History of BASO ~ the Association for Cancer Surgery

The British Association of Surgical Oncology was founded in 1971 to further the philosophy that the management of malignant disease was becoming a multidisciplinary challenge. The steering committee organised the first scientific meeting in summer 1973 at which Ronald Raven was confirmed as the first President of the Association. After the James Ewing Society - Society for Surgical Oncology, BASO ~ ACS is the second oldest national surgical oncology association in the world.

In 2003 the Association changed its name to BASO ~ The Association for Cancer Surgery and expanded its membership to allow specialist nurses and other allied professionals to join the Association. BASO~ACS now has over 500 members drawn from the UK and around the world.

The Association has now run over 60 National Meetings. These are held annually at the Royal College of Surgeons of England, or another venue in the UK. In addition, the Association has met on numerous occasions with other national surgical oncology associations including the German, Indian and Sri Lankan societies.

The Association has close links to the European Society of Surgical Oncology, which was founded in 1981, and now offers its members affiliate membership of ESSO. BASO ~ ACS and ESSO jointly own the European Journal of Surgical Oncology with its current publishers, Elsevier. The first issue of the EJSO was produced in March 1985 and the Associations continue to have a representative on the Editorial Board.