The golden anniversary of the Austrian Society of Hematology and Medical Oncology (OeGHO)

In 1970 the OeGHO (Austrian Society of Hematology and Medical Oncology) was established by a pioneering group of dedicated hematologists around Professor Fleischhacker (1970–1975), a well-known expert from Vienna. In its initial years the society was called Austrian Society of Hematology. The primary goal of the society was to generate a platform of scientific communication and exchange between experts. The members interacted together and constantly updated the group on their various scientific activities. According to international developments the focus of the OeGHO was extended to solid cancers. Consequently, in 1977 under the guidance of Professor Stacher (1975–1981) the OeGHO was renamed to be the Austrian Society of Hematology and Oncology. The OeGHO turned out to be a meeting point and offered young colleagues the chance to present their scientific activities, to gain their first experiences in presenting scientific data and communicate with peers. Additionally, OeGHO was the main driver to introduce an officially approved specialization of “Hematology and Medical Oncology” in 1994 within the subject of internal medicine. Under the presidency of Professor Gastl (2008–2013) a more professional and modern organization was implemented. An office was founded and a managing director was employed. In those years the role of medical oncologists was heavily questioned by the organ specialists. Therefore, we were forced to stand up and plead for the special role of our field of expertise within the interdisciplinary management of cancer patients. In those days beside the traditional scientific focus our society developed to be an independent provider of professional medical education which led to the foundation of the “Onconovum academy”. When Professor Samonigg (2013–2017) took the lead, he realized that our society bears the responsibility to communicate a well-defined position on health care topics with the public. He initiated a famous media campaign to fight against smoking, called “don’t smoke”. The campaign succeeded and the political parties prohibited public smoking in 2019, as it was already standard in other European countries. Furthermore basic and clinical cancer research has seen great advances in 50 years. …