During the 2025 World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC), several IASLC members took the stage in Barcelona for the inaugural WCLC Talent Showcase. This recent addition to the WCLC program aims to celebrate the unique talents and individuality of its global community.

Among those who performed were Henry Park, MD, MPH, and Andreas Rimner, MD, who performed a classical instrumental ensemble on the violin and piano during the Opening Plenary session.

Drs. Park and Rimner will return to the spotlight at WCLC 2026 in Seoul, Republic of Korea. In a recent interview, Dr. Park, Professor of Therapeutic Radiology at Yale School of Medicine, shared his experience performing in Barcelona last year and what he is looking forward to at the upcoming meeting in Seoul.

ILCN: During WCLC 2025, you performed in a classical instrumental ensemble alongside Dr. Andreas Rimner. What was your experience like participating, and what was your favorite memory or takeaway from the event?

Dr. Park: My experience performing with Dr. Rimner was an absolute joy. He is an exceptionally skilled pianist who takes a thoughtful approach to chamber music.

Before the day of the plenary, we had only played together once before—on an electronic keyboard in a music store in Arizona during a break from administering radiation oncology oral board examinations. We had always hoped to play together again, but when he moved from New York to Germany, we never found an opportunity until the WCLC Opening Plenary in Barcelona.

During our dress rehearsal, we figured out how to squeeze an 8-minute Brahms sonata movement into a 4-minute timeslot, which we hope was seamless enough not to be noticed by too many people! To pull it off, we were fortunate to recruit fellow radiation oncologist Dr. Gerry Hanna to serve as our page turner, and he pulled off the makeshift transition flawlessly.

ILCN: Did anything surprise you about taking the stage during the Opening Plenary at last year’s meeting?

Dr. Park: Dr. Rimner, Dr. Hanna, and I joked that we had never been invited to the WCLC plenary stage based on our scientific merits, so we should enjoy being there for our music! We were very impressed by the professionalism of the staff and the engagement of the live audience, which was not a surprise, yet was greatly enjoyable to experience.

ILCN: WCLC is renowned for the research breakthroughs and science, but events like this truly celebrate the diversity and spirit of its members beyond the clinical setting. Why do you think it may be valuable for an international conference of this scale to dedicate time for attendees to celebrate creative expression and community?

Dr. Park: In the midst of all the amazing scientific advances being made every year to improve the prevention and treatment of lung cancer, it is important to periodically gather together and remind ourselves of the humanity of the patients, clinicians, and scientists who are working together towards this important goal.

Lung cancer is too big of a problem for any one person to solve alone. So, gatherings centered around the arts can hopefully inspire us to reach new heights in our collaborations with one another.

ILCN: You and Dr. Rimner will be returning as Talent Showcase performers at WCLC 2026. Can you describe the moment you learned you would be returning to the spotlight this year, and how you are feeling as WCLC 2026 approaches?

Dr. Park: We are excited to be invited back to perform at WCLC 2026, this time at the Journal of Thoracic Oncology (JTO) 20th Anniversary Reception.

I was thrilled when I heard that we were asked to participate in this specific event, since the JTO has published some of the papers I am most proud of in my career, including my first senior-author manuscript in 2015 and two international clinical practice guidelines in 2024.

Furthermore, I look forward to visiting my ancestral home country for the first time in over a decade, as I am fully Korean by descent and my mother was born in Seoul.

ILCN: Without giving too much away about this year’s lineup, what can attendees look forward to regarding your performance at WCLC 2026?

Dr. Park: We are preparing another violin-piano duo written by a familiar composer who prioritized having an equally distributed dialogue between the two instruments.

We hope this will be a fun piece to engage with, and that it represents the type of collaboration that a conference like WCLC can foster.

ILCN: Beyond the Talent Showcase, what are you most looking forward to about attending WCLC in Seoul this year?

Dr. Park: Besides this performance, I look forward to catching up with old friends and colleagues, meeting new ones, and sharing scientific ideas that promote further advances in lung cancer treatment. Hopefully, we can do all of this while eating as much delicious Korean food as possible!