DUARTE, Calif., January 17, 2012 — Smita Bhatia, M.D., M.P.H., the Ruth Ziegler Chair in Population Sciences at City of Hope, has been elected to serve on the board of directors of the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO). Her four-year term will begin during ASCO’s annual meeting at Chicago in early June.
As a board member, Bhatia will help develop ASCO’s strategic plan and policies, approve clinical practice guidelines and opinions and review chair and member appointments to ASCO committees, subcommittees and task forces as well as monitor implementation and effectiveness of the society’s programs.
Bhatia was selected to join the board after a rigorous nomination process, followed by a general election among all ASCO members.
“It is a great honor and privilege to be elected onto the ASCO board,” Bhatia said. “I look forward to collaborating and working with my colleagues on the board to improve clinical research and the standard of care for the treatment and prevention of cancers, particularly in the fields of pediatric oncology, cancer survivorship and disparities research.”
Bhatia is also on ASCO’s Cancer Survivorship Committee. She has served on its Cancer Prevention Committee and the editorial board of its official journal, the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
A member of the society since 1996, Bhatia is known for her research on cancer outcomes and the long-term health of cancer survivors. She chaired the Children’s Oncology Group (COG) Late Effects Committee from 2000 to 2008, leading and facilitating research related to long-term complications among survivors of childhood cancers, and is currently the associate chair for COG.
Bhatia has published papers in numerous prominent journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of the American Medical Association, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Nature Medicine, Cancer Cell and Blood. She has earned numerous honors and awards for her research, including the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Scholar in Clinical Research Award, Frank Oski Lectureship and election into the American Society for Clinical Investigation.
