Lectureship Awards

Tsuguo Naruke Lectureship Award for Surgery

Dr. Wen-Zhao Zhong is a professor at Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, and Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute. He has an active lung surgery and research practice. He serves as the chief of surgery in the pulmonary oncology department.  

He is the Director of Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute, Director of Lung Cancer Specialist Group of Chinese Society of Clinical Oncology (CSCO), Vice-Director of the Cancer Early Diagnosis and Treatment Group of Chinese Medical Association (CMA), Vice-Director of Youth Commission of Chinese Research Hospital Association (CRHA) and Broad Member of Education Committee of the International Association Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC).  

Dr. Zhong won first prize in National Thoracic Surgical Skill Competition in 2016 and second prize in International Uni-portal Video Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery (VATS) Competition in 2016.  

He graduated from Sun Yat-sen University of Medical Sciences in 1998 and completed his thoracic surgery training in The 3rd Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University and Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital in 2007.  

His main research interests are multidisciplinary synthetic therapy for lung cancer, early screening and diagnostic system for lung cancer, and translational implication of tumor biology. The typical clinical trials led by Dr. Zhong include CTONG 1104-ADJUVANT and CTONG 1103-EMERGING, which have evolved into a new model of perioperative targeted treatment.  

He has contributed to 6 books on cancer and published over 170 articles in peer-reviewed journals, including Lancet Oncol, J Clin Oncol, Nat Commun, J Extracell Vesicles, J Thorac Oncol, etc. He also serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Thoracic Oncology.  

Clifton F. Mountain Lectureship Award for Staging

Clarissa Mathias obtained her medical degree at the Federal University of Bahia, Brazil. She then completed her residency in Internal Medicine at the Medical College of Pennsylvania, USA, where she served as Chief Resident. She completed her Hematology and Oncology fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania, USA. In addition, Dr. Mathias completed a PhD in Internal Medicine at the Federal University of Bahia in 2005 and an MBA in Health Business in 2012 at Fundação Getulio Vargas.

Currently, she is Medical Director at the Núcleo de Oncologia da Bahia, part of the Oncoclinicas Group, Brazil where she is involved in several research protocols and she is the President of GBOT (Brazilian Group of Thoracic Oncology) hosted at LACOG (Latin American Cooperative Group).

Dr. Mathias is board certified in Internal Medicine, Hematology and Oncology by the American Board of Internal Medicine and in Clinical Oncology by the Brazilian Society of Cancerology. She is also a member of several societies such as the American Society of Clinical Oncology, Brazilian Society of Cancerology and the Brazilian Society of Oncology, where she serves as General Secretary. She has co-authored several peer-reviewed papers.

Robert J. Ginsberg Lectureship Award for Surgery

Dr. Isabelle Opitz is the director of the department of thoracic surgery at University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland, and an associate professor for thoracic surgery at the University of Zurich, as well as the chair of the Lung Cancer Center in Zurich. Dr Opitz earned her MD from the Medical School University of Cologne, Germany, after which she trained in general, visceral, vascular, and thoracic surgery at Humboldt-Universität Berlin, Charité Campus Mitte, Germany. She went on to complete her general surgery residency at Cantonal Hospital Fribourg in Switzerland. She completed a clinical fellowship in thoracic surgery at the University of Toronto in Canada before taking a sabbatical for specialized training at the Marie Lannelongue Centre Chirurgical in Paris, France, in 2014.

Dr Opitz’s clinical interests include malignant pleural mesothelioma, chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension, robotic surgery, extended oncological resections, and lung transplantation. Her research interests include malignant pleural mesothelioma, chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension, and non-small cell lung cancer. Dr. Opitz is currently ESTS Treasurer and serves on The Annals of Thoracic Surgery Editorial Board. She also participates on the SNSF National Research Council and IICT Steering committee, ISHLT Advanced Lung Failure and Transplantation Interdisciplinary Network Steering Committee, iMig Board and Program Committee, and as a member of the IASLC Taskforce Mesothelioma.

Dr. Opitz currently lives in Zurich, Switzerland, with her husband and two children. During her free time, she enjoys a variety of sports, including yoga, Pilates, alpine skiing, swimming, and surfing.