Embracing innovation: highlights in 2015 New Normal Forum for Chinese Young Surgeons in Oncology

The 2015 New Normal Forum for Chinese Young Surgeon in Oncology was held on March 21, in a southeast city of China—Fuzhou, which means a blessed land. The forum was driven by the topic of “new normal” and divided into three sessions.

“New normal”: to be down-to-earth

In the welcome address, President Mingang Ying made a brief introduction for “new normal”. According to him, “new” referred to the innovations both in scientific research and clinical treatment promoted by young surgeons. Among them, the “Notes of Laparoscopic Gastrointestinal Operations” was a good example. Besides, “normal” encouraged young surgeons to keep their feet on solid ground because innovations usually came from daily life. In the end of his address, President Ying called for all the attendees to work together for the boom of Chinese laparoscopic surgeons in gastrointestinal neoplasms (Figure 1).

Figure 1 President Ying was interviewed.

Another president of the forum, Prof. Ziyu Li also attached importance to be down-to-earth, especially in the era of big data with abundant information sprang up. He was also determined to make contribution for scholarship in the field where they were (Figure 2).

Figure 2 Prof. Li was addressing.

Innovation comes: time for young surgeons to show

The first part of the meeting was “the Young Experts Forum”. Seven young surgeons were invited to make speeches.

Dr. Ziyu Li and Dr. Fei Shan shared their experience of gastrointestinal surgery disciplinary construction in Beijing Cancer Hospital. The hospital had been managing 16 projects. The number of patients for their clinical research had been increased to 142 in 2014 from 94 in 2013. Their research was mainly classified into three types with 4 in neoadjuvant radiotherapy or neoadjuvant chemotherapy, 3 in Laparoscopic surgery and 2 in thermo lavation chemotherapy (Figure 3).

Figure 3 Dr. Shan was sharing the experience of gastrointestinal surgery disciplinary construction in Beijing Cancer Hospital.

Dr. Lu Zang, coming from Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, showed the key points of the digestive tract reconstruction after a total gastrectomy under total laparoscopic approach. Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, was a well-known pioneer and leader in the field of laparoscopic surgery in China. Therefore, what Dr. Zang shared was of great value for the other hospitals (Figure 4).

Figure 4 Dr. Zang was delivering his experience in the digestive tract reconstruction after a total gastrectomy under total laparoscopic approach.

Under the theme of “Internationalization, innovation, solidarity and equality”, Dr. Yong Li made an inspiring speech—“stride forward to the bright further of gastrointestinal surgery with exploring spirit in mind”. As one of the chief editors of Handbook of Laparoscopic GI Surgeries, he also shared the stories happened during the writing process (Figure 5).

Figure 5 Dr. Li was sharing interesting stories with the audience.

Another speaker, Dr. Jiang Yu used the surgical video, retrospective data and controlled studies to clarify a current surgical strategy in Nanfang Hospital, that is, the reconstruction of esophagus with jejunum under total laparoscopic approach for gastric cancer (Figure 6). Dr. Jing Zhou suggested a system of early risk assessment for postoperative elderly patients with colorectal cancer when the speed of aging has caught China’s off-guard (Figure 7). Before the tea break, Dr. Stephen Wang, the founder and CEO of AME Publishing Company shared the definition of the word “AME” with attendees—“Academic Made Easy, Excellent and Enthusiastic”. He had also introduced the CNS Platform of AME Publishing Company to the audience-CNS indicates “Content, Network, System” (Figure 8).

Figure 6 Dr. Yu was introducing a current surgical strategy in Nanfang Hospital.

Figure 7 Dr. Zhou was introducing the system of early risk assessment for postoperative elderly patients with colorectal cancer.

Figure 8 Dr. Wang was sharing the stories of AME.

In the second part of the meeting “Clinical Experience Exchange”, distinguished experts such as Drs. Jiaming Zhu, Gang Zhao, Aiwen Wu, Wei Wang, Li Zhang, Kai Ye, Xingfeng Qiu, gave a brief introduction about their remarkable research (Figure 9) to the audience.

Figure 9 Participants were listening and discussing.

The speakers were also invited to answer questions raised by the attendees, which set off an animated discussion in the last session of the forum.

The forum came to an end at 6:00 p.m. on March 21. The meeting was so successful that we believed it would inject new vitality into the development of oncology in China.

Acknowledgements

None.

Footnote

Conflicts of Interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.