January 2025 Early Career Newsletter
January 28, 2025
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Happy New Year! We hope you have found the Early Career Newsletter to be informative and helpful in keeping you up to date on the work of ASTRO and the Early Career Committee. As we enter 2025, we have a host of initiatives that we plan to undertake including recording podcasts, holding meetups at other society meetings and collaborating with others to produce timely webinars. Another important initiative will be an Early Career/Transitions survey focusing on ongoing career satisfaction and factors contributing to transitions. Watch for this survey in late March and mark your calendar for Monday, March 10, 3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Eastern time for the next Open Early Career Committee meeting. Please send us your feedback about this newsletter and suggestions about how the Early Career Committee can best serve you. |
| Community Practice: An important segment of ASTRO membership |
| How many times have you heard or maybe even expressed, “ASTRO only represents academics!” ASTRO is working to change this perception. During its fall Board of Directors meeting, then Chair Jeff Michalski, MD, MBA, FASTRO, called for the formation of a community practice task force to strategize how to more fully engage freestanding and hospital-based community practice physicians in ASTRO activities and to better support their needs. The task force has early career representation from both our Committee and early career members at large along with other ASTRO members from small and large practices. Community practice physicians make up nearly half of ASTRO’s domestic physician membership. During the first task force meeting, held in December 2024, ASTRO President Sameer Keole, MD, FASTRO, who chairs this task force posed the question, “What can ASTRO do to change the perception that ASTRO primarily represents academic-based practices?” Task force members all agreed that the formation of this task force sends a strong message to members that ASTRO appreciates the value and concerns of community practice members.
Reimbursement was at the top of the list of concerns for task force members. Dr. Keole noted that ROCR is a value-based program designed to reverse fee schedule trends and is our best chance to secure long-term rate stability while delivering cutting-edge care to our patients. Other challenges expressed by the task force included industry not being aligned with physicians and the increasingly difficult task of staffing practices. What’s ahead for the task force? The task force wants to work with various organizations to see how we can increase staffing supply, develop training programs and work more efficiently, perhaps with the help of automation and artificial intelligence. Please submit your suggestions about how ASTRO can further support community practice members. |
| Have you watched the new President’s Corner series? |
| The ASTRO President’s Corner is a new video series where ASTRO President, Sameer Keole, MD, FASTRO, and other ASTRO leadership present different topics to provide insights into the Society’s governance, perspectives and initiatives. Episode three, an interview with ASTRO Chair Howard Sandler, MD, MS, FASTRO, is now playing. Watch this and other episodes. |
| Registration is now open for the 2025 Virtual Annual Refresher Course |
| Join your colleagues online from April 9-11 for this comprehensive overview of the latest treatment methods and core competencies for the major disease sites. This is a great review for those of you who are preparing to take board exams. For those of you who have already passed the boards, the course content is timely – the faculty has distilled the latest research from the past year and condensed it into three days. The Annual Refresher Course is a live virtual meeting led by expert presenters. Three eCountouring sessions, Upper GI, Breast and Lymphoma, are included with your registration along with two bonus onDemand presentations on Pediatrics and Vulvar and Vaginal cancers and the onDemand Meeting! Learn more and register by February 5 for the best rate! |
| ASTRO embarks on a radiopharmaceutical therapy journey |
| Radiation oncologists with expertise in oncology, radiobiology and physics are well equipped to provide radiopharmaceutical therapy (RPT) to appropriate patients and lead the path forward for the field. Therefore, ASTRO has been actively developing resources for RPT for many years. ASTRO RPT initiatives are led by the RPT Committee chaired by Ana Kiess, MD, PhD.
RPT Roundtable: In early 2023, ASTRO convened RPT industry leaders and ASTRO members, including academic and community practice physicians and physicists for a strategic dialogue on the future of RPT in radiation oncology. The meeting yielded key insights and priority areas to drive ASTRO’s activities, including the development of a Radiopharmaceutical Therapy Roundtable, allowing industry to cooperate on the strategic direction of ASTRO RPT activities. Two RPT Roundtables were held in 2024, and the next meeting is scheduled for April 2025. AU Status: An important requirement for treating patients with RPT is Authorized User (AU) status. Radiation oncologists who completed residency training between 2017 and 2023 have received necessary training toward achieving AU status for RPT. AU status can be granted if pursued within seven years of training. Therefore, if you completed your residency between 2017 and 2023, are ABR board certified, and your certificate indicates that you are AU Eligible, you should talk with your radiation safety officer (RSO) to determine next steps. If your certificate does not indicate AU Eligibility, you will need to provide additional documentation including details of relevant training and experience, and preceptor attestations. Again, talk with your RSO. As of January 1, 2024, the ABR stopped conferring AU status for its diplomates. You must now take additional steps to become an AU. Learn more about eligibility and how to obtain AU status for RPT. |
| Build your research portfolio by submitting to an ASTRO journal |
| Submitting a paper to one of ASTRO’s journals is a fantastic way to engage with leaders in the field and enhance your professional profile! The journals accept a wide range of manuscripts, many of which do not need to be full-length research articles. There are opportunities to submit challenging cases and expert opinions, narrative pieces, editorials, cover art and more. If you are interested in becoming involved with the journals and are not sure where to begin, please reach out to the editorial office for guidance. The journals offer training programs, reviewer incentives and FASTRO points. No matter your professional interests and publishing history, the journals offer an opportunity to shape the field and foster meaningful connections. |
| Reminder – Join the Early Career Community on the ROhub to interact with your colleagues. |
