ASCO Benefits for Trainees: Networking, Mentorship, and Career Growth
Key Points
- Major oncology conferences provide trainees with early exposure to practice-changing data and evolving standards of care.
- Networking at conferences can directly support career development, including mentorship, research collaboration, and job opportunities.
Sawyer Bawek, DO, and Agrima Mian, MD, both fellows at Cleveland Clinic, met during the 2026 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting (ASCO 2026) to discuss the benefits of attending major medical conferences for oncologists, particularly those in training.
Attending conferences like ASCO 2026 offers an opportunity for oncologists to be amongst like-minded peers, which can facilitate the transfer of knowledge on new research and also expose trainees to different practices and healthcare processes across the world.
In a practical sense, attending oncology conferences allows oncologists at any stage of their career to network with friends, collaborators, and mentors, and to engage with related fields like drug developers or patient advocates. Depending on the stage of training, these contacts may also help trainees explore job opportunities, said Dr. Mian.
Given the rapid pace of change across oncology specialties, Dr. Bawek emphasized that attending conferences and hearing groundbreaking data updates firsthand prepares trainees to incorporate practice-changing updates as soon as they return to their place of practice.