2024 Year in Review

I am well into my first few months as CEO of ASTRO and have enjoyed meeting some of you personally and look forward to meeting more of you in the year ahead. As we embark on a new era, I am pleased to present a review of the Society’s accomplishments from 2024. I would be remiss to not recognize the leadership of my predecessor, Laura Thevenot, who is enjoying retirement after 22 years leading the Society, and oversaw the completion of many of these accomplishments.

Leading off with one of ASTRO’s most significant legislative initiatives to date, the Radiation Oncology Case Rate (ROCR) Value-Based Payment Program Act was introduced by a bipartisan group of health policy lawmakers in May, just days before nearly 100 ASTRO advocates came to Washington, DC, for our annual Advocacy Day. Garnering the support of more than 75 organizations, including one of the top 10 largest U.S. hospital systems and nine oncology societies, ASTRO is preparing for the ROCR Act to be reintroduced in 2025.

In late February and leading into spring, ASTRO hosted the 2024 Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancers Symposium and the Annual Refresher Course, and ASTRO welcomed Rachel Jimenez, MD, as the new Advances in Radiation Oncology Editor-in-Chief. In that same month, ASTRO hosted the inaugural Radiopharmaceutical Therapy (RPT) Roundtable meeting, bringing clinicians and industry together to discuss opportunities to advance the growth of RPT in radiation oncology. A second RPT Roundtable was held in November.

2024 brought exciting updates to ASTRO’s APEx – Accreditation Program for Excellence^® program. APEx unveiled updated standards, a new portal, and improved processes. Using the previous nine years of program data, APEx strengthened the Self-Assessment and Facility Visit processes and transitioned to a more robust portal to better serve as the centralized hub for all accreditation-related activities. Additionally, APEx now offers a new RPT accreditation.

June 2024 marked the 10-year anniversary of the creation of the Radiation Oncology Incident Learning System (RO-ILS^®). Launched a decade ago in collaboration with AAPM, RO-ILS has grown to include more than 850 facilities and promotes a workplace with a strong safety culture. To date, RO-ILS has published more than 60 educational documents publicly (astro.org/roilsreports), allowing non-RO-ILS participants access to case studies and reports themed on specific topics garnered from data reported in RO-ILS to further educate and promote a culture of safety across the specialty.

A collaboration with Epic was forged to begin including ASTRO’s RTAnswers patient education materials on their MyChart Care Companion. The first module launched in May to assist patients diagnosed with intact prostate cancer. The work is spearheaded by the Communications Committee and continues into 2025 when they hope to soon launch a breast cancer module and continue with many other disease sites over time.

ASTRO’s ongoing outreach to medical students continued over the course of 2024 with six bimonthly Q&A sessions hosted by a radiation oncologist and radiation oncology resident, as well as attendance at various medical student association gatherings. ASTRO awarded 10 remarkable students with the Medical Student Fellowship Award and invited students in the metropolitan Washington, DC, region to attend the Aspiring Scientists and Physicians program at the 2024 Annual Meeting. This year marked record attendance of medical students at the Annual Meeting, and we are excited to welcome many of these students into the specialty as they continue their medical education.

ASTRO published four clinical practice guidelines in 2024: Partial Breast Irradiation; Bone Metastases; HPV+ oropharyngeal; and a rectal cancer focused update. Eight guidelines are in production: Postmastectomy Radiation Therapy; Grade 4 Diffuse Gliomas; Anal; Gastric; Bladder; Hypofractionated Radiation Therapy for localized prostate cancer; Hodgkin lymphoma; and Pancreas. ASTRO is also working on 12 collaborations with other organizations and completed four in 2024.

Our Grants and Fellowships programs continue to grow as we strive to further support fostering research. In partnership with five other oncology organizations, ASTRO awarded almost $1.4 million across six grants and fellowships, investing in the research careers of nine promising investigators.

In November, ASTRO launched the public awareness campaign, Radiation Therapy in Focus. This online campaign is targeted to cancer patients as they seek information about cancer treatment online. The campaign includes an FAQs handout and a short quiz to test patients’ knowledge of radiation therapy and promote the facts about the treatment.

The end of 2024 saw the inaugural meeting of the newly formed Community Practice Task Force, which aims to better integrate community practice physicians into ASTRO committees and increase engagement and satisfaction among this cohort of members.

As 2025 will be my first full year in the role, I wanted to share the seven areas and initiatives where I will be focusing my attention:

1. Member outreach with roadshows
2. Public policy – ROCR
3. Value of radiation oncology
4. Budget and continued financial viability
5. Support of science and innovation
6. International growth
7. Expanding scope of the specialty

I am grateful to have the opportunity to lead this wonderful Society and am excited for the future of the field. This list of accomplishments from 2024 would not be possible without you, our dedicated ASTRO members. Here’s to 2025!