In memoriam: Dr. Seng-jaw Soong (1943–2012): Annals of Surgical Oncology Statistician and Statistician Extraordinaire

Seng-jaw Soong was a member of the Annals of Surgical Oncology Editorial Board (as its statistician), Chair of the Biostatistics Committee for the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC), Vice-Chair of the Melanoma Committee for more than a decade, and Professor Emeritus of Biostatistics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (Fig. 1). Dr. Soong was indeed a statistician extraordinaire who had a pivotal role in shaping our understanding of melanoma prognosis and staging, as well as being the group statistician for many seminal studies of antiviral therapies. Moreover, he was a mathematical genius, having been one of the first to publish a cancer clinical analysis using the Cox logistic regression analysis as well as other mathematical predictive models that are used by clinicians and researchers worldwide. Seng-jaw was a visionary leader who left a legacy as a clinical statistician that few can match, and whose impact will benefit cancer patients for generations. And at a personal level, we admired him as an authentic and caring person whom we all loved and respected. Dr. Soong brought a unique statistical dimension to clinical research that revolutionized entire fields of medicine, not only in the areas of melanoma, head and neck cancer, and gynecologic cancers, but also in seminal studies that led directly to FDA approval of new drugs for life-threatening viral infections. His research legacy is virtually unmatched among clinical statisticians. Indeed, many will emulate what he has accomplished over a career, but few will duplicate his impressive scholarly record. Seng-jaw was an author of more than 300 scientific publications plus many book chapters and textbooks. But this prodigious number of publications only reflects part of his scientific productivity. Another important benchmark reflecting the impact and value of published work is measured by how many times colleagues cite one’s articles in their own publications. Using this parameter, Seng-jaw’s 300 scientific publications were quoted in the literature more than 1,000 times during each one of the past four years, or a total of 18,600 times over 30 years, an average of 63 citations for each of his articles. His impact in the melanoma and virology fields is also evident in his ten most cited articles (see Table 1). Two of these with Dr. Richard Whitley were cited 622 and 385 times, respectively. Six of the remaining eight were melanoma papers cited 300 to 500 times each. His top two cited papers, published in 2001, reflected the revolutionary changes he brought to the staging and prognosis of melanoma. These two papers have been cited 1,075 and 1,436 times, respectively. Also, for 30 years, Dr. Soong played an instrumental role in melanoma education through his coediting the seminal textbook Cutaneous Melanoma, currently in its 5th edition. In addition to celebrating the remarkable professional achievements of Seng-jaw Soong, his colleagues admired him for his authentic character, his genuine, sensitive, and humble personality, his commitment as a mentor and teacher, and his devotion as a husband and father. Some memorable comments that reflect how others defined his legacy: From Dr. David Byrd at the University of Washington, Vice-Chair of the AJCC: