National Cancer Institute - NCI Division of Cancer Treatment and ...

M E E T I N G S A N D W O R K S H O P S
Quality Assurance in Radiation
Therapy Workshop
In September 2005, an RRP-led roundtable
meeting addressed quality assurance (QA)
issues for advanced technology radiation
therapy. In this roundtable discussion,
called “Quality Assurance in Radiation
Therapy,” researchers began to develop
more robust QA for radiation therapy
treatment planning and delivery. Attendees
included physicists and physician
experts using advanced radiation therapy
technologies. The result was the creation
of a white paper report on QA that lists
recommendations for future NCI funding
initiatives.
Image-Guided Therapy Retreat
RRP participated in an Image-Guided
Therapy interagency retreat in 2006.
It brought together leaders of federal
government agencies, including the
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services,
DoD, DOE, FDA, NASA, NIH, the National
Institute of Standards and Technology,
and the National Science Foundation,
who are interested in advancing imageguided
technologies for human health
interventions.
Young Investigators Workshop
ROSP/RRP held its fourth Young Investigators
(YI) Workshop on the NIH campus
in September 2005. This workshop was
specifically targeting Radiation Oncology
residents (PGY-4/PGY-5) and junior faculty
within one year of completion of their
residency who were interested in pursuing
academic physician-scientist careers.
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Co-chaired by Dr. Dennis Hallahan, chair
of Radiation Oncology at Vanderbilt
University Medical School, and Dr. Mark
Dewhirst, professor, Department of Radiation
Oncology, Duke University Medical
Center, the workshop provided the attendees
with: (1) scientific information on the
most promising translational radiation
oncology research areas; (2) information
about grant funding opportunities, grant
tips, and the grant review process; and
(3) the opportunity to ask questions of
the clinician/scientist speakers about the
obstacles, barriers, and insights encountered
in the pursuit of their academic
careers as physician-scientists. Thirty-two
residents and eight junior faculty representing
23 different academic institutions
attended this highly successful workshop.
During the various discussions, the speakers’
and attendees’ active input helped
to identify the problems and challenges
likely to be encountered by young
physician-scientists in radiation oncology
that RRP and NCI can start to help address
by hosting a YI workshop like this.
Normal Tissue Injury and
Countermeasures
Scientists from RRP participate actively in
workshops organized by NIAID, as well as
seminars and presentations related to
normal tissue countermeasures.
RRP is planning a workshop related to the
potential for post-exposure intervention
to mitigate radiation-induced carcinogenesis,
a topic relevant to clinical radiation
oncology as well as radiation terrorism.