OHSU Radiation Oncology Recent Events

During the 1960’s the Club added a service-oriented component to its organizational objectives, and with that the commitment to provide financial assistance to medical students and funding for projects which might otherwise be postponed. This commitment has strengthened and grown along with the development of OHSU. After a name change in 1960 the Club was called the Medical Faculty Auxiliary. In 2003 the name was changed once again to the School of Medicine Alliance to reflect a new policy which broadened eligibility for membership.

A variety of programs support the Alliance goals of providing opportunities for members to get together and to support OHSU by volunteering at some of the SMA fundraising activities. SMA also sponsors a variety of interest groups for the enjoyment of members including book groups (day and evening groups), luncheons featuring speakers, occasional field trips. In response to members requests, new groups focusing on gardening and antique and bargain hunting have been organized.

Department Postgraduate 2007-08 RSNA Research Grants Receive 100% Success
The Department has an unprecendented success rate in the recent round of grant submissions from the RSNA Research & Education Foundation.  According to Department chair, Dr. CR Thomas Jr., "All 3 applications fot the RSNA Research Resident/Fellow Grant that were directly submitted from our Department, were selected for funding.  This is remarkable, but not totally surprising when you consider the caliber of postgraduate trainees we have in our program.  Of a total 71 grant submissions to the RSNA Research & Education Foundation, only 26 were deemed meritorious enough for funding, a rate of 37%. Approximately 12% if all funded grants are from our Dept.  This is the highest funding rate amongst all U.S. radiation oncology programs----bar none. This is clear evidence of our Department's serious commitment to training the current and future wave of academic leaders in radiation medicine.  This is the type of grant which will lead, in part, to successful future NIH peer-reviewd grant funding for these young investigators in-training."  (A fourth grant from an extramural research associate of the Department, also was funded)

The receipients and grant titles, include:

Dr. Crittenden: "Combining Total Body Irradiation with Immunotherapy to Generate Therapeutic Anti-tumor Immune Responses"

Dr. McDonald:  "Determining the Relationship Between Il-1 beta, TNF-alpha, & IL-6 Response to External Beam Radiation Therapy & Treatment-Related Fatigue in Patients with Prostate Cancer"

Dr. Wang:  "Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Radiotherapy for Gastrointestinal Malignancies"

Dr. Fuller: "Human-Computer Interface & Training Practice Differentials in Target Delineation Across Anatomic Sites:  A Multi-Institutional Study"

Dr. Thomas lobby's Oregon senators at Capitol Hill for ASTRO Advocacy Day 2007
Dr. CR Thomas, Jr. visited the senate offices of Sen. Gordon Smith & Sen. Ron Wyden on April 24th, 2007, as part of the annual ASTRO Advocacy Day program.  Dr. Thomas addressed issues of the effect of decreased funding to the NCI, the challenges of providing quality health care to the uninsured in Oregon, and other issues that either directly or indirectly impact the delivery of radiation medicine and related cancer services to the citizens of our region

CANCER PREVENTION & CONTROL SEMINAR SERIES April 25, 2007
Dr. Samuel Wang will present "Modeling tools for predicting a cancer survivor's changing prognosis over time” on Wednesday, April 25, 2007, at 12:00-1:00 P.M. in the conference room (HRC 14D03) (Lunch Provided)

An OHSU Cancer Institute Lecture. For More Information, contact Jennifer Jorguson at (503) 494-1617 See flyer here.

ASRT Education and Research Foundation Awards Varian Radiation Therapy Student Scholarship to RTT program trainee.
RTT program director, Ms. Anne Maddeford, has announced that Ms. Emily Hertel, is the most recipient of the prestigious Varian Radiation Therapy Strudent Scholarship.  The Radiation Therapy Technology program is the only one in the Pacific Northwest and has consistnetly provided highest quality training for a number of years.  The RTT program is a component of the Allied Health program at OHSU.

DR. MCDONALD, RESIDENT PHYSICIAN, IS PI OF RECENTLY FUNDED MRF GRANT
Dr. Tasha McDonald, is the recipient of a Medical Research Foundation of Oregon research grant titled "Determining the Relationships Between IL-1 beta, TNF-alpha, & IL-6 Response to External Beam Radiation Therapy & Treatment-Related Fatigue in Patients with Prostate Cancer".  Co-investigators include Drs. Arthur Hung, Lisa Wood.  Department chair, Dr. CR Thomas, Jr., states, "Dr. McDonald's stellar efforts as an active participant of the HIP program has been appropriately rewarded by the MRF's confidence in her ability to further develop our understanding of how ionizing radiotherapy may cause fatigue in men with this challenging and very common neoplasm.  We are grateful for the strong mentorship that Drs. Wood , Hung, & all of the members of the multidisciplinary GU oncology program will continue to provide for the completion of this novel project.

Holman Pathway Resident receives 5th ASCO Merit Award.
Samuel J. Wang, MD, PhD, has been named the recipient of Merit Award for an unprecedented 5th time. He is the lead author of the abstract titled, "A  regression model for predicting conditional survival for head & neck cancer patients:  a S.E.E.R. analysis", in the Health Services Research. According to Department chair, Dr. CR Thomas, Jr., "Dr. Wang continues to set a new standard of academic engagement and productivity for our Department.  Sam and our fellow residents have been the most academically productive cadre of resdients & fellows in the long history of our proud Department."  Dr. Wang will present his work at the 43rd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, Chicago, to be held June 1-4, 2007 at the McCormick Place Convention Center, in Chciago, Illinois. 

Thai Society of Vascular & Interventional Radiology colleagues visit the Department in March 2007.
We had the good fortune of meeting with members of the Thai Society of Vascular & Interventional Radiology (TSVIR). Shown here (from left to right) are Dr Anuchit (House Master, TSVIR), Dr Somyot (Public Relations and Foreign Affairs, TSVIR), Dr Pongdej (Vice-Pres., TSVIR) (Chief, Department of Radiology Bhumibol Adulyadej Hospital  Royal Thai Air Force), Dr. CR Thomas, Jr., Dr. Martin Fuss, & Dr Permyot (President,TSVIR)

Dr. Glazer presented a joint seminar, on behalf of the Department's of Molecular and Medical Genetics and Radiation Medicine, on Wednesday, April 4, 2007. His talk was titled "Hypoxia, DNA Repair, and Cancer Therapy". (View poster). Picture of Dr. Balter (right) with IGRT program leader Dr. Martin Fuss. Dr. Glazer (at head of table) is shown here with (clockwise from left foreground) Mr. Steven Oh (MS-1, Yale Univ. School of Medicine & OHSU Dept of Rad Med 2006-07 research fellow), Drs. Kamal Patel, Marka Crittenden, Patrick Gagnon, and Mr. Xiao-Yue Han [student research associate, NYU Class '11]. Dr. Glazer is shown here with a certificate of appreciation from the Departments of Radiation Medicine and Molecular & Medical Genetics"
(View his Presentation)

Department original research on thymic neoplasms is accepted for presentation at 2007 American Thoracic Society International Conference.
The abstract titled "Conditional Survival for Patient with Thymic Carcinoma" from the SEER Database, was accepted for presentation to the 2007 American Thoracic Society International Conference, to be held on Sunday, May 20th, 2007 at the Moscone Center & San Francisco Marriott Hotel. The lead author is, Mr. Eugene Kim* currently a junior undergraduate student at Case Western Reserve University, majoring in Public Health.  This is the 2nd presentation at an international meeting that Mr. Kim, a future physician, has presented on behalf of the Department.  He previously presented a poster at the 2006 ASCO meeting on AJCC staging outcome differences for breast cancer within two community hospitals in southwest Washington state. The listing of the current abstract is:

Kim E*,Wang SJ, Fuller CD, Thomas CR Jr: Conditional survival for patients with thymic carcinoma from the SEER database

DR. FUSS PROGRAM LEADER IN IGRT, IS COP-PI OF RECENTLY FUNDED R-01 NIH GRANT.
Dr. Martin Fuss, is the recipient of a R-01 [1RO0M009362-01] research grant titled "4D Visible Human Modeling for Radiation Dosimetry", in collaboration with the grant PI, Dr. George Xu from the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering & the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.  This grant was reviewed by the Biomedical Library & Informatics Review Committee Study Section.  Department chair, Dr. CR Thomas, Jr., states, "This grant is further testament to the recognition of the Department's commitment to solving some of the complex issues currently challenging physicians who are attempting to apply image-guided radiation therapy approaches effectively in patients.  The end product of Dr. Fuss's contribution to this project may result in a superior therapeutic ratio for patients undergoing selective forms of radiotherapy.

Faculty member to address 12th Annual Women's Health Conference on April 28.
Dr. CR Thomas, Jr. will present on the topic, "Things You Have Always Wanted to Know and New Things You Could Never Have Imagined About Radiation Therapy For You and For Your Loved Ones" at the 12th Annual Women's Health Conference, to be held on Saturday, April 28th, 2007 at the Oregon Convention Center.  The OHSU Center for Women's Health, is lead by Dr. Joanna Cain and is located on the 7th floor of the Peter O. Kohler Pavilion on the marquam Hill campus of OHSU.

Faculty member invited to address the 12th World Conference on Lung Cancer in September.
Department chair, Dr. CR Thomas, Jr. has been invited to  present on "Role of Radiotherapy in the Management of Thymic Neoplasms" as part of Educational Session 9: Insights into Thymic Epithelial Tumors, at the 12th World Conference on Lung Cancer.  This international forum, sponsored by the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer, will be held from September 2-6th, 2007 at the Coex Convention Center in Seoul, South Korea.

Holman Pathway Resident receives 4th ASCO Merit Award.
Samuel J. Wang, MD, PhD, has been named the recipient of Merit Award for the 4th time.  According to Department chair, Dr. CR Thomas, Jr., "This is clearly unprecedented ground and establishes a new standard within our program.  His work on the cost-effectiveness of adjuvant therapy for resected gastric cancer has been reviewed favorably in several academic forums."  Dr. Wang will present his work at the 2007 GI Cancers Symposium, to be held January 19-21, 2007 at the