After 13 years as chair of the BTOG Steering Committee, Sanjay Popat has officially handed over the reins to Tom Newsom-Davis. In a heartwarming speech at BTOG’s 23rd Annual Conference, Denis Talbot, Chair of BTOG’s Board of Trustees gave thanks for Sanjay’s vision, leadership and impact on the thoracic oncology community.
Since Sanjay became chair BTOG has been proud to:
- Hold 12 annual conferences – BTOG’s flagship event, where attendance has increased by 65% with a record attendance in 2025.
- Welcome over 15,000 attendees to BTOG education events during that time.
- Seen 2,500 abstracts of excellent work, with another record broken in 2025.
- Grow its membership by over 400% to 3,468 today.
- Grow our contribution to and representation on NICE appraisals from a small handful in 2013 to over 60 today, of which Sanjay represents 25%.
- Have continued to educate and inform the thoracic oncology community through the uncertain times of the COVID pandemic still deliver a virtual annual conference.
- Have introduced webinars in 2020, educating over 3,500 healthcare and industry professionals.
- Introduced podcasts in 2021 (led by Tom Newsom-Davis), with over 23,000 total downloads across 30 podcasts.
- Set up three Special Interest Groups – Thymic Malignancies, LCNEC and Research Group. Sanjay is a member of all three and chairs the Research Group.
Along side these incredible accomplishments, Sanjay has remained above all always supportive and always kind. Our Executive Team, Dawn and Gina, shared a few words that come to mind when they think of Sanjay:
- Committed and consistent
- Respectful and considerate
- Genuine and sincere
- Inspirational and passionate
- Knowledgeable and willing to share that knowledge
Dawn says, “I have learnt a lot from Sanjay over the last 12 years – it has been an absolute pleasure and honour to work closely with Sanjay – I will miss our regular ‘BTOG catch-ups’ but thankfully I will still have ‘Sanjay-time’ via the BTOG Research Group! Sanjay’s commitment to BTOG and the BTOG team never wavered over those 12 years. Thank you, Sanjay, from all of us who hold BTOG close to our hearts”.
