The 1st International Lung Cancer Conference was held on October 27-30, 2002 in Beijing, China. Leaders in the field of lung cancer came from Europe, Asia, and North America to speak at the event. Over 150 Asian physicians and scientists attended as well as attendees from both Europe and the US. Topics included Primary Prevention and Tobacco Control, Screening and Early Detection, Chemotherapy and Molecular Targeted Therapies, Chemoprevention, Molecular Biology/Pathology, Radiotherapy and Surgery. This paper is a comprehensive review of the data presented at the meeting.