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Outstanding Achievements in Radiology or Radiotherapy

Curator: Larry H Bernstein, MD, FCAP

Mohit Kasibhatla and Heather Pacholke –

The Hayworth Cancer Center at UNC/High Point Regional Health in High Point, NC has received accreditation as a Community Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Program with Commendation from the Commission on Cancer (CoC) of the American College of Surgeons. Our UNC Radiation Oncology faculty there – Drs. Mohit Kasibhatla and Heather Pacholke – have distinguished themselves by receiving the Outstanding Achievement Award in connection with the accreditation process.

In addition to the cancer center as a whole, the Department of Radiation Oncology in particular has also received accreditation with highest distinction from the American College of Radiology (ACR), making it the first ACR-accredited radiation therapy facility in the Piedmont Triad area. The ACR’s Radiation Oncology Practice Accreditation Program (ROPA) provides radiation oncologists with third-party, impartial peer review and evaluation of patient care.

Newsweek’s “Top Cancer Doctors in the US”

Drs. Marks, Rosenman and Tepper honored

Radiation oncologists Dr. Lawrence Marks, Julian Rosenman and Joel Tepper are among 22 UNC-affiliated oncologists honored by Newsweek magazine (in conjunction with Castle-Connolly Medical, Ltd.) as “Top Cancer Doctors in the United States for 2015”.

UNC Lineberger Annual Scientific Retreat

Dr. Timothy Zagar receives ASTRO research award

For studies of the “comparative effectiveness” of different treatments

One of only seven annual research awards from the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO). Dr. Zagar’s award comes jointly from ASTRO and the affiliated Radiation Oncology Institute (ROI), in support of his “comparative effectiveness” research, which is the study of which type of medical treatment (radiation therapy in this case) works the best while causing the least harm, for whom, and under what circumstances.

Eblan wins third place in poster competition

Third place win in the Clinical/Translational Research Poster competition at the UNC Lineberger Annual Scientific Retreat, held on Tuesday, September 1, 2015. The title of his poster was “Prospective Investigation of Circulating Tumor Cells from Head and Neck Cancer Patients Undergoing Definitive Radiotherapy: A Pilot Study”.

Box 1 | The four schools of radiation oncology

Radiation oncology: a century of achievements

Jacques Bernier, Eric J. Hall & Amato Giaccia

Nature Reviews Cancer 4, 737-747 (September 2004)

http://dx.doi.org:/10.1038/nrc1451

1970 to date: the United States then European Union school

Although there were always pockets of excellence in the United States, radiation oncology in general was slow off the mark compared with the United Kingdom, France and the Scandinavian countries. This was based historically on the fact that most individuals trained in general radiology, and radiotherapy was often the poor relation in the basement.

All of this changed in the 1970s. President Nixon’s ‘war on cancer’ supplied huge amounts funding for research in physics, biology and clinical oncology, and at the same time the American Society of Therapeutic radiology and oncology was founded. Research groups and training programmes were set up as radiation oncology became a separate discipline, and the standard of clinical practice improved. This was the beginning of evidence-based medicine in radiation oncology, with the proliferation of clinical trials to match the new and improved treatment machines, and the revolution in medical physics and computer-controlled technology.

The European Society of Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ESTRO) was founded in the early eighties, and the clinical trials organized by the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer have certainly matched, in number and in quality, those performed in the United States. Another outstanding feature of ESTRO is that they have placed much greater emphasis than their American counterparts on aiding the advance of radiation oncology in developing countries.

http://www.princetonradiationoncology.com/index.php/our-doctors/index.html

John C. Baumann, M.D.

Dr. Baumann graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University, N.J., and received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School, Boston, where he also completed his residency, chief residency and fellowship in radiation oncology.  He has served as chief of radiation oncology at the Walter Reed Medical Center, Washington, D.C., associate program director of the National Cancer Institutes’ resident training program for radiation oncology, and as a member of the radiotherapy committee of the Gynecologic Oncology Group, and the radiology advisory medical team of the U.S. Department of Defense.  Dr. Baumann also was a consultant to the Surgeon General for radiation oncology and president of the medical staff at the University Medical Center at Princeton, N.J.  He has received numerous honors including being selected by his peers as a “Best Doctor” in the New York/New Jersey region.

Oren Cahlon, M.D.

Dr. Cahlon graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and received his medical degree with highest honors, including valedictorian, from Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York City.  He was also selected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Society.  He completed his internship and residency in radiation oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York City, where he served as chief resident.  He has presented his research findings on prostate, head and neck and extremity tumors at national scientific meetings and has authored numerous peer-reviewed articles.  He has extensive experience in the application of image-guided radiation (IGRT), intensity-modulated radiation (IMRT) and brachytherapy. Dr. Cahlon has received numerous honors and awards and is an active member of many professional societies including the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the American Society for Radiation Oncology.

Robert M. Cardinale, M.D.

Dr. Cardinale graduated magna cum laude in electrical engineering from Rutgers University, N.J., and received his medical degree from the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore.  He completed his residency, chief residency and fellowship in radiation oncology at Johns Hopkins Medical School, Baltimore. He has served in several academic positions and is currently an associate professor at The Medical College of Virginia, Richmond, and Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, N.J.  Dr. Cardinale was selected by his peers as a “Top Doctor” in New Jersey and was named among the “Best Doctors in America”. He has received numerous honors and U.S. Patents for novel cancer treatments.  He has authored many articles and book chapters in radiation oncology and has presented his work at more than 50 national and international scientific meetings.

Mount Sinai Comprehensive Cancer Center Earns Major Designations

http://msccc.com/12-services/69-mount-sinai-comprehensive-cancer-center-earns-major-designations

(Miami Beach, Florida – March 2, 2012) — The Mount Sinai Comprehensive Cancer Center has received the Outstanding Achievement Award from the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer (CoC). Mount Sinai is the only Florida hospital to receive this recognition three times in a row, and one of only 23 out of 1,500 CoC-accredited centers nationwide to receive the Outstanding Achievement Award three consecutive times. The CoC created the Outstanding Achievement Award to recognize programs that strive for excellence in providing quality cancer care. Mount Sinai successfully completed an on-site survey and received a three-year Approval with Commendation.

Recognizing that cancer is a complex group of diseases, the CoC Cancer Program Standards promote consultation among surgeons, medical and radiation oncologists, diagnostic radiologists, pathologists, and other cancer specialists. This multidisciplinary approach results in improved patient care. In addition, CoC-accredited cancer programs focus on prevention, early diagnosis, pre-treatment evaluation, staging, optimal treatment, rehabilitation, surveillance for recurrent disease, support services, and end-of-life care.

The Mount Sinai Comprehensive Cancer Center is also the first and only radiation oncology program in South Florida to earn accreditation from the American College of Radiology (ACR) and The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO). The ACR-ASTRO seal of accreditation represents the highest level of quality and patient safety. Mount Sinai’s Radiation Oncology programs on both the Mount Sinai Miami Beach and Aventura campuses successfully completed a rigorous application and evaluation process for this accreditation.

Zheng Yu Jin, M.D

An internationally renowned leader and educator, Zheng Yu Jin, M.D., is widely credited with advancing the popularization and application of cardiac interventional therapy techniques throughout his native China in the late 1980s through the early 1990s. Dr. Jin has become well known as a national and international advocate of multi-detector CT techniques over the past two decades. Now, as vice-chair of the Chinese Society of Radiology (CSR), his priority is MR technique generalization nationwide.

Dr. Jin is a professor of interventional radiology and diagnostic radiology and chair of the Department of Radiology at Peking Union Medical College Hospital (PUMCH), Beijing, where he has spent the majority of his career.

After graduating as a medical doctor in 1984, Dr. Jin joined PUMCH where he quickly ascended the ranks from resident, chief resident and attending physician to associate professor by 1993. Dr. Jin has held his current position since 1996. From 1990 to 1991, Dr. Jin completed advanced studies at Loma Linda University Medical Center, California, where he trained under renowned interventional radiologist Francis Y.K. Lau, M.D.

Dr. Jin trained in cardio-intervention and neuro-intervention, as well as peripheral intervention, which was very rare in China at that time.

Markus Schwaiger, M.D.

He is an internationally known researcher, educator, author and editor whose work has shaped the development of multimodal molecular imaging, particularly in cardiology. He is director of the Department of Nuclear Medicine at the Technische Universität of Munich, Germany, and also serves as an adjunct professor of radiology at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Dr. Schwaiger’s research portfolio reflects the development of PET from a research tool in cardiology to a worldwide-accepted clinical standard procedure in oncology. His recent articles address integrated whole-body PET/MR imaging and the use of PET to assess metabolic response and guide treatment of cancer. He currently serves as coordinator of a large center grant that addresses the role of imaging in selecting and monitoring targeted cancer therapy in preclinical models. He is involved in European Research consortia addressing endoscopic PET imaging (EndoTOFPET) as well as PET inserts for combined MR/PET instrumentation. In 2012, he received an advanced grant award of the European Research Council (ERC).

In addition to his 748 peer-reviewed publications in international scientific journals and 108 book chapters and proceedings, Dr. Schwaiger has served in editorial positions for more than a dozen scientific publications, including the Journal of Nuclear Cardiology, Journal of Nuclear Medicine and European Heart Journal.

Dr. Schwaiger has lent his expertise to a spectrum of professional societies and administrative entities for more than 20 years, including service as president of the European Association of Nuclear Medicine 2008 Congress in Munich. He serves on the RSNA Molecular Imaging Committee.

Among the numerous awards Dr. Schwaiger has received are the Distinguished Scientist Award of the Academy of Molecular Imaging, von Hevesy Medal of the Hungarian Society of Nuclear Medicine, and Paul C. Aebersold Award of the Society of Nuclear Medicine.

Kaori Togashi, M.D., Ph.D.

She has spent more than 30 years researching and publishing studies expanding the horizon for MR as it applies to gynecology. Dr. Togashi’s pioneering work has garnered attention from radiology and bioengineering entities.

Dr. Togashi is a professor and chair in the Department of Diagnostic Imaging and Nuclear Medicine at Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine. When promoted to the position in 2004, she became the first woman to chair a department at the medical school of Kyoto University and the first woman to chair a department at a national university in Japan.

Dr. Togashi earned her medical degree at Kyoto University. After completing her residencies, she attended the Graduate School of Medicine at Kyoto University and received her doctorate in medical science. While working on her doctorate, Dr. Togashi was involved in very early studies of body MR imaging. She authored several articles including “Uterine Cervical Cancer: Assessment with High-Field MR Imaging,” published in Radiology in 1986. Since then, she has published several books and nearly 300 articles in peer-reviewed journals in English. Dr. Togashi has been a reviewer for many journals including Radiology and RadioGraphics.

Dr. Togashi’s recent areas of interest are functional body MR, including cine MR to evaluate uterine peristalsis, diffusion-weighted images in oncology and diffusion tensor imaging of the uterus. Cine MR for the uterus has attracted interest not only from the radiology and gynecology specialties, but also from the bioengineering realm as a new tool to elucidate biomechanics of the uterine function. Dr. Togashi received honorary membership in the European Society of Radiology, fellowship in the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine and the gold medal of the European Society of Urogenital Radiology.Dr. Togashi serves on the RSNA International Advisory Committee and also has served on the Education Exhibit Awards Committee in Uroradiology at the RSNA annual meeting.