Distinguished Service Awards

The IASLC Distinguished Service Awards recognize the "luminaries" in the field of lung and thoracic cancers- those who are further along in their careers and are more high-level in their field of work- for their outstanding contributions to the field and the IASLC. On behalf of the IASLC Board of Directors, we thank you for your nominations for these important awards.

Applications for the 2025 Distinguished Service Awards are now closed.

Let us know if you're interested in submitting a nomination next year here

Paul A. Bunn, Jr. Scientific Award

The Paul A. Bunn, Jr. Scientific Award recognizes an IASLC scientist for a lifetime achievement of scientific contributions to thoracic cancer research. Dr. Paul Bunn’s studies set worldwide standards for the treatment of lung cancer and identified issues of natural history and biomarkers of prognosis and therapy selection. Robert Ginsberg, MD, a thoracic surgeon from Toronto, Canada, earned the first award in 1994 for his contributions to the surgical treatment of early stage lung cancer. Initially named the Scientific Award, the IASLC renamed the award in honor of Dr. Bunn after he served as its executive director and CEO for 10 years.

2024 Award recipient

Julie R. Brahmer

Marilyn Meyerhoff Professor of Thoracic Oncology, Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center

United States

Julie R. Brahmer, MD, MSc, is the Director of the Thoracic Oncology Program and Professor of Oncology at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins. She serves as Co-Leader of the Cancer Immunology Program. Additionally, she directs the Kimmel Cancer Center on the Johns Hopkins Bayview campus, is a co-principal investigator of the Johns Hopkins National Clinical Trials Network, and helps direct all oncology cooperative group activities on the Johns Hopkins campuses. Dr. Brahmer is an international leader in lung cancer clinical trials research with particular expertise in drug development for thoracic malignancies and immunotherapy.

Dr. Brahmer received her undergraduate degree in Chemistry and Philosophy in 1989 from Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, and went on to receive her medical degree from the University of Nebraska Medical Center, College of Medicine in 1993. After completing her internship and residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Utah, she later became the Chief Medical Resident until moving to Baltimore to complete her fellowship in Medical Oncology at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins.

Dr. Brahmer's research interests include leading early-phase immunotherapy trials, international phase III studies of immunotherapies in lung cancer, and investigator-initiated trials evaluating combination immunotherapies. She was integral to the development and FDA approval of nivolumab for second-line treatment for advanced NSCLC as well as first-line treatment of pembrolizumab for PD-L1 high NSCLC. She co-leads ASCO, NCCN, and SITC toxicity guideline development for these national and international organizations.

Dr. Brahmer is active in IASLC, ASCO, AACR, SITC, and lung cancer patient advocacy organizations, serving on their scientific advisory boards. She has been an active member of IASLC since 2000. She has served on various committees, particularly during her three years as a member of the IASLC board.

Paul A. Bunn, Jr. Scientific Award Winners

2023: Suresh Ramalingam, United States
2022: James Yang, Taiwan
2021: David P. Carbone, USA
2020: Joan Schiller, USA
2019: Charles Rudin, USA
2018: Charles Swanton, UK
2017: Tony Mok, Hong Kong
2016: Roy Herbst, USA
2015: Yi-Long Wu, China

IASLC Scientific Award Winners

2013: David R. Gandara, USA
2011: Nagahiro Saijo, Japan
2009: Bruce Johnson and Thomas J. Lynch, USA
2007: Frances Shepherd, Canada
2005: Thierry LeChevalier, France
2003: Paul van Houtte, Belgium
2000: Daniel C. Ihde, USA
1997: John D. Minna, USA
1994: Robert Ginsberg, Canada

The Adi F. Gazdar IASLC Merit Award

THE ADI F. GAZDAR IASLC MERIT AWARD

In 2019, the IASLC Board of Directors unanimously voted to elevate its recognition of Dr. Adi F. Gazdar to one of its highest honors by renaming the IASLC Merit Award for Dr. Gazdar. The Adi F. Gazdar IASLC Merit Award proudly recognizes and honors Dr. Gazdar’s lifelong dedication to lung cancer research through his pioneering work in molecular pathology. The recipient of the annual Adi F. Gazdar IASLC Merit Award is chosen by the IASLC Executive Committee and is announced and recognized at the annual World Conference on Lung Cancer.

2024 Award Recipient

Kwun Fong

SMO and Clinical Manager of Pulmonary Malignancy Unit, The Prince Charles Hospital

Australia

Kwun Fong was born in Malaysia, and his parents worked hard to provide education for their children. Recognizing local constraints, his parents sent Kwun to an English boarding school where he was fortunate enough to be selected for the University of London Medical School, graduating in 1984 with the Brackenbury Prize in Medicine, Herbert-Allingham Scholarship in Surgery, Lee Prize in Family Medicine and Mark of Distinction, for Medicine, Pathology and Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics.

Specialist training and PhD studies in Australia led to a love of research in lung cancer. During this learning journey, he received wonderful supervision from scientists, clinicians, and researchers, which led him to receive the 1992 CIG Best Paper Prize TSQ, 1993 Young Investigator (YI) Award TSANZ, 1993 Annual Encouragement Award TSQ, 1994 YI Travel Award 7th WCLC, 1994 Neupogen YI Award Clinical Oncological Soc of Aust, 1996 American Society of Clinical Oncology YI Award.

Following his first WCLC, Kwun Fong was inspired by the leaders of IASLC and the scientists he met. This inspiration led him to UT Southwestern, where he underwent transformative post-doctoral training under the guidance of the legendary John Minna and Adi Gazdar. The comprehensive clinical research translation he experienced there sparked his imagination about how he could make a difference in his home country.

During his time in Australia, Kwun Fong made significant contributions to the field of lung cancer research. His efforts were recognized with the 1999 TW White Prize, TSQ, a 2005 Queensland Smart State Clinical Research Fellowship, a 2007 QCF Clinical Research Fellowship, a 2007-11 NHMRC Practitioner Fellowship, and the 2006 TPCH Excellence in Clinical Research Award. As the Clinical Manager of the Pulmonary Malignancy Unit at The Prince Charles Hospital, he oversaw the provision of multidisciplinary (MDT) care, a model that was later recognized with National Hospital Demonstration funding. His consistent contributions to the IASLC Staging Project since the 7th Edition revision, TCGA, Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes Collaboration, and US NCI Sherlock project further demonstrate his commitment to advancing the field of lung cancer research.

The Adi F. Gazdar IASLC Merit Award Winners

2023: Myung-Ju Ahn, South Korea
2022: Valerie Rusch, United States

IASLC Merit Award Winners

2021: Michael Boyer, Australia
2020: Alex Adjei, USA
2019: Hisao Asamura, Japan
2018: Francoise Mornex, France
2017: Ramon Rami-Porta, Spain
2016: Keunchil Park, South Korea; Sumitra Thongprasert, Thailand
2015: Harvey Pass, USA
2013: James Jett, USA
2011: David Ball, Australia
2009: Giorgio V. Scagliotti, Italy
2007: Peter Goldstraw, UK
2005: Harubumi Kato, Japan
2003: Paul A. Bunn Jr., USA
2000: Desmond N. Carney, Ireland
1997: Heine H. Hansen, Denmark
1994: Norman Bleehen, UK; Yukio Shimosato, Japan
1991: Clifton F. Mountain, USA

Mary J. Matthews Pathology/Translational Research Award

The Mary J. Matthews Pathology/Translational Research Award recognizes an IASLC scientist for a lifetime achievement in pathology and translational research of thoracic malignancies. Dr. Matthews served as a senior investigator and pathologist at the National Cancer Institute’s Medical Oncology Branch. She was pioneer in the foundation of the histologic subtypes of lung cancer and the relationship between those subtypes and the clinical course of lung cancer. Geno Saccommano, MD, PhD, a physician and cancer researcher who dedicated his life to developing a pioneering technique to assist in the early detection of lung cancer was the first to receive the award in 1994.

2024 Award Recipient

Erik Thunnissen

Pulmonary Pathologist & Researcher, Amsterdam University Medical Center

Netherlands

Dr. Erik Thunnissen is retired and currently a research associate at the Department of Pathology, Amsterdam Medical University, Location VUmc. After his training as a pathologist (1982) and his PhD (1987) on an AI topic, ‘avant la lettre,’ he followed a course on clinical epidemiology in Maastricht.

In 1992, Dr. Thunnissen initiated the Dutch Pulmonary Pathology Working Group and the Dutch Molecular Pathology Working Group. He published a model for quantitative immunohistochemistry with different epitope concentrations, demonstrating the relation between epitope concentration and staining intensity. He has taken responsibility for pulmonary molecular external quality assessment programs for the European Society of Pathology, subsequently supporting UKNEQAS [English organization for EQA in tissue sections].

Dr. Thunnissen was a representative for the IASLC in the first (2013) and second (2018) versions of the molecular pathology guidelines for the selection of patients suitable for targeted therapy.

Notably, Dr. Thunnissen looks at the actual morphology of lung cancer instead of ‘pattern recognition.’ This is exemplified by two clinically relevant issues. Firstly, by showing that invasion assessment in pulmonary adenocarcinomas has a poor reproducibility within the pathology panel of IASLC as wells as between other pathologists practicing all over the world. Recently, he uncovered the reason for this low performance, which necessitated a modified classification of pulmonary adenocarcinomas. In the largest reproducibility study to date, the modified classification was:

Shown to have much higher reproducibility than the pattern recognition from the WHO classification.
Shown to have a much lower variation in pT staging than the WHO classification.
The difference between the presence and absence of invasion was supported by several orthogonal biomarkers such as proliferation, tumor mutational burden, and whole-transcriptomic analysis.

The other morphologic aspect is that he does not believe in STAS. Lastly, he initiated a currently ongoing validation study for the modified classification with an even larger number of pathologists.

Mary J. Matthews Pathology/Translational Research Award Winners

2023: Fernando Lopez-Rios, Spain
2022: Rafael Rosell, Spain
2021: Deepali Jain, India
2020: Caroline Dive, UK
2019: Andrew Nicholson, UK
2018: Ignacio Wistuba, USA
2017: Yasushi Yatabe, Japan
2016: Keith Kerr, UK
2015: Ming Tsao, Canada
2013: Tetsuya Mitsudomi, Japan
2011: Philip Hasleton, UK
2009: Masayuki Noguchi, Japan
2007: Fred R. Hirsch, USA
2005: Elisabeth Brambilla, France
2003: Adi Gazdar, USA
2000: Yukio Shimosato, Japan
1997: William D. Travis, USA
1994: Gene Saccomanno, USA

Joseph W. Cullen Prevention/Early Detection Award

The Joseph W. Cullen Prevention/Early Detection Award recognizes an IASLC scientist for a lifetime achievement in the prevention of thoracic malignancies. Dr. Cullen served as the Deputy Director of the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Division of Cancer Prevention and Control. He created the Smoking, Tobacco and Cancer Program at the NCI in 1982. The winner of the first award in 1994 was Jesse Steinfeld, MD, the U.S. Surgeon General when the National Cancer Act of 1971 was enacted into federal law.

2024 Award Recipient

Claudia Henschke

Professor of Radiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

United States

Dr. Henschke joined the Department of Radiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in 2010 as Professor of Radiology. She received a B.A. and M.S. in mathematical statistics from Southern Methodist University, a Ph.D. in computer science and mathematical statistics from the University of Georgia, and an M.D. from Howard University. She completed her residency and fellowship training at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, Harvard Medical School, where she became a faculty member. Before joining Mount Sinai, Dr. Henschke was a Professor of Radiology at Weill Cornell Medical College.

In 1992, Dr. Henschke started the first low-dose CT screening study, the Early Lung Cancer Action Project (ELCAP), reported in the Lancet on July 9, 1999. Since then, she has led city, state, national, and international projects implementing lung screening, including smoking cessation advice, and providing invaluable research in over 400 publications. Dr. Henschke developed and heads the International Early Lung Cancer Action Program (I-ELCAP), an international collaborative group of physicians and scientists who are experts on lung cancer-related issues. I-ELCAP sites have screened over 90,000 people at 82 institutions in 10 countries around the world. This rich and internationally diverse collaboration has provided continued improvement of lung screening combined with smoking cessation and the added benefits of early detection of cardiovascular, breast, and other diseases that can be identified on the CT scan. Henschke donated the I-ELCAP’s computer management system to be translated into an open-source system (VAPALS-ELCAP), which is implemented by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs for CT screening for lung cancer for Veterans. The success of the I-ELCAP program has led to another multi-national study which is going, The Initiative for Early Lung Cancer Research on Treatment (IELCART). Its goal is to assess the efficacy of various early lung cancer treatments in the context of clinical care.

Joseph W. Cullen Prevention/Early Detection Award Winners

2023: William Evans, Canada
2022: Edward F. Patz Jr., United States
2021: Gabriella Sozzi, Italy
2020 Pan-Chyr Yang, Taiwan
2019: Denise Aberle, USA
2018: Nise Yamaguchi, Brazil; Fadlo Khuri, Lebanon
2017: Carolyn Dresler, USA
2016: Ugo Pastorino, Italy
2015: Jacek Jassem, Poland
2013: Pieter Postmus, Netherlands
2011: John Field, UK
2009: Stephen Lam, Canada
2007: James Mulshine, USA
2005: Nigel Gray, Australia
1997: Clifford Douglas, USA
1994: Jesse Steinfeld, USA