2024 Honorary Member

ASTRO has names Laura Thevenot, ASTRO CEO, as the 2024 ASTRO Honorary Member, a unique designation for a non-clinician. Her vision, strategic know-how and political savvy during her tenure at ASTRO made her an impactful leader, heading the Society’s helm over the past 22 years of growth and achievement.

Ms. Thevenot’s field of study provided a clue to her future, as a double major in Public Administration and Political Science from Miami University of Ohio. Her career had its start managing the public and community relations program of an investment banking firm in Houston. In 1987, Ms. Thevenot moved to Washington, DC, where she served as the Administrative Officer for the Senate Select Committee on Secret Military Assistance to Iran and the Nicaraguan Opposition, i.e., the Iran/Contra Committee. Following release of the final report, Ms. Thevenot signed on with The Principal Financial Group, serving as their Senior Federal Legislative Representative.

In 1993, Ms. Thevenot ventured into the health arena to stay, first at the Health Insurance Association of America (HIAA) as their Vice President for Federal Affairs, i.e., the insurance industry’s chief strategist during the deliberations of the Clinton Administration’s health care reform proposal. Next, the Federation of American Hospitals (FAH) benefited from Ms. Thevenot’s role as CEO, where her leadership skills helped their 1,700 hospitals score major legislative victories during deliberation of the Balanced Budget Act and the Medicare Modernization Act. Successful at every stop, Ms. Thevenot was ideally positioned for what came next.

One cannot discuss the history of ASTRO without marveling at Ms. Thevenot’s impact. A quick reminder, in 1998, ASTRO amicably separated from the American College of Radiology and established its own Board of Directors, bylaws and governance structure, with a staff of four people.

With energy and foresight, Ms. Thevenot steered the Society into the 21st century. When Ms. Thevenot came on board in 2002, the Society had 18 employees and its primary focus was the Annual Meeting. She noted that she is “especially proud of building the highly respected Government Relations (GR) and Health Policy (HP) committees, with expertise that ‘punches above their weight class,’” leading to the first Advocacy Day and ASTRO PAC’s establishment in 2004. Ever mindful of membership needs, she acknowledges that this is a top priority for ASTRO members.

Ms. Thevenot has also overseen the growth of the ASTRO Board of Directors to include Councils for Clinical Affairs and Quality, Science, and, more recently, Health Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. She helped to craft the detailed response to an unfavorable NY Times article on patient safety, which precipitated the provider resource, Target Safely, acclaimed by Congress, the FDA and the press. Ms. Thevenot is thrilled to have helped “lead the organization through the scrutiny and taking bold steps forward instead of being in a defensive posture.” In addition, related developments included the confidential error-reporting database (RO-ILS) and a series of patient education resources.

Ms. Thevenot oversaw the development and launch of the Accreditation Program for Excellence (APEx) in 2014, and also negotiated an improved financial relationship with Elsevier for the Red Journal and the launch of two new journals: Practical Radiation Oncology and Advances in Radiation Oncology. Working with ASTRO’s Board of Directors, Ms. Thevenot oversaw the establishment of the Radiation Oncology Institute (ROI), a $15M+ foundation established to support radiation oncology’s research mission. Presently, she is leading the effort on Capitol Hill to establish a new radiation oncology reimbursement program (ROCR) to secure long-term predictable reimbursement for radiation oncologists.

Ms. Thevenot reflects on ASTRO’s future environment and the Society’s potential role in it: “The future holds uncertainty, but it always does. ASTRO will be handling changes in reimbursement, new treatment paradigms, expansion of the field in areas of benign disease and radiopharmaceuticals, while also continuing the focus to bring the most talented and diverse field of candidates into our residency programs.”

Meanwhile, Ms. Thevenot has brought the ASTRO annual budget presently to over $25M with reserves in excess of $45M. The staff now numbers over 80 employees, 95% of whom, per surveys, would recommend working at ASTRO to a friend, testimony to her leadership and the culture she has cultivated. Other notable achievements include continued growth in membership making ASTRO the largest radiation oncology specialty society in the world with over 10K members from 87 countries; doubling the size of the Annual Meeting attendance to over 10,000; and increasing non-dues revenue by 80%.

Ms. Thevenot’s political IQ and leadership skills has raised ASTRO to be a global entity, an international society with sway at home and abroad while tending to the needs of radiation oncologists, medical physicists, radiobiologists, dosimetrists, radiation therapists and nurses. Ever mindful of her colleagues, Ms. Thevenot shares that she is “extremely proud of the staff, their commitment to our mission and members and the culture that we have built together.” In turn, the Society is grateful for her dedication.

Ms. Thevenot will be recognized on Tuesday, October 1, during ASTRO’s 66th Annual Meeting Awards Ceremony.