W. Dial Black Lecture Series Bringing Cancer Researcher to Baylor

Follow us on Twitter: @BaylorUMediaCom

An international leader in medical oncology is coming to the Baylor University campus.

Dr. Waun Ki Hong, professor and Head of the Division of Cancer Medicine at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, will present the endowed W. Dial Black Family Lecture at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 20, in room B.110 of the Baylor Sciences Building on the Baylor campus. A reception will precede the lecture at 5:45 p.m. on the second floor A-wing elevator lobby.

Hong's lecture will discuss "The Landscape of Cancer Prevention in the 21st Century."

Hong is considered the authority on the treatment and prevention of head, neck and lung cancer. His expertise spans more than 36 years of advances in translational and clinical cancer research. He led the landmark Veterans Administration Cooperative induction chemotherapy study for laryngeal preservation, which changed the way the disease is managed and served as a model for organ preservation for bladder and many other cancers. His current chemoprevention and treatment research program includes multidisciplinary clinical trials working to improve the morbidity and mortality of head, neck and lung cancers.

In addition to his research and clinical work, Hong has trained and mentored hundreds of young physicians and scientists from around the world and has worked to increase international collaboration in cancer research.

Among many honors, Hong is an American Cancer Society Professor and the Samsung Distinguished University Chair in Cancer Medicine. He also was elected president of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) in 2001. He has authored more than 660 scientific publications and edited 11 books.

The inaugural lecture of the W. Dial Black Family Lectures was given by Dr. George Pettit, Regents Professor in the department of chemistry and biochemistry at Arizona State University, in 2008.

The endowment was set up by Sadie Jo Black, a survivor of two cancer occurrences, and provides distinguished lecturers focusing in cancer, Parkinson's disease or other major diseases. The forum allows students and faculty to interact with professional researchers.

Black graduated from Baylor University in 1950 and was an assistant professor in the Family and Consumer Sciences Department at Baylor, retiring in 1992. She has established three endowed scholarships.

For more information, contact Dr. Kevin Pinney, professor of chemistry at Baylor, at (254) 710-4117.

by Susie Typher, student newswriter, (254) 710-6805