UCSF Health’s Eric J. Small, MD, Elected ASCO President for 2025-2026 Term

Newswise — The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) has elected Eric J. Small, MD, FASCO, to serve as its president for the term beginning in June 2025. A long-time ASCO member and volunteer, Small will take office as president-elect immediately following the ASCO Annual Business Meeting in Chicago on June 3.

“I am deeply honored to serve ASCO as president to advance its mission of conquering cancer,” said Small, UC San Francisco professor of Medicine and Urology. “The next decade will be undoubtedly pivotal for our profession. While we are well into an era of significant advances in diagnostics and therapeutics, cancer care providers are facing increasing administrative burdens and resultant burnout, and access to our tremendous advances is far from equitable, neither at home nor around the world. I look forward to helping ASCO rise to meet these challenges.”

Small is a hematologist-oncologist who is co-leader of the UCSF Prostate Cancer Program, and is deputy director and chief scientific officer of the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center (HDFCCC). He is also a UCSF professor in the departments of Medicine and Urology and holds the Doris and Donald Fisher Distinguished Professorship in Clinical Cancer Research as well as the Stanford W. Ascherman and Norman R. Ascherman Endowed Chair. Small previously served for ten years as chief of the division of Hematology and Oncology in the UCSF department of Medicine. 

He is an international leader in prostate cancer research and has published more than 430 peer-reviewed articles. In 2022, he was selected as a Giants of Cancer Care® award winner, which celebrates oncology pioneers for their groundbreaking achievements in research and clinical practice.

He has extensive ASCO volunteer experience, most notably as prior scientific program committee chair, as founding scientific program chair of the ASCO Genitourinary Cancers Symposium, and as a member of ASCO’s Board of Directors. Small most recently served as a mentor in ASCO’s Leadership Development Program, coaching and advising mid-career members to become leaders in the oncology. He chairs five external advisory boards for other National Cancer Institute-designated cancer centers.

Small’s clinical activities and research focus on advanced prostate cancer, understanding how body mechanisms may create resistance to standard therapies, and the development of new therapeutic approaches for patients with advanced prostate cancer.

Following undergraduate work at Stanford University, Small earned his medical degree at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, where he graduated with honors. While in medical school, he completed a fellowship in pathology. He completed postgraduate residency training in internal medicine at Beth Israel Hospital (Boston), followed by a fellowship in hematology and oncology at UCSF.

About ASCO: Founded in 1964, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, Inc. (ASCO®) is committed to the principle that knowledge conquers cancer. Together with the Association for Clinical Oncology, ASCO represents nearly 50,000 oncology professionals who care for people living with cancer. Through research, education, and promotion of high quality, equitable patient care, ASCO works to conquer cancer and create a world where cancer is prevented or cured, and every survivor is healthy. Conquer Cancer, the ASCO Foundation, supports ASCO by funding groundbreaking research and education across cancer’s full continuum. Learn more at www.ASCO.org, explore patient education resources at www.Cancer.Net, and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube. 

About UCSF Health: UCSF Health is recognized worldwide for its innovative patient care, reflecting the latest medical knowledge, advanced technologies and pioneering research. It includes the flagship UCSF Medical Center, which is a top-ranked specialty hospital, as well as UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals, with campuses in San Francisco and Oakland, Langley Porter Psychiatric Hospital and Clinics, UCSF Benioff Children’s Physicians and the UCSF Faculty Practice. These hospitals serve as the academic medical center of the University of California, San Francisco, which is world-renowned for its graduate-level health sciences education and biomedical research. UCSF Health has affiliations with hospitals and health organizations throughout the Bay Area. Visit https://ucsfhealth.org. Follow UCSF Health on Facebook or on Twitter.