentor for me. George Peoples, MD, FACS, [of LumaBridge], was another wonderful mentor for clinical trial design and conduct. Jeffrey Joel Molldrem, MD, [of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center], was my mentor for my PhD, as well as a lab-based mentor.
I’ve tried to adopt the attitude I need to pay that [mentorship] forward. In my own practice and professional efforts, I have several mentees. Alongside my colleague Dr. Terry King, with whom I co-lead the breast surgery program, we’ve established mentoring committees for each of our faculty members to help them navigate early-career challenges. These challenges are a bit different than they were when I was early in my career, but having navigated my own set of challenges helps me guide others in finding their way.
Another important distinction I try to emphasize is between mentorship and sponsorship. That’s another opportunity I look forward to in my various roles, including through ASCO—to sponsor talented young oncology professionals who want to advance their careers and get more involved. I am a strong proponent of mentorship.
Hlubocky FJ, Shanafelt TR, Black AL, et al. Creating a blueprint of well-being in oncology: an approach for addressing burnout from ASCO’s Clinician Well-Being Taskforce. Am Soc Clin Oncol Educ Book. 2021;41:e339-e353. doi:10.1200/ EDBK_320873