This blog post sources its content from “Diversity Matters Revisited,” an article published in November 2020 in SROA’s quarterly news publication, Radiation Oncology News for Administrators.

In October 2020, the Mayo Clinic and Google Health announced a joint initiative that focuses on applying Artificial Intelligence (AI) to radiation therapy planning and medical imaging.  Experts from the  Mayo Clinic and Google Health will apply AI to medical imaging.

It’s been said that cancer impacts us all, either directly or indirectly through someone we know. Until earlier this year, I mainly knew of cancer indirectly. My uncle was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer just as the pandemic hit.

Sam Mazin is the founder and CTO of RefleXion Medical. Mazin joined SROA Soundboard--a podcast for SROA to discuss biology guided radiotherapy (BgRT) technology for radiation oncology. Catch up on the key highlights from Mazin's podcast.

November is Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month.  In 2020, more than 57,000 Americans will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Although this is considered a rare cancer, it is the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths.

Dr. Malika Siker, a radiation oncologist with the Medical College of Wisconsin, spoke about ways to advance equity, diversity and inclusiveness in radiation oncology. She concluded her talk by discussing what steps individuals can take to effect change.

On Friday, October 30, Mark Coticchia, vice president for Innovation at Baptist Health South Florida, presented on driving a culture of innovation. He described innovation as the intentional process of developing a new product or service to address a need held by many. It’s a structured form of problem solving that is need-based and multidisciplinary.

On Thursday, October 29, Donna Royster, radiation oncology administrator with Atrium Health, presented practical tips on how to incorporate project management (PM) principles in radiation oncology. She also discussed why health care needs a more formal approach to project management.

On Wednesday, October 28, Dr. Kim Clarke, program manager, Extramural Discovery Sciences with the American Cancer Society (ACS), presented on cancer research insights from the last decade. Her presentation covered precision medicine, immunotherapy, cancer metabolism, metastasis and palliative care.

On Tuesday, October 27, Cassandra Worley, radiation therapy supervisor at The Radiation Therapy Center of Morris Hospital, gave a workshop on the potential hazards of burnout amongst radiation therapists.