Since January 2003, the year JNCCN was first published, the editor-in-chief has written monthly editorials, most recently under the “Oncology Watch” title. From the founder of JNCCN, Dr. Rodger Winn, to his co-editor-in-chief Dr. Christopher Desch, to Dr. Harold Burstein, and for the past 10 years Dr. Margaret Tempero, the editor-in-chief has written personal, reflective, thoughtful, and engaging editorials on a wide range of topics related to oncology.
I plan to continue this tradition, but with modifications. I believe that my primary role, together with the editorial board and JNCCN staff, is to help guide JNCCN into ever-higher prominence by publishing the most impactful research articles and reviews. To do that, we need to engage an ever-wider author and reader audience. Although I may harbor personal opinions or think I have a solution to a particular oncologic topic, I believe that a heterogeneous array of voices and views, including in the editorial section, will only strengthen JNCCN and expand our reach.
Therefore, in addition to the traditional personal essay form, I will attempt some new approaches in the “Oncology Watch” section. I would like to invite a diverse group of providers to write about their thoughts on a wide range of topics, from care delivery and quality to education and global health care. I would also like to speak with you, to find out about your experience with pressing unanswered questions in your area of expertise, your opinions or views on current oncology dilemmas, ways you believe our field needs to improve, or how you have experienced mentorship and what advice you may have for others. If you have opinions that are not entirely in line with the standard or novel ways of viewing a problem in oncology, I would love to hear from you. So, if you get a random email from me, don’t be surprised, as I try to intersperse these new topics throughout the issues!
And now for a short, personal reflection:
At a recent conference in Paris—VivaTech 2024—Elon Musk said that in the future, “if you want to do a job that’s kinda like a hobby, you can do a job. But otherwise, AI [artificial intelligence] and the robots will provide any goods and services that you want.”1 He went on to ask how we would be fulfilled and whether we would find meaning in our life.
Like many, I find such thought experiments jarring and uncomfortable, but my immediate reaction when reading this was: this is not the future of oncology. That is not to say that AI and its many subtypes won’t be an integral part of oncology. In fact, they will likely be an enormous help and improve patient care. Both the NCCN 2024 Annual Conference and ASCO 2024 included multiple presentations on the use of AI, from early detection of lung cancer, to improving patient navigation of vulnerable populations, to predicting recurrence in breast and prostate cancer, to the development of oncology summaries, to improving enrollment on clinical trials. This is great news for our patients, and once we learn how to leverage AI and integrate it into our daily routine, I believe the quality of the care we deliver will be enhanced.
However, will AI and robots put their hand on a patient’s knee or shoulder when delivering bad news? Will they size up the room and modulate the discussion accordingly? Will they be able to run a family meeting in the hospital and help the patient and their family weigh the pros and cons of various treatments and the tradeoffs with quality-of-life? Would a patient want to go through an illness with an AI-powered robot as their health care provider? I doubt it; I know I would not.
The future is coming, and we need to embrace it. AI may give us the opportunity we crave to spend meaningful time with our patients, taking away mundane tasks we find annoying, and actually enriching the patient–provider relationship. But as a physician, I am bullish on our profession and believe it will continue to be fulfilling and meaningful.
Reference
Murphy Kelly S. Elon Musk says AI will take all our jobs. CNN. May 23, 2024. Accessed June 1, 2024. Available at: https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/23/tech/elon-musk-ai-your-job/index.html
DANIEL M. GEYNISMAN, MD
Daniel M. Geynisman, MD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Hematology/Oncology at Fox Chase Cancer Center and the Division Chief of Genitourinary Medical Oncology, as well as the Vice Chair for Quality Improvement. He is also the Editor-in-Chief of JNCCN as of May 2024.
Dr. Geynisman clinically sees patients with all urologic malignancies—bladder, kidney, prostate, penile, testicular, and adrenal cancers. His research interests focus on health outcomes evaluations in urologic malignancies, quality improvement in oncology, and new drug development for genitourinary malignancies. He is an active investigator on a number of past and ongoing clinical trials, with a particular focus in bladder and kidney cancer, and he has co-authored more than 130 manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals.
He serves on the NCCN Guidelines Panel forTesticular Cancer, is on ASCO’s Ethics Committee, and is the prior medical oncology editor for Urologic Oncology.
Dr. Geynisman earned his medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and completed a residency in internal medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, serving an additional year as chief resident. He then went on to a fellowship in hematology/oncology at the University of Chicago, serving as a chief fellow in his final year of training.
