Afua Yorke, is a University of Washington physics residency alumnus and current UW Department of Radiation Oncology faculty member.
Dr. Yorke has been invited by the United Nations to be part of this year’s 69th Commission on the Status of Women for Women’s month.
The Commission will take place at the UN in New York.
Dr. Brooks approached Professors Hendrickson and Fagerstrom about attending the Nigerian Association of Medical Physicists (NAMP) conference during the second month of her Medical Physics residency. They encouraged her to submit current research to present so she could broaden her network, and they wanted to support her passion for standardizing radiotherapy quality assurance practices, global oncology, and educational outreach.
She was invited to give two oral presentations about reference plan development and validation and dosimetry audit assessment and comparison. Following the conference, she was invited to serve as a board member on a panel dedicated to promoting innovative research for graduate-level medical physicists. Her travel was funded through the Alexander Rodney Muir Endowment fund.
Presentation Summaries:
A validated framework for developing reference plans: Evaluating global clinical trial credentialing and PSQA systems
This study presented a practical framework to develop and validate a set of reference plans and perturbations that can be used to assess and compare the differentiability of various audit and PQSA methodologies. The Global Quality Assurance of Radiation Therapy Clinical Trials Harmonization Group (GHG) has developed this framework as part of their ongoing work to test the comparability of their audit systems; this framework supports their work of aligning international dosimetry audits across the globe.
PI and co-PI: Stephen F. Kry, Ph.D., University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center; Joerg Lehman, Ph.D., Calvary Mater Newcastle Hospital, AUS.
Investigators: Fre’Etta M.D. Brooks, Ph.D. UW Medical Physics resident; Mohammad Hussein, Jessica Lye, Christopher L. Nelson, Nakamura Mitsuhiro, Mallory C. Glenn, Patricia Diez, Rushil Patel, Maddison Shaw, Ileana Silvestre Patallo, Miriam Barry, Catharine H. Clark.
A multi-institutional approach to quantifying the differences among international dosimetry auditing methodologies
This study assessed and compared the performance of end-to-end audits currently offered by six international clinical trial dosimetry audit agencies with the goal of harmonizing audits and reducing overlap in multinational trials while maintaining quality. This effort was led by the GHG.
In general, the agreement demonstrated amongst the auditing methodologies, particularly system sensitivity to detecting errors, suggests that reciprocity of clinical trial credentialing processes could be adopted by these varied agencies. This would streamline the clinical trial process and decrease the number of barriers to clinical trial participation.
PI and co-PI: Stephen F. Kry, Ph.D., University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center; Catharine H. Clark, Ph.D., National Physical Laboratory, UK.
Investigators: Fre’Etta M.D. Brooks, Ph.D. UW Medical Physics resident; Joerg Lehmann, Mohammad Hussein, Jessica Lye, Christopher L. Nelson, Mitsuhiro Nakamura, Patricia Diez, Rushil Patel, Peter Greer, Hideaki Hirashima, Julianne M. Pollard Larkin, Rebecca M. Howell, Christine B. Peterson.
Dr. Van Nest (“Sam”) approached Professors Stewart and Sandison on a project of special interest to her a few months into her Medical Physics residency. We worked with her to build a multi-disciplinary team so she could pursue her passion for translational research at the intersection of physics, radiation biology and clinical advancement.
Radiation therapy (RT) has been shown to increase tumor immunogenicity, supporting synergy between RT and immunotherapy. We propose that the therapeutic ratio of proton FLASH RT could be further improved beyond reported studies in the literature of normal tissue sparing by capitalizing on RT induced anti-tumor immunity. This would lead to enhanced tumor-cell targeting by the immune system and support combinations of FLASH RT and immunotherapy. We propose to investigate the role of FLASH RT to modulate key immunogenic and immune suppressive markers in tumors and normal tissue. We will investigate in vitro the extent to which FLASH RT influences antigen processing and presentation, micronuclei formation and rupture, and type-I interferon signaling in breast cancer and normal breast cell lines. This work has the potential to establish fundamental evidence that FLASH RT leads to immunogenic signaling in tumors, or alters signaling in healthy cells, which could be exploited to improve the care of breast patients with radiation-resistant disease through a combination of FLASH RT and immunotherapeutics.
Dani Johnson Erickson, Ph.D., Director, UW Radiation Biology Laboratory; Marissa Kranz, M.S, Director of the UW MCF; George A Sandison, Ph.D., Professor of UW Radiation Oncology and Medical Physics; Keith Stantz, Ph.D. Associate Professor in the School of Health Sciences at Purdue University; Ning Cao, Ph.D. Associate Professor of UW Radiation Oncology; Sunan Cui, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of UW Radiation Oncology
University of Washington Medical Physics Residency Fair 2024
Event Date: Monday, September 30th, 2024
Time: 2:30-3:45 pm PST
Zoom Link: UW Radiation Oncology Medical Physics Virtual Residency Fair 2024
University of Washington / Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center Residency Program Virtual Meet and Greet for Faculty and Residents
Event Date: Monday, September 16th, 2024
Time: 4-5 pm PST
Sign up Link: UW Radiation Oncology Meet and Greet with Faculty and Residents 2024
For questions, email: uwrorp@uw.edu
Dr. August Anderson won an ACR Grant for his global health research in Uganda!
Please join us in congratulating him on his travel grant!
Event Date:
Time: 6-8 pm PST
Sign up Link: University of Washington Virtual Diversity Recruitment Form
March 21-23, 2024 Chicago IL
Dr. Swensen and Dr. Liu giving oral presentations at RSS. Dr. Barbour also gave a poster presentation.
We honor Dr. Andrew Trister for his early-career achievements as a leader and innovator in expanding access to healthcare through technology. Dr. Trister led the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s efforts to accelerate the development and adoption of molecular and antigen tests during the COVID-19 pandemic. His career highlights include serving as the Chief Medical and Scientific Officer at Verily, as deputy director of digital health and artificial intelligence at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and as a founding member of Apple’s Health team. His leadership roles, including board positions and advisory roles in healthcare companies, further illustrate his commitment to advancing global health through technology and innovation. Dr. Trister is an active mentor and contributes to scholarly work in healthcare and technology that focuses on improving healthcare access and delivery worldwide.
Honors an alum who graduated within the last 20 years and has excelled in their career, making significant contributions to public health through clinical care, medical science, research, humanitarianism or administrative activities.