• 6/13/2008
  • Newport, PA
  • press release
  • PharmaLive.com

President George W. Bush today appointed world-renowned medical oncologist Waun Ki Hong, M.D., professor and head of the Division of Cancer Medicine at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, to the National Cancer Advisory Board. Hong will serve a six-year term through March 9, 2014.

The function of the NCAB is to advise, assist and make recommendations to the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services and the director of the National Cancer Institute. The NCAB may make recommendations regarding support grants and cooperative agreements, technical and scientific peer review, and functions pertaining to the NCI.

“I am delighted to be selected to serve on the National Cancer Advisory Board by President Bush. This new opportunity will allow me to share my expertise in translational and clinical research, to learn from and collaborate with so many of my distinguished colleagues around the country, and to continue to do my part to shape cancer policy,” said Hong. “My ultimate challenge, both at M. D. Anderson and soon with my work with the NCAB, is very simple: raising the bar in cancer care for all those with this disease.”

Since joining M. D. Anderson faculty in 1984, Hong has made seminal contributions to cancer medicine through his pioneering research in larynx preservation and chemoprevention in head and neck cancer.

Hong, author or co-author of more than 660 scientific publications, has successfully translated numerous key research findings into effective clinical care during his 30-year career in oncology. He was the first to demonstrate the efficacy of retinoids in reversing oral carcinogenesis, and in preventing secondary primary tumors in patients successfully treated for cancers in the head and neck.

When Hong began his research in the early 1980s, he was among just a handful of researchers exploring the concept of chemical intervention in the processes that lead to cancer, termed chemoprevention. Today, many scientists worldwide are pursuing chemoprevention studies for a number of disease, in part because of his innovative work.

Continuing an active research program in chemoprevention with multidisciplinary clinical trials, he is the principal investigator of BATTLE, a first-of-its kind individualized medicine program that provides the foundation for personalized targeted therapy for lung cancer.

“We are delighted that Dr. Hong has been appointed to the National Cancer Advisory Panel both for the honor it brings to him and M. D. Anderson, and because he will have the opportunity to advise on priorities and strengths that will speed up the effort to reduce mortality from cancer,” said M. D. Anderson President John Mendelsohn, M.D. “His many years as a clinical scientist at the forefront of cancer research and his broad experience at the nation’s leading cancer center, with its strong research, clinical and prevention programs, will help set the future agenda for cancer research and care in the United States.”

A native of South Korea, Hong earned his medical degree from the Yon Sei University of Medicine in Seoul, Korea. He joined M. D. Anderson in 1984 as chief of the Section of Head and Neck Medical Oncology. Dr. Hong became chair of the Department of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology in 1993 and became head of M.D. Anderson’s largest clinical division, the Division of Cancer Medicine in 2001.

In 1996, he became the first M. D. Anderson physician to receive an American Cancer Society Clinical Research Professorship, a lifetime honor presented in recognition of his distinguished career. In 2001-2002, he served as president of the American Association for Cancer Research.

His many honors for outstanding achievements in clinical research and patient care include: the AACR’s Joseph H. Burchenal and the Rosenthal Foundation Awards; and the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s most prestigious award, the David A. Karnofsky Award.