ASTRO’s 66th Annual Meeting will bring you world class educational sessions and the latest research and science in radiation oncology in historic Washington, DC! Whether you choose to attend the meeting in person or virtually, all attendees will enjoy a premium program with the theme of Targeting Provider Wellness for Exceptional Patient Care. Read on to see what’s in store with our key sessions and meeting highlights to help you optimize your time at the meeting and in our nation’s capital.

Clinical Trials and Plenary Sessions

The Annual Meeting Scientific Committee has created another exceptional program for 2024. The scientific program will encompass more than 2,000 abstracts presented in a variety of formats, including the return of the popular Science Highlights, Quick Pitch sessions and many opportunities to explore the more than 1,700 posters.

The much anticipated Clinical Trials sessions will be held on Sunday, September 29 at 1:00 p.m., moderated by Kenneth Rosenzweig, MD, FASTRO, and Farzan Siddiqui, MD, PhD, chair and co-chair respectively of the Annual Meeting Scientific Committee.

The Plenary Session, which features potentially practice changing studies, will be held at 1:30 p.m. on Monday, September 30, directly following the Presidential Address from Howard Sandler, MD, MS, FASTRO. Drs. Rosenzweig and Siddiqui will moderate. The Clinical Trials and Plenary sessions showcase abstracts of scientific significance deemed to have the highest merit and greatest impact on radiation oncology research and practice. Learn more about such advancements through these sessions in addition to interactive Oral Scientific and Quick Pitch sessions, Science Highlight sessions, Digital Posters, and Cancer Breakthrough sessions.

Keynotes

The Annual Meeting keynote speakers give attendees an opportunity to hear from individuals whose breadth and vision extend beyond the specialty of radiation oncology to inform them about the bigger picture of the rapidly changing health care environment. With their knowledge and expertise, this year’s keynote speakers will continue to highlight the meeting theme Targeting Provider Wellness for Exceptional Patient Care.

Bryan Sexton, PhD, is the Director of the Duke Center for Healthcare Safety and Quality. He leads the efforts around research and training that guide Duke’s quality improvement and well-being activities. A psychologist member of the Department of Psychiatry, Dr. Sexton is a psychometrician and spends time developing methods of assessing and improving safety culture, teamwork, leadership and especially workforce well-being. Currently, he is disseminating the results from a successful NIH R01 grant, using randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to demonstrate that we can cause well-being to improve in health care workers.

Dr. Sexton’s address, titled “The Science of Bite-Sized Well-Being During Uncertain Times: Evidence, Practice and Resources to Share,” will examine the science behind simple, brief and effective interventions to improve well-being. Evidence from top tier journals will be presented that both validates and normalizes emotional exhaustion and demonstrates that as much as the pandemic was associated with an increase in burnout, we now know through RCTs that bite-sized well-being interventions can cause well-being to improve in the same magnitude.

Danielle Ofri, MD, PhD, is a primary care internist at Bellevue Hospital and one of the foremost voices in the medical world today. Praised as “a born storyteller and a born physician” by Oliver Sacks, she shines an unflinching light on the realities of health care and speaks passionately about the doctor-patient relationship. Known for her compelling style that combines narrative storytelling with thoughtful reflection and focused reporting, Dr. Ofri is the author of eight books about the world of medicine. Her most recent titles include When We Do Harm: A Doctor Confronts Medical Error; What Patients Say, What Doctors Hear; and What Doctors Feel: How Emotions Affect the Practice of Medicine. Her writing can also be found in the New York Times, The New Yorker, the Atlantic, the Los Angeles Times and many other publications. She founded the Bellevue Literary Review, an award-winning, independent nonprofit literary journal and arts organization and the first literary journal to arise from a medical setting. Dr. Ofri is the recipient of many awards including the Guggenheim Fellowship, the Davies Scholar Award from the American College of Physicians, the National Humanism in Medicine Medal from the Gold Foundation and the Global Listening Legend Award.

Dr. Ofri’s address, titled “Surviving Medicine in the 21st Century,” will examine the impact of disillusionment in medicine, which feels like it has reached epidemic proportions. This address will highlight strategies for re-engaging doctors, combating burnout, and thriving in the new era of medicine. 

Awards Ceremony

Join your colleagues in honoring leaders of the field at the Awards Ceremony on Tuesday, October 1, 10:15 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. During the ceremony, 48 distinguished ASTRO members will be conferred ASTRO Fellows, and the 2024 Mentorship Award recipients, Honorary Member and Gold Medal recipients will be awarded their honors. Read more on these highly regarded members starting on page 43.

Cancer Breakthroughs

Wednesday, October 2, 9:15 a.m. - 10:15 a.m.
The Cancer Breakthroughs session brings together several medical societies in a collaborative effort to provide a summary of the year’s groundbreaking cancer studies. It is important to the field of oncology to join forces while facilitating the synthesis of information in a way that can be put into practice promptly and globally. Don’t miss this exciting session on the final morning of programming. We are happy to welcome representatives from ESTRO, AAPM and ASCO.

Presidential Symposium

Sunday, September 29
9:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

Cultivated and introduced by ASTRO President Howard Sandler, MD, MS, FASTRO, the Presidential Symposium will highlight the New Innovations in Genitourinary Cancers. The symposium sessions will review advances in multidisciplinary approaches for kidney, bladder and prostate cancers.

“Radiation therapy plays an important role in the management of GU cancers, and it is timely to provide an update of new approaches that are ready for immediate clinical implementation, including microboost for prostate cancers, SBRT for primary renal cell cancers, and updated strategies for trimodality bladder preservation for muscle invasive urothelial bladder cancers,” said Dr. Sandler. The sessions will serve as a catalyst for applying these strategies in clinical practice.

• Symposium Introduction | 9:30 a.m. - 9:35 a.m. 
  Speakers: ASTRO President Howard Sandler, MD, MS, FASTRO, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

• Session I: Renaissance of Radiotherapy for RCC | 9:35 a.m. - 10:20 a.m. 
  Moderator: Shankar Siva, PhD, MBBS, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre 
  Speakers: 

  • ISABR for RCC – Is It Ready For Primetime?: Shankar Siva, PhD, MBBS, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre

  • Strategies and Evidence for SABR in RCC: Chad Tang, MD, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center 

  • Medical Oncologist Perspective: Rana McKay, MD, University of California San Diego

• Session II: Bladder Preservation – A Modern Choice for Patients | 10:20 a.m. - 11:10 a.m. 
  Moderator: Leslie Ballas, MD, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
  Speakers:

  • Updates in TMT: The Future Is Now: Leslie Ballas, MD, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center 

  • Practical Use of Bladder Radiation Therapy: Ananya Choudhury, PhD, University of Manchester 

  • Medical Oncologist Perspective: Gopakumar Iyer, MD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

• Session III: Radiotherapy for Prostate Cancer: Innovations You Can Implement Today | 11:10 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. 
  Moderator: Ronald Chen, MD, MPH, FASTRO, University of Kansas Medical Center 
  Topics and Speakers: 

  • Microboost Review: Brandon Mahal, MD, University of Miami/Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center 

  • Re-irradiation for Local Recurrence: Ronald Chen, MD, MPH, FASTRO, University of Kansas Medical Center 

  • Oligometastatic SBRT: Phuoc Tran, MD, PhD, University of Maryland Baltimore, School of Medicine

SESSIONS OF INTEREST

Be sure to pick up a Journey Map when on site in Washington, DC, and available digitally on the Annual Meeting (AM) Portal at www.astro.org/AMportal to see a curated list of sessions to attend based on attendee type or specialty. You can also search the AM Portal to view sessions by focus area, including early career or first-time attendee, physicists, international and more. Here we highlight some of the many sessions based on special interest topics.

International

ASTRO is pleased to offer a variety of sessions for international meeting attendees or those with interest in global oncology. Along with these specific tracks, numerous other sessions share findings from an international perspective.

• Sunday, September 29, 8:00 a.m.
  International 01 – Implementing Innovations for Radiotherapy Delivery in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Challenges and Opportunities 

• Sunday, September 29, 2:30 p.m.
  International 02 – Innovations in Radiation Oncology in Latin America 

• Sunday, September 29, 4:45 p.m.
  International 03 – Reirradiation in Clinical Practice: Navigating Current Evidence and Practical Solutions 

• Monday, September 30, 7:00 a.m.
  International Attendee Welcome Breakfast

• Monday, September 30, 10:45 a.m.
  International 04 – Lancet Oncology Commission on Theranostics and Radiotherapy: Toward Bridging the Gaps in Cancer Radiotherapy Access for All 

• Monday, September 30, 3:00 p.m.
  International 05 – New Applications of Radiation Therapy: Starting a Program in a Low-Resource Setting 

• Monday, September 30, 5:00 p.m.
  International 06 – Building Radiation Capacity in Africa through Collaborations in Research and Training – Voices from ASTRO and AORTIC Members 

• Tuesday, October 1, 2:30 p.m.
  International 07 – Rethinking Clinical Trials: A Global Perspective from Academia, Cooperative Groups and Industry

• Tuesday, October 1, 5:15 p.m.
  EDU 62 - ASTRO/ESTRO Joint Session (also listed in Joint Sessions) 

Patient Safety and Quality 

The Annual Meeting is an opportunity to share best practices on quality improvement in order to elevate the standard of care. With an emphasis on patient safety and protocols, quality improvement practices influence how high-quality care is administered to patients.

• Sunday, September 29, 8:00 a.m.
  Knowledge is Power: A Decade of RO-ILS Experience 

• Monday, September 30, 8:00 a.m.
  Elevating Excellence without the Extra Steps: APEx Insights and Innovative Strategies 

• Monday, September 30, 3:00 p.m.
  SS 23: Using Yesterday’s Data to Drive Tomorrow’s Change: Advances in Patient Safety 

• Tuesday, October 1, 5:15 p.m.
  Practical Elements of a Radiopharmaceutical Program: Findings from ASTRO’s Safety White Paper 

• Tuesday, October 1, 2:30 p.m.
  Poster Q&A 08 – Patient Safety 

• Tuesday, October 1, 4:00 p.m.
  Quick Pitch 14 – From Time Tracking to AI: Let’s Drive Safer Treatments Together 

• Wednesday, October 2, 10:30 a.m. - 11:45 a.m.
  PQA 10 - Global Oncology Poster Q&A 

Health Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

ASTRO continues to expand its initiatives and education about health equity, diversity and inclusion in health care. The educational and science programs have sessions available to provide a well-rounded Annual Meeting experience while expanding professionals’ social awareness on DEI within radiation oncology.

• Sunday, September 29, 2:30 p.m.
  Workshop 03 – No Longer “Taboo:” An Interactive Workshop for Providers Navigating Compassionate Conversations with Sexual and Gender Minority (SGM) Patients 

• Sunday, September 29, 4:45 p.m.
  EDU 10 – Moving Beyond Auditory Speech: Improving Equity for Patients and Providers with Diverse Communication Needs 

• Monday, September 30, 8:00 a.m.
  EDU 15 – Addressing Disparities in the Delivery of Palliative Radiation Therapy 

• Monday, September 30, 10:45 a.m.
  SS 20 – Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Health Care 

• Tuesday, October 1, 12:45 p.m.
  EDU 40 – The Hidden Risks of Artificial Intelligence (AI): Biases and Disparities in the Global Development and Deployment of AI for Cancer Care

Physician wellness-related Sessions 

Numerous sessions will speak to the meeting’s theme of physician wellness, including the following.

• Monday, September 30, 8:00 a.m.
  PQA 03 – The Radiosurgery Society Mentored Publications: Advancing Guidance and Collaboration in Sterotactic Radiation Therapy while Enhancing Physician Wellness 

• Monday, September 30, 10:45 a.m.
  ST 01 – Overlooked No More: Managing Provider Wellness after Medical Error 

• Monday, September 30, 1:00 p.m.
  Presidential Address: Is There a Relationship Between Provider Well-Being and Quality of Patient Care? 

• Tuesday, October 1, 8:00 a.m.
  ST 02 – Promoting Sustainability, Resilience and Growth for Providers Caring for the Pediatric Patient: A Storytelling Session 

Joint Sessions

• Monday, September 30, 5:00 p.m.
  EDU 32 – ASTRO/JASTRO Joint Session: Advances in Liver Cancer Radiation Therapy 

• Tuesday, October 1, 5:15 p.m.
  EDU 62 – ASTRO/ESTRO Joint Session

Radiopharmaceutical Therapy (RPT) Sessions

• Tuesday, October 1, 5:15 p.m.
  EDU 61 – Practical Elements of a Radiopharmaceutical Program: Findings from ASTRO’s Safety White Paper

• Tuesday, October 1, 12:45 p.m.
  SS 29 – Tumor Immunity Following Radiopharmaceutical + Checkpoint Blockade Varies with Treatment Sequence, Radioisotope and Tumor Immunogenicity 

18 RPT posters across three sessions 

• Sunday, September 29, 4:45 p.m.
  PQA 02: Physics 

• Monday, September 30, 5:00 p.m.
  PQA 06: Biology 

•  Tuesday, October 1 at 2:30 p.m.
  PQA 08: Genitourinary

Use the Annual Meeting Portal to search these topics, browse programming by day, build your schedule and more at www.astro.org/AMportal.