What will you forget from ASCO?

At ASCO, storytelling surrounds you. Every exhibit has a narrative to push. How many will you remember when you get home? A week from now? A month? 

There are not many that will stick with me. But there’s one thing from ASCO 2023 that is destined for a home in my memories for years to come. And it’s easy to see why.  

As ASCO began, I joined my colleagues to watch the outgoing president’s address. At the start of his term last year, Dr. Eric Winer chose as his theme “Partnering with Patients: The Cornerstone of Cancer Care and Research.” To close his term, he spoke about what that means to him. 

In his speech, Dr. Winer revealed his personal history as a patient. He painted a vivid picture of his early life as a child born with hemophilia—and how his doctors partnered with him and his parents to give them understanding, to help them cope, and to give them hope.  

Later in life, catastrophe: Dr. Winer contracted HIV through the very blood transfusions required to sustain him. Once again, he used this experience to highlight patient partnership: the value of finding understanding and compassionate health care professionals at a time when HIV was little understood and highly stigmatized.  

Dr. Winer spoke with gratitude—not just for those in healthcare who helped him, but for his family, too. He thanked his parents, his wife, his children, his grandchildren. At times, he teared up. I don’t doubt that some in the audience did so right along with him.  

When he concluded, we gave him a standing ovation. We rose to our feet in appreciation of an incredibly accomplished man who has devoted his life to humanity—and who, in being so candid about his life experience, gave the public yet another gift: one of understanding. 

What made Dr. Winer’s speech so compelling? That he suffered hardship? That he showed emotion? It was not these qualities alone. Rather, it was the truth of his humanity. It was the way he shared his personal triumph over illness as part of a broader story of how we all might triumph; how “Partnering with Patients” is not a slogan, but a core conduit that drives his belief in a better version of medicine.  

To paraphrase Dr. Winer himself, this is not to say that we can only tell compelling stories if we have first-hand suffering. But we do need to find the truth in what we are saying, and that starts with how we relate to it through our lived experience. This is the essence of great storytelling—and of being human. 

The 21st century has completely upended the ways in which we receive information. And with the power of AI growing by the day, this transformation is only beginning. Yet Dr. Winer’s address illustrates storytelling principles that will endure, and perhaps even gain greater importance in the years to come: empathy, humanity, honesty. Without these qualities, a story has no meaning, and is not deserving of a home in our memories. 

Story by: Josh Righter

Josh Righter is the Associate Managing Director of Amino, a highly selective division of Calcium+Company focused exclusively on creating stronger bonds between oncology brands and the doctors and patients who need them. Reach out to him if you’d like to see what better storytelling could do for your brand.