The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) recognized the recipients of its 2022 Gold Medal awards and other high-profile honors during an awards ceremony yesterday at the 64th ASTRO Annual Meeting in San Antonio. Photos from the ceremony are available online.

ASTRO Gold Medal

Wendell R. Lutz, PhD, and Tim R. Williams, MD, FASTRO, will be awarded the ASTRO Gold Medal, the highest honor bestowed upon an ASTRO member. ASTRO awards its Gold Medal annually to individuals who have made outstanding lifetime contributions in the field of radiation oncology, including achievements in clinical patient care, research, teaching and service to the profession. In the award’s 46th consecutive year, Drs. Lutz and Williams join an exclusive group of 93 Gold Medalists.

Dr. Lutz is a medical physicist who is recognized internationally for his pioneering work developing a linear accelerator-based system for stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) as well as multiple devices for quality assurance in radiation oncology. Before his retirement, Dr. Lutz held faculty positions at Harvard Medical School, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and the University of Arizona, and he was named Educator of the Year by the Association of Residents in Radiation Oncology. His methods and inventions for quality assurance have been adopted worldwide, and he was recognized with a lifetime achievement award from the American Association of Physicists in Medicine. He also has contributed actively to veterinary oncology, including helping build technology to treat dogs with SRS.

Dr. Williams is medical director of the South Florida Proton Therapy Institute and a former Chair of the ASTRO Board of Directors. During his tenure as Board Chair, ASTRO launched its Target Safely initiative, which focused on improving safety and quality in patient care and established patient safety programs including RO-ILS: Radiation Oncology Incident Learning System® and APEx – Accreditation Program for Excellence®. Dr. Williams is a former president and Gold Medal recipient of the Florida Radiological Society, as well as a founding member of the International Cancer Expert Corps. His extensive record of service to ASTRO also includes volunteer and leadership roles with ASTROnews, the Radiation Oncology Institute (ROI) and the society’s health policy and international education committees.

Read more about the 2022 ASTRO Gold Medalists in ASTROnews.

ASTRO Honorary Member

Robert A. Winn, MD, Director and Lipman Chair in Oncology at the VCU Massey Cancer Center, is the 2022 ASTRO Honorary Member for his outstanding contributions to community-centered clinical care, scientific research and improving diversity, equity and inclusion in oncology. This award is the highest honor that ASTRO bestows upon cancer physicians and researchers in disciplines outside of radiation oncology, radiobiology and medical physics. Dr. Winn oversees the activities of Massey’s 250-plus research members. In this role, he is leading the nation in establishing a 21st-century model for promoting diversity, equity and inclusion in the oncology workforce, optimizing cancer health care outcomes for all and spearheading interdisciplinary approaches to cancer disparities research.

Read more about Dr. Winn, the 2022 ASTRO Honorary Member, in ASTROnews.

ASTRO Mentorship Award

Reshma Jagsi, MD, DPhil, FASTRO, and Charles Thomas Jr., MD, FASTRO, are the first recipients of ASTRO’s new Mentorship Award. This honor recognizes role models in radiation oncology who have excelled as mentors through outstanding commitment to developing their mentees as clinicians, educators and researchers.

Read more about the 2022 ASTRO Mentorship Award winners in ASTROnews.

Annual Meeting Abstract Awards

Forty-four researchers received 2022 ASTRO Annual Meeting Abstract Awards, which recognize the highest-rated research presented at the meeting and focus on highlighting the work of residents and early career professionals.

Chelsea Pinnix, MD, PhD, and Erin Gillespie, MD, are the recipients of the Steven A. Leibel Memorial Award, a new award given jointly by ASTRO and the American Board of Radiology (ABR) Foundation. The Leibel Memorial Award recognizes the contributions of principal investigators who are in the first decade of their careers following board certification in radiation oncology.

A full list of award recipients is available online.

Survivor Circle: Honoring Patients and Their Contributions

In addition to awarding achievements in the fight against cancer made by physicians, ASTRO recognizes contributions from patient support organizations through its Survivor Circle Grant program. For 2022, ASTRO will award grants to two organizations that provide cancer support services in the San Antonio region, Breast Cancer Resource Center of Texas and ThriveWell Cancer Foundation.

Read more about ASTRO's Survivor Circle program and these organizations at RT Answers, and read an update from last year’s Survivor Circle recipients on ASTRO’s blog.

ASTRO Research Grants and Fellowships

Several ASTRO funding opportunities support early-career researchers in radiation oncology. In 2022, 10 scholars received research grants, including seed grants and career development awards co-sponsored by the American Cancer Society, Breast Cancer Research Foundation, American Association of Physicists in Medicine and LUNGevity Foundation. Additionally, three scholars were selected for radiation oncology research training fellowships with industry partners AstraZeneca and Varian Medical Systems. Read more about the ASTRO research grant recipients and their projects here.

Ten outstanding medical students were selected earlier this year for ASTRO Minority Summer Fellowship Awards. ASTRO launched this award to introduce medical students from backgrounds that are underrepresented in medicine to the discipline of radiation oncology early in their medical education. Read more about the Minority Summer Fellowship awardees and their projects here.

ABOUT ASTRO

The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) is the largest radiation oncology society in the world, with nearly 10,000 members who are physicians, nurses, biologists, physicists, radiation therapists, dosimetrists and other health care professionals who specialize in treating patients with radiation therapies. For information on radiation therapy, visit RTAnswers.org. To learn more about ASTRO, visit our website and media center and follow us on social media.