Learning Across Borders: Dr. Sheng Yang on Fellowship, Mentorship, and the Future of Oncology

September 22, 2026

Several years ago, Dr. Sheng Yang was encouraged by none other than the “grandfather of oncology in China,” the late Professor Yan Sun, and Professor Yuankai Shi to apply for a joint talent-development program sponsored by the Society for Translational Oncology (STO) and the Chinese Society for Clinical Oncology (CSCO). The goal of the STO-CSCO International Fellowship Program (IFP) is to recognize outstanding young Chinese oncologists while simultaneously addressing China’s need for more cancer specialists with advanced clinical skills.

Dr. Yang came to the attention of the IFP nominators for his work at Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College (also known as the National Cancer Center of China and the National Clinical Research Center for Cancer of China). His daily routine involved cancer patient care and clinical research, including participation in clinical trials that led to several published studies. He also was active in several prestigious organizations, including CSCO, the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer, and the China Anti-cancer Association, which further proved a catalyst for the nomination.

Nearly 10 years later, Dr. Yang says that fellowship proved to be a pivotal experience that forever changed how he approaches his work. In a recent email interview, he reflected on the impact of the fellowship, shared advice for future fellows, and offered his thoughts on future fellowship programs.

Where are you now professionally, and how has your work evolved since your time as an IFP Fellow?

I’m still at the Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, where I work as an associate chief physician in the Department of Medical Oncology. A year after the IFP fellowship, I was promoted from attending physician to associate chief physician, which meant taking on more independent responsibility – seeing patients in the outpatient department, making treatment decisions for complex cases, and consulting on difficult cases from inside and outside the hospital. I’m also a core member of our head and neck oncology MDT and lymphoma MDT teams.

I oversee a team of younger physicians and work closely with them on both clinical care and research. On the research side, I’ve been doing more translational work in partnership with basic scientists at our institute — something the fellowship really pushed me toward. I’ve started several investigator-initiated trials, and a few of the new regimens we tested have actually made their way into routine clinical practice, which is rewarding. I’ve also been a sub-investigator on quite a few registration trials for new drugs, several of which have now been approved in China, giving patients here new treatment options.

Outside of the hospital, I serve on a few academic committees and have published a number of papers, plus co-authored and co-translated several authoritative academic monographs. It’s been a busy few years, but looking back, the fellowship was definitely a turning point.

What lasting impact has the fellowship had on your career, leadership, or way of thinking?

The biggest shift, I’d say, is how I approach clinical problems now. Before the fellowship, I thought mostly like a clinician — what’s the diagnosis, what’s the best treatment?

After spending time with basic scientists and translational researchers in Boston, I started asking different questions: Why is this treatment working for some patients but not others? What’s the mechanism underneath? That shift in perspective has really shaped the research I do now.

I also gained a much deeper understanding of how clinical trials are designed and run – not just the protocols, but the whole ecosystem, from the FDA to the NCI to how academic centers structure their research programs. Seeing how things work in the U.S. gave me a framework to think about how we could improve things back home.

And then there’s the human side. Meeting people like Dr. Joseph Bertino and Dr. Bruce Chabner – legends in the field – and seeing how they think, how they work, how they mentor…that stays with you. It’s not just about knowledge; it’s about the kind of physician and researcher you want to be.

I’ve tried to bring some of that mentorship spirit to how I work with the younger doctors on my team now.

One more thing, the fellowship got me really interested in statistics and data science. I started learning R (for statistical analysis and data science) during the fellowship, and I’ve kept at it ever since. It’s changed how I analyze data and even how I read papers.

What advice would you give current or prospective fellows on how to make the most of a fellowship experience?

Go in with specific questions, not just a vague desire to “learn new things.” Before I went, I made a list of things I wanted to understand better – certain trial designs, specific techniques in immunotherapy research. Having that focus kept me from getting overwhelmed by everything new.

Second, step outside your usual circle and seek out perspectives you don’t get at home. Spend time with people in fields adjacent to yours – basic scientists, biostatisticians, pharmacologists, even hospital administrators. You’d be surprised how much a conversation with someone who approaches cancer from a completely different angle can shift how you think about your own work. Those cross-disciplinary moments are often where the real insights happen.

Third, pay attention to the system, not just the science. How do teams collaborate? How is research funded? How do clinicians and scientists work together? Those are the things you can bring back and adapt to your own environment. The techniques are important, but the way of working is what really changes things long-term.

And finally, stay in touch with the people you meet. The network you build during the fellowship is one of the most valuable things you take away.

From your perspective today, how could fellowship programs like IFP be strengthened or made more valuable for future fellows?

One thing I think would help is more structured, long-term mentorship after the fellowship ends. The program itself is great, but when you come back home and get swallowed by your daily work, it’s easy to lose momentum. Having a mentor who checks in periodically – not just during the fellowship, but for a year or two afterward – could help fellows stay on track with the projects and ideas they started.

I’d also love to see more hands-on, practical training woven into the curriculum. Things like actually writing a trial protocol with feedback from a mentor or getting hands-on experience with bioinformatics tools. It’s one thing to hear a lecture about clinical trial design; it’s another to draft one and have an experienced researcher tear it apart and help you fix it.

Building a stronger alumni network would be valuable too. Right now, fellows go through the program and then mostly go their separate ways. If there were more ways to stay connected – annual meetups, a shared platform, collaborative projects – the collective impact would be much larger. Alumni could mentor new fellows, share resources, and even work together on cross-institutional research.

And since I’ve been looking at the new STOF cervical cancer fellowship proposal recently, I’ll mention this: I think it’s smart to include digital health tools and data science in the curriculum. That’s where the field is going and making sure fellows are comfortable with those tools will serve them well. But it’s important to make sure those tools are accessible – free, open-source options like R and Python, especially for fellows working in resource-limited settings.

Why do fellowships and international exchange still matter-for oncology professionals and ultimately for patients?

Because cancer doesn’t respect borders, and neither do good ideas.

On a practical level, different countries have different strengths. The U.S. is ahead in certain areas of drug development and translational research. China has enormous patient volumes and a fast-growing clinical trial ecosystem. Countries in Africa and Southeast Asia face different challenges entirely – and they’re developing solutions that we in more resourced settings can learn from. When you bring people together across these contexts, everyone learns something.

But it’s more than just exchanging techniques. When you spend time in another healthcare system, you start to see your own system more clearly. You notice things you took for granted, and you see possibilities you hadn’t considered before. That broader perspective makes you a better doctor and a better researcher.

And ultimately, all of this comes back to patients. A doctor who’s been exposed to different ways of thinking, who has connections to researchers around the world, who understands the global state of the science – that doctor is going to give better care. They’ll know about treatments and approaches they might not have otherwise encountered. They’ll be better at designing trials that answer the right questions. They’ll be more creative in solving problems.

In oncology, progress happens fast, and no single country or institution has all the answers. Fellowships are one of the best ways we have to share what we know, learn from each other, and keep moving the field forward – together.