Arnoldus Goudsmit, MD, PhD, always had a reputation among his colleagues for being willing to look at a new approach. “I’ve always been involved in advances in medicine,” he once reflected. With Fred Ansfield, MD, he is widely considered to be the motivating force behind the founding of ASCO, and their early conversations about the need for new method for approaching the treatment of cancer (what Dr. Ansfield referred to as “grass roots type work in clinical oncology”) provided the framework for much of the Society’s current work..

Their contributions to the formation of the Society were early praised by founding member Herman A. Freckman, MD, whose comments on the subject were somewhat prescient. In a letter dated November 23, 1964, Dr. Freckman wrote to fellow founder Robert Talley, MD, that, “We all know that the inception of ASCO resulted from the ideas formulated by Fred Ansfield and Arnoldus Goudsmit, which should be fully recorded in the historical record of ASCO.” Those ideas were summarized in the seminal organizational document, “Some Considerations Relative to the Present Status of Clinical Oncology,” which was penned by Dr. Goudsmit and included in the recruitment letters that he and Dr. Ansfield circulated to founding members.

In it, Dr. Goudsmit pointed to shifting attitudes about the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, identifying as the most important “the trend toward a greater patient-related orientation” and noting that, “these changes correlate with the gradual rise and development of a corps of more medically-oriented specialists who have become increasingly more knowledgeable, capable, and active in the nonsurgical and nonradiological management of the cancer patient.” The dearth of professional resources for such specialists was troubling to Dr. Goudsmit and Dr. Ansfield: “Many of these medical, or clinical, oncologists—as they are coming to be known—are finding it very difficult to become and keep themselves suitably acquainted with all significant and pertinent information … within this field.”

Thus the impetus to form ASCO, an organization designed to, in Dr. Freckman’s words, “speak the language of the clinical oncologist.” Dr. Goudsmit, Dr. Ansfield, Dr. Freckman, and Dr. Talley were joined in their efforts to define the Society’s goals and future direction by Harry F. Bisel, MD, William Wilson, MD, and Jane C. Wright, MD. Said Dr. Goudsmit at the first organizational meeting of ASCO, on November 5, 1964, “It is probably no coincidence that the members of the Pro Tem Committee … are all active in the field of chemotherapy of cancer. As chemotherapists, we have met with opportunities to develop extended[,] meaningful relations with our patients[,] and we have been impressed with the results of their comprehensive care.”

It was with communicating the benefits of chemotherapeutic care to their colleagues that the founding members were primarily concerned. “I think the most important single factor behind our meeting is our … overriding conviction that much more can, and hence should, be done for the great majority of the cancer patients than is presently accomplished,” Dr. Goudsmit began his address to ASCO’s founders. “Some of this could be brought about by an increased knowledge of cancer and comprehensive cancer management on the part of presently practicing physicians,” he continued. “Some will have to follow a greater appreciation on the part of the medical profession of the substantial benefits which the best current management may extend to these patients in terms of enhanced well being and extended life span.”

In order to facilitate the dissemination of emerging cancer therapies and add to “the ranks of Clinical Oncology,” as Dr. Goudsmit put it, the founders recognized that they would have to work efficiently in their formulation of ASCO. In early 1964, each of the seven founders was assigned an organizational role.

Plans and training: Dr. Ansfield and Dr. Bisel were charged with outlining a long-range plan for the institution of clinical oncology as a specialty in medicine, with a primary focus on the training of specialists in the field.

Membership: Dr. Freckman was responsible for organizing a Membership Committee and recruiting potential ASCO members.

Clinical science: Dr. Talley developed a comprehensive list of contemporary drugs and their application to the treatment of cancer and used this information to develop scientific programming for the ASCO Annual Meeting and other Society-sponsored educational initiatives.

Secretarial duties: Dr. Wright was elected ASCO’s first Secretary-Treasurer, a position she held until 1967.

Financial and publication: Dr. Wilson was asked to propose a budget that addressed the financial feasibility of a Society journal and related educational materials.

Organizational: Dr. Goudsmit drafted a Society constitution and organzational bylaws.

While the number and scope of ASCO’s departments have grown and evolved in the intervening years, these early “departments” serve as a blueprint for the Society’s current professional model, and the dedication and vision of the founders continue to echo in the work carried out by ASCO’s more than 20,000 members.