The Beam

THE BEAM THE THE BEAM BEAM N OVEMBER 2015 OCTOBER 2014

Department of Radiation Oncology

Dear Friends,

As I approach my 12 year anniversary with the University of Maryland Department of Radiation Oncology, I feel extremely fortunate and very We are that of our department keeps expanding, especially proud to thrilled be Chairman such an extraordinary department filled with with the opening of and the Maryland Treatment Center. expansion remarkable staff faculty. WeProton have grown very much overThis the years has included adding new faculty positions to meet the ever increasing and I am extremely thankful to each and every one of you for your tireacademic and clinical demands as well as the expansion of our current less devotion in growing “together”.

infrastructure in many areas of the department. We are very excited to welcome the itnew toso our work family. willatsee In September, wasadditions great to see many alumni andYou friends ournew members in of San our Francisco team throughout all of our sites and in this of the event onboard the Hornblower Cruise!

Theedition sights were Beam, you will learn more information about many of them.

Please take spectacular and it is always a pleasure catching up with all of you. We a moment to welcome to our department. were also thrilled to see sothem a departmental “record setting” of 28(!) presentations and posters from our faculty and residents while in San Francisco AlthoughatIASTRO. wasn’t at the 6th Annual Alumni and Friends Event in San Antonio, honoring Dr. Carl

Mansfield, I heard the event was a wonderful! Celebrating our former Chairman with the Radia-

Just a few weeks ago we held our “Countdown to Ringing in Hope” tion Oncology team at Thomas Jefferson was a pleasure and the Mariachi Band helped everyone Event at the Maryland Proton Treatment Center. With over 300 guests, get into the fiesta theme mood. In addition we had a record breaking number of presentations at there was awith tremendous sense of excitement that presenter filled the air in anticiASTRO, 54 ! Congratulations to every and all of the faculty, residents and staff pation of the opening of our proton center in just one year and what it who were involved. will mean to have this latest “tool in our cancer fighting toolbox” to give even greater hope for patients who can benefit from the most advanced Table of Contents: Thisofweek wetherapy! are seeing our first consults in the Maryland Proton Treatment Center and will form proton

start treatment in mid January. Everyone has worked tirelessly on insuring the center is Gratefulthat Patients

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While am patients. proud to see your dedication andtosupport for who thesehas events, I make the dream of MPTC a readyI for A special thank you everyone helped Alumni News 3 am mostand proud to see your dedication, support and teamwork in regards reality latest cancer fighting tool for patients in the mid-Atlantic and beyond. to providing great patient care. You will see in this edition of the Beam Magic Castle 4 reminders of what a great job you are doing and the great positive imMPTC Ceremony 5 As always, you alland fortheir yourfamilies. hard work, especially as letters we transition our new faculty, staff and pact it has onthank our patients There are several proton center as part of our University of Maryland Radiation Oncology Team! from grateful patients outlining the compassionate care from our excepIn The News 6 tional faculty and staff. We are also delighted to introduce many of the Fall Social 10 new faculty and staff to our growing department and family.

I want to thank each and every one of you for your hard work and tireless energy, and the MD, difference make in the lives of our patients and William F. Regine, FACR,you FACRO each other every day.

Have a wonderful andProfessor healthy holiday season.

Isadore & Fannie Schneider Foxman Chair and

Residency

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Department Highlights

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Community Sites

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Table of Contents Chairman’s Corner

page Finance 1 Residency Program page 8

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Grateful Patients

page 2

Department News

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Magic Castle

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Finance News

to patients and caregivers by way of collaboration Fall Social within and beyond the discipline of Radiation Oncology INSPIRED BY tireless OUR PATIENTS AND DRIVEN BY PASSION: Alumni News and through our focus on clinical

page 5

To be leadersand in Community defining state-of-the-art care Service, Research, Education Outreach.

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INSPIRED BY OUR PATIENTS AND DRIVEN BY PASSION:

William F. Regine, MD

Isadore & Fannie Schneider Foxman Chair care and Professor To be leaders in defining state-of-the-art

to patients and caregivers by way of collaboration within and beyond the discipline of Radiation Oncology and through our tireless focus on clinical

In The News

Publications

page 6

page 10

page 22

ASTRO Presentations page 23

Note: The Beam is now Publications

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being published 3 times Upcoming Events page 29 per year.

The Department of Radiation Oncology

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The tables were turned on August 23rd when we got the chance to say how grateful we were for a former patient who organized a fundraiser for our department with the help of his band, DeClassified. Chappie’s served up great food and drinks and those in attendance were singing along and dancing with the band. Dr. Regine shared his love of everything Italian with the band’s singer who also wore his “Italia” shirt. Special thanks to Dick (below in his O’s jersey) and his wife, Elaine, who worked the raffle table, for organizing such a great event that supported our Virtual Needs Pantry.

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Grateful Email To Dr. Feigenberg: It is OVER! I had my last blast yesterday.

I want to thank you one more time for all that you, Dr. Kasmodel & Dr. T have done for me.

This whole experience was a very positive one.

Your professionalism and personality definitely made my success possible taking a lot of the trauma out of the experience. Because of your medicine and the Rad Onc staff’s attention to finite detail, I came through this w/a skin irritation and none of the horrors that were in the disclaimer.

Doc, because language limits our ability to express our feelings I’m stuck w/Thank You so very, very much and this really doesn’t fully express what I feel.

You’re truly one of the good guys and should wear the white hat.

Let me close by ending that you will be in my prayers forever. I pray for your good health and happiness both personally and professionally.

Grateful Email to Dr. Vujaskovic: Dr. “V”—Wanted to tell you yesterday but got distracted. Your staff, including administrative, is great! They were so caring, patient, and kind to me during my treatment. I especially cite Andrew (Cox) and Lolly (Johnson) who handled my Heat Therapy. Lolly is a GEM!! Thank you for your care.

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The Department of Radiation Oncology

The BEAM In each edition of the BEAM we are pleased to highlight the amazing strength and determination exhibited by our younger patients, their families, and our outstanding faculty and staff who have dedicated their lives to making a difference.

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For the second year in a row, the department gathered at Mustang Alley’s for an evening of bowling, laughter and spirits. Some Rad Onc team members displayed real “style” while bowling.

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The Department of Radiation Oncology

The BEAM If you’d like to join the University of Maryland Department of Radiation Oncology Alumni Association, please contact Jill Rosenberg at (410) 328-7618 or by email at jrosenberg@umm.edu.

The 6th Annual Alumni and Friends Event: This year’s Alumni and Friends Event was even more special as the University of Maryland, Thomas Jefferson and the Association of Black Radiation Oncologists celebrated former chairman, Carl M. Mansfield, MD, ScD, FASTRO, who was selected to receive the 2015 ASTRO Gold Medal, ASTRO’s highest honor. The fiesta themed event was held at the Hotel Contessa in San Antonio on Sunday, October 18th. Special thanks to everyone who came out to congratulate Dr. Mansfield making the event not only special, but also fun.

Former Chair Dr. Carl Mansfield Presented With ASTRO Gold Medal: The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) honored former Radiation Oncology Chairman Carl M. Mansfield, MD, ScD (Hon), with the 2015 -ASTRO Gold Medal during ASTRO’s 57th Annual Meeting. The ASTRO Gold Medal recognizes outstanding lifetime contributions in the field of radiation oncology, including research, clinical care, and teaching, as well as through their dedicated service to ASTRO. Dr. Mansfield retired from a nearly 50-year medical career in 2002.

The ASCO Post—Sept. 25 https://umm.gd/1R58vTI

Dr. Kruti Patel Welcomes Baby Girl: Former resident, Dr. Kruti Patel, gave birth to her first child, a daughter, on August 3rd. Anjali Amit Patel weighed 6 lbs 15 oz and measured 19 in long. Congratulations Kruti!

We Love Hearing From You: Whether it’s personal (marriage, babies, moves, etc.) or professional (promotions, job changes, graduations, certifications, etc.) it truly puts a smile on our faces to hear about your accomplishments. Please send updates to us so that we can share your milestones! To share your personal and professional news with us, please contact Cathy Hall at chall1@umm.edu or (410) 328-6928.

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Dr. Nichols Promoted to Clinical Director: In July 2014, Elizabeth Nichols, MD, assumed the role of Associate Clinical Director for the Department of Radiation Oncology only one year after completing her residency here. Since that time, Dr. Nichols has become increasingly effective in working with our Medical Directors and non-faculty leadership team during a time of great transition in our Department. As a result, she was promoted to Clinical Director effective August 5th . Congratulations Dr. Nichols!

Dr. Mishra Awarded ASTRO Grant: The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) has selected Mark Mishra, MD as one of seven leading physician-researchers recognized at ASTRO’s 57th Annual Meeting, October 18–21, 2015, in San Antonio, Texas. They will share a total of $675,000 in awards and grants for research in radiation oncology. Dr. Mishra will compare patient-reported outcomes to determine if the use of intensity-modulated radiation therapy compared to three-dimensional cathode ray tube can result in a reduction in patientrelevant side effects after prostate irradiation. To read more, please visit: The ASCO Post—Sept. 25 http://umm.gd/1G6xOOR

Dr. Malyapa Joins MPTC: Robert Malyapa, MD, PhD., joined the department on November 3rd and will be primarily based at the Maryland Proton Treatment Center (MPTC). Dr. Malyapa just completed serving as a Senior Radiation Oncologist and Physician-in-Charge of the Pediatric Proton Service at the Center for Proton Therapy, Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) in Villigen, Switzerland. He is internationally recognized for his work in proton therapy. Dr. Malyapa has over 9 years of extensive clinical and research experience with proton therapy patients and prior to joining the PSI was faculty at the University of Florida Proton Therapy Institute (UFPTI), where he served as principal investigator on proton therapy protocols and lead physician for tumors of the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses, nasopharynx, skin with intracranial perineural invasion, oropharynx, chordomas and chondrosarcomas of base of the skull and spine.

Welcome Dr. Malyapa!

GammaPod Clinical Trials Begin: The GammaPod, developed by Cedric X. Yu, MS, DSc., will begin clinical testing after 10 years of research and development. The GammaPod is a first-of-its-kind treatment of breast cancer which uses thousands of precisely focused beams from 36 rotating sources to deliver targeted radiation directly to the breast tumor while minimizing damage to surrounding tissue and organs such as the heart and lungs. We congratulate Dr. Yu on this milestone!

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James “JW” Snider, MD is currently doing his 6-month research block at the Paul Scherer Institute in Switzerland (PSI). Since leaving in September, he has been receiving intensive training in and performing research on the benefits of pencil beam scanning (“spot scanning”) proton radiotherapy. PSI pioneered the technique and this is an incredible opportunity for J.W. We wish you the best and look forward to your return in Mid-March.

Residency Program Interviews Friday, December 4th and Friday, December 11th The Radiation Oncology Residency Training Program will be conducting residency interviews on two consecutive Fridays in December. Please make sure you check with Tina Begay Doerer if you have any questions about the interview schedule. Tina can be reached at tbegay@umm.edu or (410) 328-1677.

Visiting Italian Residents: In September, we were joined by Drs. Daniele Scartoni and Irene Giacomelli from the University of Florence, Italy. They are in their final year of residency training and will be spending the next 6 months with us observing and working on a research project.

Welcome to the University of Maryland!

Lynn Sage Symposium Scholar Awards: Dr. Neha Bhooshan and Dr. James “J.W.” Snider, III were selected for the Lynn Sage Symposium Scholars Program. Through a generous grant from the Lynn Sage Cancer Research Foundation, a limited number of applicants were accepted into the program, which took place in conjunction with the 17 th Annual Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Symposium (October 29 to November 1, 2015 in Chicago, IL). The Lynn Sage Symposium Scholars Program is an annual opportunity for residents and fellows to ascertain the latest clinical and scientific advances in breast cancer research through their attendance at the symposium. It is an unrivaled opportunity to collaborate with esteemed colleagues in the breast cancer field and meet breast cancer experts from around the world. In addition to attending the main symposium sessions, the awardees participated in a forum to discuss case studies contrasting the differences or similarities in the management of patients with various breast cancer disease states. Additionally, physicians from both the academic and private practice settings will present their experiences, recommendations, and guidance on the career paths available to residents and fellows. Congratulations to Neha and J.W. on being named Lynn Sage Symposium Scholars!

Congratulations Jason and Alex: Dr. Jason Molitoris became the proud dad of his second little girl, Madeline Karen Molitoris, who was born on June 12th weighing in at 6lbs. 14 oz. Big sister Charlotte, who is 3, loves being a big sister.

Dr. Alex Engelman and wife Adrienne welcomed their second son, Enzo Michael Engelman on November 2, 2015. Baby Enzo weighed in at 7lbs and was 20 inches long.

To share resident news, please contact Tina Begay Doerer at: (410) 328-1677 or by e-mail at tbegay@umm.edu

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Please mark your calendars - Upcoming Lectures: All lectures will be held in the Nicola Regine Conference Room (Room GGK0101).

Everyone is encouraged to attend.

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Invited Lecture Title:

Lecture Time: 5:00 P.M. – 5:45 P.M.

“Adverse Event Reduction – breaking the glass ceiling of cancer therapy”

Ulrich Rodeck, M.D., Ph.D. Professor and Vice Chair, Dermatology and Cutaneous Biology Professor, Radiation Oncology Deputy Director,

Visiting Professor Lecture Topic:

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

“Gastrointestinal”

Lecture Time: 5:00 P.M. – 5:45 P.M.

Andre Konski, M.D. Professor

Visiting Professor Lecture Topic:

Thursday, January 14, 2016

“Breast Cancer”

LectureTime: 8:00 A.M. – 8:45 A.M. Jennifer R. Bellon, M.D. Assistant Professor Harvard University

New Virtual Professor Lecture Series: The University of Maryland Department of Radiation Oncology is now hosting a Virtual Professor Lecture Series. The lecture series will feature faculty from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). The first Virtual Professor Lecture was held on Monday, October 5th at 1:00 pm in the Nicola Regine Conference Room. The Virtual Professor was Dr. Jennifer De Los Santos, Professor and Medical Director, Kirklin Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center, UAB. Dr. De Los Santos gave her talk via video conference and the title of her talk was “Regional Node Irradiation for Breast Cancer: Discussion of MA.20 and EORTC results”. All faculty are welcome to attend these lectures. The next lecture date and topic will be announced soon.

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The Department of Radiation Oncology

Clinical Trial Accruals Jan 1st – Sept 30th:

UMMC

UCH

BWMC

CMRO

MPTC

TOTALS

NRG

8

11

5

1

--

25

GCC

16

0

0

0

--

16

Non-GCC

0

0

0

0

--

1

Totals

25

11

5

1

--

42

1 RTOG 0534 Prostate: Amin (1) 1 RTOG 0631 SBRT Spine Mets: Amin (1) 3 RTOG 0815 Prostate: Citron (1), Kaiser (1), Oh (1) 1 RTOG 0920 H & N: Regine (1) 4 RTOG 0924 Ph III UFInt/Fhi Prostate: Amin (2), Kwok (1), Vujaskovic (1) 1 RTOG 1010 PHIII Esoph HER2+ : Suntha (1) 5 RTOG 1173 PHIII Breast Early Local Therapy: Cohen (1), Citron (1), Mishra (3) 1 RTOG 1304 PHIII Eval: (+)Ax convert to (-) Ax after Neo-adj-Chemo: Cohen (1) 1 RTOG 1470 PHII HSPPC-96 rGBM: Kwok (1) 6 NRG BN001 ND GBM Proton/Photon: Mehta (3), Mishra (3) 1 NRG CC001 Mishra (1) 1 GCC 0943 Dynamic MRI - Lung: Feigenberg (1) 7 GCC 1043 H&N MRI: Suntha (4), Chuong (2), Regine (1) 5 GCC 1224 PHII GBM WBRT w/c Tem & aTem: Regine (1) Kwok (2), Mehta (2) 1 GCC 1324 Folfirinox & SBRT Pancreas: Chuong (1) 2 GCC 1344 Novocure (Optune) NovoTTF: Kwok (2) 1 Non-GCC Adelphi Values Survey Study: Mehta (1)

Welcome Fahima Khan, PhD: Dr. Fahima Khan joined the Maryland Proton Treatment Center as a Clinical Research specialist. She moved from Toronto, Canada where she used to work as a clinical research coordinator in the Medical Hematology and Oncology division of Princess Margaret Hospital of University of Toronto, Canada. She has experience in both investigator’s initiated and industry sponsored trials.

Farewell Michelle Morgan: On August 25th, the department gathered to bid farewell to one of our favorite researchers. Michelle traveled to the community sites and worked closely with faculty and staff throughout the department. Her kindness and work ethic will be missed greatly.

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DTRS Scientists to work with DHHS: Under the leadership of Director, Zeljko Vujaskovic, MD, PhD, DTRS radiation scientists have been selected to work with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Our work with BARDA will be to support the development of radiologic and nuclear countermeasures. The studies currently being done at DTRS not only have value for medical countermeasures in case of a possible large scale radiation accident or terrorist act , but they also provide information that can benefit patients being treated for a variety of cancers.

Accompanying this selection, Dr. Vujaskovic received a research award from the Biological Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA)/Health and Human Services Administration (HHS): “ID/OQ for BARDA CRN Animal Model” (HHSO100201500009; task order activation up to $20 million per year for 5 years). Congratulations to Dr. Vujaskovic and his entire team at DTRS on this prestigious selection.

Congratulations to research scientist, Vlado Antonic, on the birth of his first child. Daughter Masha was born on October 22nd and weighed 8lbs 1oz and was 20 inches long.

Zeljko Vujaskovic, MD, PhD: from National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases/National Institutes of Health (NIAID/ NIH), for “Administrative supplement to: U01 mitigation of radiation-induced pulmonary injury with Nrf2 activator” ($149,997) Zeljko Vujaskovic, MD, PhD: from Stemnion Inc., for “Efficacy of human AMP cells to mitigate bone marrow injury and improve survival with allogeneic bone marrow transplantation following partial body irradiation” ($120,000) Zeljko Vujaskovic, MD, PhD, Michael Chuong, MD, from Immunomedics Inc., for “IMMU-107-04 An International, MultiCenter, Double-Blind, Randomized, Phase III Trial of Y-Clivatuzumab Tetraxetan plus Low-Dose Gemcitabine Versus Placebo plus Low-Dose Gemcitabine in Patients with Metastatic (Stage IV) Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma who Received at Least Two Prior Treatments (PANCRIT-1) ” (up to $130,730) Jerimy Polf, PhD, from the National Cancer Institute/National Institutes of Health (NCI/NIH), R01: “Prompt gamma imaging for the in vivo range verification during proton therapy” (R01 CA187416; 5 for a total of $2,717,913).

Feyruz, Rassool, PhD, from the National Cancer Institute/National Institutes of Health (NCI/NIH), R21 for " Mechanisms for sensitivity to PARP inhibitors in cancers involving ALT NHEJ” (R21 CA186974, 2 years for a total of $367,249) Mark Mishra, MD, from the American Society for Radiation Oncology ASTRO), the Comparative Effectiveness Award, for “Reducing patient-relevant adverse events following prostate irradiation: A patient-focused comparative effectiveness evaluation of 3D -CRT and IMRT" ($100,000) John, Eley, PhD, from the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM), the 2015 AAPM Research Seed Funding Grant, for “Microbeam Therapy with Light Ions”, ($25,000) Minesh Mehta, MBChB, from NRG Oncology Foundation, Inc., for “Continuation of Brain Tumor Committee Chair for NRG Oncology Network Group Operations Center” ($15,000) Mohan Suntharalingam, MD, from NRG Oncology Foundation, Inc., for “Continuation of Membership Committee Co-Chair for NRG Oncology Network Group Operations Center” ($7,000)

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Welcome New Front Desk Staff:

Sara Merkin joined the department in August as a Patient Access Coordinator. Sara is a recent graduate of James Madison University with a degree in Health Science. She has previously served as a public health intern for the American Cancer Society.

Brooke Cavasina joined the department in October as a Registration Admitting Clerk.

Brooke has worked with the public her whole life, however, this is her first job in the medical field and she is extremely excited to be working with our patients.

Nicole Pham joined the department in October as a Registration Admitting Clerk at the Maryland Proton Treatment Center. Nicole has a degree in Health Administration and Public Policy from UMBC. She has previously served an intern for The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and worked at Maxim Healthcare Services.

Ae’sha Chester joined the department in October as a Patient Access Coordinator at the Maryland Proton Treatment Center. Ae’sha is currently studying Business Management at University of Baltimore. She has previously served as a Customer Service Representative for Mariner Finance.

Morgan Rogers joined the department in October as a Patient Access Coordinator at the Maryland Proton Treatment Center. Morgan is a recent graduate of the University of Maryland, College Park with a degree in Hearing and Speech Science. She has previously served as a Medicaid representative with Maryland Physicians Care.

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Please welcome Janis Marcella, RN back to the Radiation Oncology Team. Janis graduated from Catonsville Community College and went on to obtain her Baccalaureate from the College of Notre Dame of Maryland University. She has been nursing for 22 years, with over 16 years in Oncology.

Please welcome Allison Pecore, RN to the Radiation Oncology Team. Allison has been a UMMC employee since early 2011. Initially working as a certified pharmacy technician in Katz pharmacy, Allison compounded IV chemotherapy medications for both inpatient and outpatient oncology patients.

Through interacting with oncology nurses, Allison decided to pursue nursing school and obtained her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Towson University. Upon graduating, Allison was hired as an inpatient nurse within UMMC's Greenebaum Cancer Center .

Preparing The Next Generation Of Nurses:

Whitney Johnson welcomed her first child, daughter Ava Grace Wallace, on August 2nd. Ava weighed in at 6lbs 14 oz and was 20cm. Congratulations Whitney!

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Reflection from Dr. Mehta: “After three long years of intensive construction, MPTC is ready to open its doors to the very first patients, anticipated to be treated in January 2016. The entire team has been working round the clock to ensure that the highest quality of service is delivered when the doors open. Our goal is to bring state-of-the-art care with easy access and affordability to our community and region in a societally-responsible and meaningful manner. We hope to have here, in Baltimore, a resource that we believe will be of great value to so many of our cancer patients in Maryland and beyond.”

Minesh P. Mehta, MBChB., FASTRO Medical Director, Maryland Proton Treatment Center

WBFF Fox 45 news visited MPTC on July 28th to film a “First Look” at the center with Dr. Minesh Mehta. To view the clip, please go to: http://foxbaltimore.com/news/local/new-maryland-proton-treatment-center-nears-completion-first-peek-insidefacility#.VbjPGrNVhHw

New Logo For MPTC Reflects Partnership:

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New Faculty & Staff: Jen Yu, PhD, DABR joined MPTC in July 2015. Dr. Yu completed her Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Physics at Lanzhou University in China before moving to the US. She attended the University of Virginia in Charlottesville where she graduated with a PhD in Physics in 2011. From 2011 to 2014, Dr. Yu was a Medical Physics Resident at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota. While at Mayo Clinic she became interested in Proton Therapy and in 2014 moved to Houston for a one year fellowship in proton therapy at the MD Anderson Cancer Center. During her time at MD Anderson, Dr. Yu received training in all aspects of clinical proton physics. Her research efforts at MD Anderson were dedicated to the complex problem of treating moving tumors with pencil beam scanning proton therapy.

Mingyao Zhu, PhD, joined MPTC in July 2015. Dr. Zhu completed her undergraduate education at Nankai University in Tianjin, China before moving to the United States for graduate school. She attended the College of William and Mary and Williamsburg Virginia where she graduated with a PhD in Physics. From 2010 to 2012, Dr. Zhu was a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO. During her time in St. Louis, she investigated prostate motion and deformation using the Calypso tracking system. Dr. Zhu joined the Harvard Medical Physics Residency Program, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in 2012, and completed a three year Research Fellow/ Medical Physics Residency Program from which she recently graduated. Her research efforts at MGH were focused on implementing a 2D – 3D image registration algorithm for the alignment of proton patients. She also evaluated the dosimetric effects of potential patient positioning errors. During her Medical Physics residency rotation at the MGH proton facility, Dr. Zhu worked on a new daily QA procedure and participated in all routine medical physics tasks.

In September 2015, Missi Hoch joined MPTC as Associate Director of Program Development. Missi will focus on marketing & communications, strategic & business development, support our philanthropic initiatives and assist with our educational programs. Missi will work very closely with Jill Rosenberg in her role.

Missi joined the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC) in March 2014 as a Marketing Manager.

In this role, she was responsible for developing and executing the marketing strategy and a variety of branding initiatives for Greenebaum Cancer Center, Central Maryland Radiation Oncology, Maryland Proton Treatment Center and Women’s Health. In addition to her corporate marketing experience, Missi held positions at several advertising agencies where she represented healthcare and academic organizations such as Children’s National Medical Center, Society of Interventional Radiology, American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons and Tai Sophia Institute (now the Maryland University of Integrative Health.) She has conducted market research and provided strategic direction for numerous TV, radio, print, direct mail, and online marketing campaigns. She has also authored and developed marketing materials for business development purposes targeting referral sources, payer sources, patients, and family caregivers.

Emily Robinson (left) joined MPTC in August as Supervisor of Concierge Services. Before joining Radiation Oncology, Emily worked in the hospitality industry as a Sales Manager for various hotels, and had the privilege of working specifically with proton patients at Loma Linda University Medical Center.

Daniel Strauss (right) joined MPTC as a Medial Physics Assistant. Daniel is a recent graduate of the University of Maryland with a degree in Physics. During college Daniel worked as a Research Assistant in the Astronomy Department .

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MPTC Happy Hour Tours: Even Superman is Impressed: As we prepare to open our doors as a regional treatment center, we are offering happy hour tours of MPTC to increase public awareness of what proton therapy is and how fortunate we are to have this amazing facility right in our own backyard. Come see this impressive building that boasts: 

90 ton cyclotron where particles travel at two-thirds the speed of light



4,000+ trucks of concrete (about 36,900 cubic yards)

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206 miles of reinforcing steel bar

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29 miles of electrical conduit

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11 miles of piping

If you, or a group of 10 or more (colleagues, friends, family, etc.), would like to arrange for a happy hour tour of MPTC, complete with drinks and appetizers, please contact Missi Hoch at mhoch@umm.edu or by phone at 410-369-5252.

Emily Robinson, Supervisor of Concierge Services at MPTC participated in the Baltimore Running Festival in October by running the Half Marathon! “My husband and I ran the Half Marathon and it was incredible! Emily said, “it was so inspiring and encouraging to see the community of Baltimore come together and support each other. There were thousands of people of all different ages and sizes participating in the event and even more spectators cheering the runners along. Residents were out on their front porches cheering and there were young children with their parents and law enforcement lining the streets clapping, holding inspirational signs and high fiving the runners as they passed by! It was awesome!!”

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Dr. D’Souza Named Vice President for Enterprise Data and Analytics for the University of Maryland Medical System: Warren D'Souza, PhD, MBA, FAAPM, has been appointed Vice President, Enterprise Data and Analytics for the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS). In this role, he will work with senior leadership within UMMS to establish the foundation, processes, and cultural capabilities to become an information rich and data driven organization. He will collaborate with the Information Technology & Systems Group to build infrastructure to facilitate the development of a learning organization in order to permit measurement of outcomes, monitoring of performance, and early identification of opportunities.

In this capacity, he will report to the Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer of UMMS. Dr. D’Souza will continue to serve as Chief of the Division of Medical Physics in the Department.

Welcome Stephen Herwig, Application Developer: Stephen Herwig joined the department as an Application Developer in June. He received his B.S. in Mathematics from the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP), and an M.S. in Computer Science, from Johns Hopkins University. He is currently a part-time PhD student in the Department of Computer Science at UMCP, with a focus on machine learning methods in computational biology.

Before joining UMMC, Stephen served for eight years as a mathematician and software developer for the Department of Defense.

Welcome April Brackens: April Brackens joined the Physics Department as an Administrative Assistant in August. Before joining Radiation Oncology, April worked in Facilities as a project assistant for 5 years and was part of the Shock Trauma Tower project. April will supporting the Physics department along with Kim Bayne with a focus on the Physics Residency Program and the Dosimetry Program.

New Dosimetry Trainee: Erhong Hu (right) has been doing research in our department during the past two years. She is very thankful for her dosimetry internship, and is excited for the opportunity to be a student. She looks forward to continuing her journey with us in the coming school year.

Annual Dosimetry Gathering: On September 30th, members of the dosimetry team and leadership came together for an enjoyable dinner celebration at Fogo de Chao. As our dosimetry family expands, we appreciate opportunities like this to gather together.

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Jaime LePage: Chief Therapist at MPTC We are pleased to announce the promotion of Jaime LePage to Chief Radiation Therapist for the Maryland Proton Treatment Center (MPTC). Jaime has been with our department for the last 13 years. Over the last 5 years, Jaime has held the position of Assistant Chief Therapist at the down town facility.

Jaime's dedication to patient care and staff development has contributed to the strength of the therapy group as a whole, and to the overall success of the department.

Wedding Bells for Mandy Vollmer!

Therapist Amanda “Mandy” Vollmer married Tom Clevenger in September at the Maryland Zoo. Not only were they joined by her fellow therapists, but a few animal ambassadors showed up for the photo shoot.

Mandy and Tom spent their 2 week honeymoon driving through the Pacific Northwest, hiking and exploring the unique towns of Oregon and Washington States.

Team Support: Officer Crawford wanted to celebrate his end of treatment with all of his “team” and that included the nurses and therapists that took care of him. He rang the bell on his last day surrounded by his Rad Onc Team, his family, and Howard County Police Department co-workers. Truly a touching moment with tears of joy all around.

Dosimetrist Felita Christie has an artist in the family. Her son, Anoh Brou Jr., submitted 2 pieces of artwork for the 3rd Annual Employee Art show that will be displayed through November in the hospital and are available for purchase. The titles of his pieces are “Relaxed Inspiration” and “The Breakaway”.

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Out With the Old, In With the New: In January 2015 we began the process of replacing our Elekta linear accelerator with a TrueBeam machine. The vault was out of commission during that time and all of our patients were treated on the Trilogy linear accelerator which required our treatment schedule to change significantly. We began treating patients from 5am until 11pm and were also open on most weekends. Our entire clinic pulled together to cover these very early and very late shifts. TrueBeam’s first day of treatment was July 16th. Not only are we extremely appreciative to the entire staff for their flexibility and teamwork during this time but we were thrilled to return to normal operating hours!

Therapy Scholarships Awarded: Kaila Biddison and Christina Welsh could hardly contain their excitement upon learning that each had received a Nursing and Allied Health Professional Scholarship. This award recognizes the excellent patient care that they provide and offers the opportunity for them to further their education. Congratulations Christina and Kaila!

Congratulations April Holtman: April Holtman, Assistant Chief Therapist, was one of three selected for the “People Who Care Award” in July. April was nominated by her co-workers who stated that she “exemplifies every pillar of the Standards of Excellence here at BWMC to the highest degree”. Thank you April for not only being a dedicated member of the Radiation Oncology team but also for setting an example that is noticed by others.

Certification Achieved...

Dosimetrist Giannina Alarcon (left) passed her board exam in August and achieved certification in our field —Congratulations!!

Dr. Randi Cohen Welcomes Baby Girl: On September 29th, Dr. Randi Cohen welcomed her 3rd child, Jenna Ann Balazik who weighed 7lbs 9oz. Big brother and sister, Maddox and Avery, are loving their little sister!

Halloween Fun at BWMC: Dr. Mitch Oh isn’t the least bit afraid as those devils, Anita Bragaw, RN, and Pilar Strycula, RN, hold him hostage. Lucky for him, the nearby angels, Crystal Daugherty, Alicia Price, NP, and Kennecia Shaw were there to keep him smiling. All was done in fun to support the breast cancer charitable organization, The Red Devils.

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Welcome New Faculty: Huijun Xu, Ph.D., graduated from our Physics residency program in June and joined our faculty on July 1, 2015 as Assistant Professor in the Division of Medical Physics Dr. Xu was received a Bachelor of Science in Applied Physics at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. In 2008, she came to the United States to pursue a Ph.D. degree in Medical Physics at Virginia Commonwealth University. After finishing her Ph.D., she joined the Medical Physics residency program of our department in 2013. She is the 2 nd physics resident to graduate from our residency program.

Dr. Xu’s research interest covers photon and electron dosimetry, treatment planning optimization and IGRT-related topics for external beam radiation therapy. For her PhD researches, She has developed some advanced techniques for treatment plan evaluation and optimization considering different patientspecific geometric uncertainties.

Sung-Woo Lee, Ph.D., joined our faculty on July 14, 2015, as an Assistant Professor in the Division of Medical Physics. Dr. Lee received a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science degree in Nuclear Engineering, at Hanyang University, in Seoul, Korea. Dr. Lee received a second Master of Science degree in Health Physics at Texas A & M University, in College Station, Texas. In 2003, he completed his PhD in Nuclear Engineering, specializing in Health Physics and Medical Physics at the Texas A & M University.

Prior to joining UMMC, Dr. Lee worked in Departments of Radiation Oncology in Massachusetts and most recently in Rhode Island Hospital as an Associate Medical Physicist.

Making A Difference: In our busy and ever changing world, it’s not often that we get to see the long term results of our work. Dr. Sally Cheston and therapists Janet Dudek-Coleman and Randee Salas had the privilege to pose with a patient that they treated 20 years ago and is now 20 years cancer free.

Deborah Frassica, MD and nurse Shannon O’Brien attended the annual Multidisciplinary International Rectal Cancer Society conference which was held at Lankenau Medical Center in Philadelphia.

Laughter: The Best Medicine Dr. Cheston made the staff laugh when she threw a fake temper tantrum during a conversation about meaningful use.

CMRO staff gathered for Paint Night recently at a local pub and had a great time!

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Former Chief Resident Returns As Medical Director: Jack Hong, MD, FACRO, a former chief resident in the Department of Radiation Oncology, has been named Medical Director of Radiation Oncology at the Patricia D. and M. Scot Kaufman Cancer Center located on the campus of the Upper Chesapeake Medical Center. Dr. Hong began his new role on November 3, 2015. In his new position, Dr. Hong will continue the development of a robust clinical program at the radiation therapy center with state-of-the-art technologic offerings inclusive of brachytherapy and stereotactic radiation services. Dr. Hong is experienced in the latest radiation modalities including intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), image guided radiation therapy (IGRT) and stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT). In addition, he is recognized as a regional expert in the use of brachytherapy.

Welcome Nurse Practitioners: Rosemarie Hudson, MSN, CRNP, OCN joined us in September. Rosemarie has been an oncology certified nurse for over 12 years and comes to Upper Chesapeake with a diverse background in oncology nursing.

She has worked inpatient medical/surgical oncology, outpatient infusion, private practice, and palliative care.

She began her career as a nurse in Quebec, Canada. She has a Master’s degree from Walden University, and is board certified as an Adult/Gerontology nurse practitioner by both the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) and the American Nurse Credentialing Center (ANCC). She comes to us from UMMCGreenebaum Cancer Center and MedStar Union Memorial Hospital.

Yolanda Horton, MSN, RN, CRNP joined us in June. She received her Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Science of Nursing from University of Maryland School of Nursing and is board certified by American Association of Nurse Practitioners as a Family Nurse Practitioner. Yolanda spent many years at the Baltimore City Cancer Program as a nurse and later as the Breast Program Nurse Coordinator for the University of Maryland. She joins UCH Radiation Oncology from Concerted Care Group in Baltimore City

Bridget Kruse Rises To The Challenge: A shout out is in order for Bridget Kruse who participated in the 2015 AAMD Plan Challenge. This year’s anonymous case involved planning a whole brain with hippocampal sparing. Bridget scored in the top 30% of plans submitted by dosimetrists and physicists internationally. Great work!

Dosimetrist Kalin Shipman was recently highlighted in the “Who’s Who in the KCC”. Kalin is a 2011 graduate of the University of Maryland’s Dosimetry program and has been with the Kaufman Cancer Center for 4 years. As the WOW person of the month, Kalin was assigned the Who’s Who parking spot in the KCC garage.

Dr. Giovanni Lasio Welcomes A Son: On Friday, September 18, 2015, Giovanni Lasio, PhD, and his wife, Jelena, gave birth to a baby boy named Marko. Baby Marko weighed 8.4lbs and was 20 inches.

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General Information There are very few pay checks left in calendar year 2015… Please review your Federal and State exemptions, as well as any additional withholdings, in anticipation of tax assessments.

To ensure proper delivery of correspondence to your home, including your W-2, please confirm that your address is correct relating to your benefit information, as well as your paystubs. If updates are needed, please contact the Finance Office for direction.

All invoices and reimbursements should be submitted timely for processing by the Finance Office. Please be sure to use the appropriate forms that are located on the UMMC RadOnc public drive in the finance folder. If you need to verify the form you are using is correct or if you do not have access to the UMMC RadOnc public drive, please contact Selam Solomon at 410-706-5219, ssolomon@fpi.umaryland.edu or Lynn Gill at 410-706-5217, lgill@umm.edu State (UMB) Travel Administrators should ensure that all travel forms being entered are fully processed in the system to avoid delays. Please keep in mind that the approved UMB Travel form, along with the approved Preliminary Travel Request Form must be submitted to the Finance Office with the appropriate documentation for all STATE employee travel reimbursements. Also keep in mind that additional documentation is needed for international travel. These forms can be found in the UMMC RadOnc public drive. Please keep in mind that this process is for STATE employees or state funded travel only.

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Please contact Selam if you have any questions regarding the funding source, forms, processes, etc. related to your travel reimbursement or if you do not have access to the UMMC RadOnc public drive. If UMMC is funding your travel, Lynn may be contacted with any questions regarding your reimbursement. Contact information for Selam and Lynn is shown above.

State of Maryland Employees Open enrollment for 2016 Benefits is currently in process and will end on November 16, 2015. Benefit packets were mailed to the employee’s home address. If you wish to change plans, coverage levels, enroll for the first time, and/or participate in a flexible spending account, please contact the Benefits Office at 410-706-2616, located at 620 W. Lexington St., 3rd floor.

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Please note that the Flexible Spending Account limit has been increased to $2,550 beginning January 1, 2016. As a reminder, you must re-enroll in any Flexible Spending account you are currently enrolled in if you want the plan to continue into 2016.

As noted at the beginning of 2015, the State has established a Wellness Program as part of its health benefits plan. This may include nutrition education, weight management program, biometric screening, and other recommended preventive screenings.

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The Employee Wellness Program deadline has been extended to December 31, 2015.

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If you do not participate in the preventative screenings by December 31 2015, you will incur a surcharge for you and your spouse which will be added to your paychecks beginning in April 2016. Please contact the Benefits Office at 410706-2616 if you have any questions.

Department of Budget and Management (DBM) will be implementing an automated benefits system to streamline the enrollment process which will eventually eliminate the use for paper forms. Employee data updates are required. Employees were emailed a document that contained links to update their information. Please ensure that you have updated your information.

Faculty electronic time sheets will be available for use on 11/17/15. Now all exempt regular and faculty will report duty days worked in the eUMB system. Leave will continue to be accrued bi-weekly in hourly increments and balances will be available in the system.

FPI Employees All FPI employees hired before August 1, 2015 are required to complete the FY16 Mandatory Training that is due December 31, 2015.

Each employee must log into FPI Tap to access the required training courses. Please review your email from FPI regarding how to access the Tap system or contact Kim Rosko at 410-706-5227, kwholey@umm.edu for guidance.

FPI will be communicating their Open Enrollment period shortly. Please read all correspondence from FPI regarding this matter to ensure that your elections for the upcoming year are properly processed in the UltiPro system.

REMINDER: FPI employees received an email on Monday, October 5, 2015 asking each employee to login to UltiPro and sign and complete their performance evaluations by November 6, 2015. Please ensure that you have signed off on your evaluation. Your review is not considered “complete” until you have marked the review as “sign and complete”.

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An “ASTRO-nomical” number of presentations were given this year as 54 of the 56 abstracts submitted to ASTRO were accepted.

Thank you to all of our faculty and staff for your hard work and dedication to the department! Below is a complete list of our presentations.

Authors Arthur D, Winter K, Kuerer HM, Haffty B, Cuttino L, Todor D, Simone N, Hayes S, Woodward W, McCormick B, Cohen R, Sahijdak W, Canaday DJ, Brown D, Currey A, Fisher C, Jagsi R, White J

Title NRG Oncology/RTOG 1014: 1 year toxicity report from a phase II study of repeat breast preserving surgery and 3-D conformal partialbreast reirradiation (PBrI) for in-breast recurrence

Bhooshan N, Edelman MJ, Nichols E, Vyfhuis M, Feliciano J, Whitney B, Suntharalingam M, D’Souza W, Vujaskovic Z, Feigenberg S, Mohindra P

Does severe radiation pneumonitis (RP) affect clinical outcomes in non-operable stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients treated with carboplatin/paclitaxel (CP)-based concurrent chemoradiation therapy (CRT)?

Bowel and bladder function of men on a phase III randomized study of high versus standard dose 3D-CRT/IMRT in patients treated for localized prostate cancer

Bruner DW, Deshmukh S, Michalski J, Purdy J, Bosch W, Bahary JP, Patel M, Parliament M, Lock M, Lau HY, Hamstra D, Fisher S, Souhami L, Kwok Y, Seider M, Vigneault E, Gay H, Rosenthal S, Sandler H, Movsas B Hall W, Pugh S, Gilbert MR, Wefel J, Armstrong T, Wendland M, Brachman DG, Roof KS, Brown P, Crocker IR, Robins HI, Lee RJ, Chao ST, Kim LJ, Srkalovic G, Fisch B, Mehta M, Curran, Jr. WJ, Movsas B Lawton CAF, Dignam J, Hanks GE, Lepor H, Grignon DJ, Brereton HD, Bedi M, Rosenthal SA, Zeitzer KL, Venkatesan VM, Horwitz EM, Pisansky TM, Kim H, Chafe SMJ, Kwok Y, Roach M, Lin X, Sandler HM Lin SH, Merrell KW, Bhooshan N, Correa A, James S, Haddock M, Liao Z, Komaki R, Suntha M, Mehta M, Chuong M, Hallemeier CL, Mehran R Louie AV, Qu M, Bauman GS, Slotman BJ, Mehta MP, Gondi V, Mishra MV Mishra MV, Dan T, Louie AV Rao YJ, Badiyan S, Grigsby PW Regine WF, Winter K, Kessel I, Chen Y, Fugazzi J, Donnely E, Dipetrillo T, Narayan S, Plastaras J, Gaur R, Delouya G, Suh J, Meyer J, Haddock M, Didolkar M, Padula G, Johnson D, Hoffman JP, Crane CH

Bevacizumab use in patients with subtotal resection of newly diagnosed glioblastoma (GBM): A secondary analysis of RTOG 0825

Fifteen-year follow-up of Radiation Therapy Oncology Group Protocol 92-02: A phase III trial of the duration of elective androgen deprivation in locally advanced prostate cancer Radiation modality use and the incidence of postoperative complications and length of hospitalization after trimodality therapy for esophageal cancer: A multi-institutional analysis Cost-effectiveness of prophylactic cranial irradiation with hippocampal avoidance in limited stage small cell lung cancer Conditional survival probabilities following bladder preservation for patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) Survival after definitive treatment for uveal melanoma in the postCOMS era Prospective and concurrent analysis of post-resection ca19-9 level and surgical margin status (SMS) as predictors of pattern of disease recurrence following adjuvant treatment for pancreatic carcinoma: NRG Oncology/RTOG 9704 Secondary analysis

Rogers L, Zhang P, Vogelbaum MA, Perry A, Ashby L, Modi J, Alleman A, Galvin JM, Brachman D, Jenrette JM, Bovi JA, DeGroot J, Werner-Wasik M, Knisely JPS, Mehta MP

Intermediate-risk meningioma: Initial outcomes from RTOG-0539

Snider JW III, Molitoris J, Zhang B, Chuong MD

Abdominal compression during liver stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) by volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) affords significant liver sparing The effect of gene mutations on survival in patients with adenocarcinoma of the lung following the development of brain metastases

Sperduto P, Yang TJ, Beal K, Pan H, Brown P, Ho YY, Shanley R, Yeh N, Gaspar LE, Braunstein S, Sneed P, Boyle J, Kirkpatrick J, Mak K, Shih H, Engelman A, Roberge D, Arvold N, Alexander B, Lin N, Yu J, Chiang V, Hardie J, Ma D, Lou E, Sperduto W, Mehta M Zhang HH, Zhang P, Gilbert MR, Aldape KD, Chakravarti A, Magliocco A, Klimowicz AC, D’Souza WD, Corn BW, Hunter GK, Muanza TM, Dicker AP, Vigneault E, Brachman DG, Bovi JA, Robins HI, Sahijdak WM, Won M, Mehta MP Bell EH, Zhang P, 2, Buckner JC, Chang SM, Salavaggione AL, Brachman DG, Lee RJ, Murtha AD, Brown PD, Schultz CJ, Malone SC, Mehta MP, Pugh SL, Chakravarti A

NRG Oncology/RTOG 0525 role of machine learning analytic tools for survival prediction of GBM patients using clinical parameters

Treatment Responses and Survival in IDH1-mutant Grade II and III Gliomas in NRG Oncology/RTOG 9802 and 9813

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Authors Choi E, Lin M, Saboury B, Le Q, D’Emic N, Sharma N, Hanlon A, Guerrero M, Moeslein F, Chuong M

Title Liver toxicity versus dose-volume parameters of normal liver for yttrium-90 radioembolization of hepatic tumors

Chuong M, Bentzen S, Hanna N, Regine W, Mehta M, Suntharalingam M

Clinical outcomes for esophageal cancer patients treated with intensity modulated radiation therapy compared to 3D conformal radiation therapy: An analysis of the National Cancer Data Base Is pencil beam scanning dosimetrically advantageous compared to passively scattered proton therapy for unresectable pancreatic cancer?

Chuong MD, Yam M, Li Z, Langen KM, Regine WF, Mehta MP, Morris CG, Huh SN, Snider JW III, Rutenberg MS, Nichols RC Jr. Chuong MD, Zhang H, Wang J, Latifi K, Saeed N, Tan S, Choi W, Hoffe S, Shridhar R, Lu W. D’Emic N, Engelman A, Molitoris J, Hyder J, Hanlon A, Sharma NK, Moeslein FM, Chuong MD

Analytics for progression-free survival and distant metastasis prediction of anal cancer patients after chemoradiotherapy using spatial-temporal FDG-PET/CT features What is the prognostic significance of neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio and plateletlymphocyte ratio in patients treated with selective internal radiation therapy?

Diwanji T, Snider JW III, Lin JY, Engelman A, Mohindra P, Kwok Y, Mehta MP Golden DW, Spektor A, Gunther JR, Thaker NG, Braunstein S, Young K, Bernstein S, Hung AY, Brower JV, Mohindra P, Mancini BR, Ye JC, Rajag-,opalan MS Du KL, Rao YJ, Gibbs IC, Hara WY, Kharofa J, Currey A, Jimenez RB. Hyder J, Bentzen S, Hanna A, Choi E, Boggs H, Kwok Y, Feigenberg S, Regine WF, Woodworth GF, Barnholtz-Sloan J, Weltman E, Sperduto PW, Mehta MP Hyder J, Boggs DH, Chuong MD, Suntharalingam M, Burrows W, Horiba N, Zandberg DP, Cohen EP, Vujaskovic Z, Mohindra P

Volumetric analysis of the hippocampus in long term (~1 year) survivors of whole brain radiation therapy for brain metastasis Evaluation of a multi-institutional radiation oncology clerkship curriculum: A report from the Radiation Oncology Education Collaborative Study Group

Hyder J, Rana Z, Snider JW III, Amin P, Vujaskovic Z Jackson IL, Zhang Y, Bentzen S, Vujaskovic Z

Concurrent external thermal therapy (ETT) and radiation therapy (RT) yields increased efficacy with modest toxicity: A single institution experience Using gene expression signatures to elucidate the mechanisms regulating pulmonary sensitivity to radiation The use of radiotherapy does not appear to have an impact on the incidence of heart failure in patients receiving targeted HER2 based systemic therapy

Katz D, Patel K, Nichols EM, Rosenblatt P, Tkaczuk K, Baron K, Heiss B, Marshall J, Tait N, Gottlieb S, Feigenberg SJ

Prognostic models for patients with brain metastases treated with stereotactic radiosurgery with or without whole brain radiotherapy

Impact of incidental angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEi) and angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) use on pathologic complete response (PCR) to neoadjuvant chemoradiation (NA-CRT) in esophageal cancer

Kwok R, O’Brien S, Lunz L, Morgan M, Cheston S, Frassica DA, Feigenberg SJ, Nichols EM

Prospective randomized pilot study of standard skin care versus Medihoney in the prophylactic and acute management of radiation dermatitis in patients receiving adjuvant radiation therapy for breast cancer

Lan F, D’Souza W, Jeudy J, Bentzen S, Zhang H

Should regional ventilation function of the lung be considered during radiation therapy treatment planning to prevent radiation fibrosis?

Radiation lumpectomy boost and acute treatment toxicities in patients with and without reduction mammoplasty as part of breast conserving treatment

Lin JY, Bluebond-Langner R, Choi E, Cheston S, Nichols EM, Cohen RJ, Bentzen SM, Drogula C, Kesmodel S, Bellavance E, Rosenblatt P, SJ Tkaczuk K, Slezak S, Feigenberg Lin JY, Diwanji T, Snider J, Knight N, Regine WF. Lin MH, Saboury B, D’Emic N, Choi E, Le Q, Sharma N, Guerrero M, Moeslein F, D’Souza W, Chuong M Liu Y, Diwanji T, Zhang B, Zhuo J, Gullapalli R, Morales R, D’Souza W Mehta M, Dunn M, Hoppe B, Laramore G, Chang A,Vargas C, Hartsell W

Differences in cancer screening patterns between urban and suburban caregivers accompanying patients to radiation oncology Clinical implementation of novel 3D in vivo dose assessment method for yttrium90 radioembolization of hepatic lesions Correlation of tumor and node response to concurrent chemoradiotherapy and pharmacokinetic parameters derived from DCE-MRI in locally advanced head and neck cancer Fact or fiction? Proton beam therapy is primarily for patients with prostate cancer

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Authors Mohindra P, Barrow K, Kieta KM, Parker J, De Faria E, Taylor-Howell C, Dobbin T, Gibbs A, Farese AM, MacVittie TJ Molitoris J, Aggarwal S, Gzell C, Diwanji T, Mehta MP Nichols EM, Tkaczuk KH, Rosenblatt P, Kesmodel S, Bellavance E, Morgan M, Drogula C, Staats P, Citron W, Cohen RJ, Feigenberg SJ Nichols EM, Feigenberg SJ, Morgan M, Citron W, Kesmodel S, Bellavance E, Drogula C, Tkaczuk K, Rosenblatt P, Georgiade GS, Hwang ES, Broadwatrer,Duffy EA, Blitzblau R, Horton JK Nguyen TK, Goodman CD, Boldt G, Warner A, Palma DA, Rodrigues GB, Lock M, Mishra MV, Zaric GS, Louie AV Palmer JD, Mehta MP, Williams NL, Dicker AP, Werner-Wasik M, Shi W Patel N, Hegarty SE, Cantrell LA, Mishra MV, Showalter TN

Title Use of computed tomography (CT) scan to assess efficacy of mitigators of radiation-induced lung injury (RILI): A rhesus macaque whole thoracic lung irradiation (WTLI) model Minimal early increase in contrast enhancement after chemoradiotherapy for glioblastoma predicts worse overall and progression-free survival Favorable proliferative response using Ki-67 in patients prospectively treated with preoperative accelerated partial breast radiation therapy for early stage breast cancer Preoperative external beam APBI: Report of acute toxicities from 2 prospective clinical trials using 2 different fractionation schemes

Polf JC, Chuong M, Mehta M

Novel proton beam arrangements for prostate cancer using in vivo range verification may significantly reduce the risk of high grade rectal toxicities The effect of planning target volume on acute gastrointestinal toxicity following intensity-modulated radiation therapy Acute toxicities from neoadjuvant compared to adjuvant chemoradiation with the use of intensity modulated radiotherapy in resected pancreatic cancer patients

Rana Z, Snider JW III, Regine WF Shea Kowalski E, Lin J, Choi E, Chuong M, Alexander R, Zandberg D, Jiang Y, Hanna N, Xu V, Regine W Shea Kowalski E, Lin J, Chopra K, Slezak S, BellavanceE, Bluebond-Langner R, Kesmodel S, Tkaczuk K, Feigenberg S

A systematic review of health economic evaluations in radiation oncology Treatment recommendations for elderly patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma lack worldwide consensus The influence of adjuvant radiation therapy modality on outcomes for early stage uterine carcinosarcoma in a large, population-based cohort

Can altering the delivery technique of PMRT reduce complication rates for patients with staged reconstruction in an urban population?

Snider JW III, Hall A, Vadnais P, Regine WF, Nichols EM, Feigenberg SJ, Mutaf

Projected improvements in clinical outcomes utilizing a novel breast stereotactic radiotherapy (BSRT)-device for neoadjuvant partial breast irradiation (PBI)

Snider JW III, Kalavagunta C, Xu H, Schrum A, Vadnais, Marter K, Lin MH, Suntharalingam M

Improved skin sparing with volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) in head and neck irradiation utilizing skin-avoidance optimization

Snider JW III, Kalavagunta C, Xu H, Schrum A, Vadnais P, Marter K, Lin MH, Suntharalingam M Snider JW III, Mutaf Y, Hall A, Vadnais P, Aggar-wal S,Regine WF, Nichols EM, Feigenberg SJ Zhang X, Hadley C, Jackson IL, Rabbani ZN, Zhang A, Spasoievic I, Batinic-Haberle I, Vujaskovic Z Abraham C, Garsa AA, Badiyan SN, Dryzmala R, Yang D, DeWees T, Tsien C, Robinson C

Bolus effect of immobilization masks in head and neck radiotherapy mitigated by mask alteration and dosimetric optimization for skin avoidance

Chuong MD, Bhooshan N, Allen PK, Merrell KW, Mehta MP, Hallemeier CL, Liao Z, Suntharalingam M, Komaki RU, Haddock MG, Lin SH. Molitoris J, Hyder J, Engelman A, D’Emic N, Zandberg D, Cullen K, Suntharalingam M, Chuong M Katja Langen, PhD George Ding, Phd, Carri Glide-Hurst,PhD

A multi-institutional analysis of acute toxicity after neoadjuvant chemoradiation using photons or protons in trimodality esophageal cancer patients

Dosimetric improvements based on vacuum-assisted breast immobilization utilized with a novel breast stereotactic radiotherapy (BSRT)-device Hypo-CpG methylation controls PTEN/PI3K/AKT proapoptotic signaling during development of radiation-induced lung injury Internal dose escalation safely increases local control for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) brain metastases treated with stereotactic radiosurgery

Changes in lymphocyte to monocyte ratio during definitive chemoradiotherapy for locally advanced cancers of the head and neck are prognostic for survival Imaging Gently for Radiotherapy: techniques for Reducing Patient dose from IGRT

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Below is the list of publications for The Department of Radiation Oncoogy for the period of July 2015 through June 2015. A complete list of publications can be found at http://medschool.umaryland.edu/rad_onc/ Click on the National Presentations heading on the left and go to Research and Clinical Publications. Please notify Nancy Knight, Ph.D. of faculty publications at 8-6902 or nknight@umm.edu .

Vlado Antonic, PhD, research associate, Isabel L. Jackson, PhD, assistant professor, and Zeljko Vujaskovic, MD, PhD, all in the Department of Radiation Oncology, were among the authors of “Subcutaneous administration of bovine superoxide dismutase protects lungs from radiation-induced lung injury,” in the June 25 issue of Free Radical Research (2015;1–24).

Shifeng Chen, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology, was among the authors of “Sustained proliferation in cancer: mechanisms and novel therapeutic targets,” e-published on April 17 ahead of print in Seminars in Cancer Biology.

Mark V. Mishra, MD, assistant professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, was among the authors of “Factors that influence patient preferences for prostate cancer management options: a systematic review,” in Patient Preference and Adherence (2015;9:899-911). Mishra was also among the authors of “Definitive radiation therapy for stage I-II endometrial cancer: an observational study of nonoperative management,” e-published on June 8 ahead of print in the American Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Thomas MacVittie, PhD, professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, was among the authors of “Subject-based versus population-based care after radiation exposure,” e-published on June 29 ahead of print in Radiation Research.

C. Daniel Mullins, PhD, adjunct associate professor from the School of Pharmacy, Young Kwok, MD, associate professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology, and Arif Hussain, MD, professor in the Department of Medicine, were among the authors of “Measurement of skeletal related events in SEER-Medicare: a comparison of claims-based methods,” e-published on August 19 in BMC Medical Research Methodology.

Jerimy Polf, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology, was among the authors of “Imaging of prompt gamma rays emitted during delivery of clinical proton beams with a Compton camera: feasibility studies for range verification,” in the August 28 issue of Physics in Medicine and Biology (2015;60:7085–7099).

Ulrich Langner, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology, was among the authors of “3D tumor tissue analogs and their orthotopic implants for understanding tumor-targeting of microenvironment-responsive nanosized chemotherapy and radiation,” e-published on August 15 ahead of print in Nanomedicine.

Javed Mahmood, PhD, assistant professor, and Zeljko Vujaskovic, MD, PhD, professor, both in the Department of Radiation Oncology, were among the authors of “Integrated proteo-genomic approach for early diagnosis and prognosis of cancer,” epublished on August 11 ahead of print in Cancer Letters.

Michael Chuong, MD, assistant professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology, was among the authors of “Histopathologic tumor response after induction chemotherapy and stereotactic body radiation therapy for borderline resectable pancreatic cancer” in September, ahead of print in the Journal of Gastrointestinal Oncology.

Terez Shea-Donohue PhD, professor, from the Department of Radiation Oncology, was a coauthor of “Type 2 immunitydependent reduction of segmented filamentous bacteria in mice infected with the helminthic parasite Nippostrongylus brasiliensis,” in the September 17 issue of Microbiome (2015;3:40).

Katja Langen, PhD, associate professor, and Minesh Mehta, MBChB, professor, from the Department of Radiation Oncology, were the authors of “Proton beam therapy basics,” e-published on September 23 ahead of print in the Journal of the American College of Radiology.

Pranshu Mohindra, MD, assistant professor, Wilfried Goetz, research lead specialist, Radmila Pavlovic, research assistant, Isabel L. Jackson, PhD, assistant professor, and Zeljko Vujaskovic, MD, PhD, professor, all in the Department of Radiation Oncology, were among the authors of “Dose optimization study of AEOL 10150 as a mitigator of radiation-induced lung injury in CBA/J mice,” e-published on September 28 ahead of print in Radiation Research.

Mark V. Mishra, MD, assistant professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology, was among the authors of “Evaluation of brachytherapy and external beam radiation therapy for early stage, node-negative uterine carcinosarcoma” in the September October issue of Brachytherapy (201;14:606–612).

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Pranshu Mohindra, MD, assistant professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology, was among the authors of “Multi institutional implementation and evaluation of a curriculum for the medical student clerkship in radiation oncology,” e-published on September 22 ahead of print in the Journal of the American College of Radiology.

Huijun Xu, PhD, physics resident in the Department of Radiation Oncology, was among the authors of “Coverage-based trea ment planning to accommodate delineation uncertainties in prostate cancer treatment,” in the September issue of Medical Physics (2015;42:5435).

William Regine, MD, professor and chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology, was among the authors of “Glycogen synthase kinase 3β predicts survival in adenocarcinoma of the pancreas,” published on August 3 ahead of print in Clinical Cancer Research.

Minesh P. Mehta, MBChB, a professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology, was among the authors of “Management of solitary and multiple brain metastases from breast cancer,” in the April–June issue of the Indian Journal of Medical and Paediatric Oncology (2015;36(2):87–93). He was also among the authors of “Response Assessment in Neuro-Oncology (RANO) group. Response assessment criteria for brain metastases: proposal from the RANO group,” in the June issue of Lancet Oncology (2015;16 (6):e270–e278), and of “Strategies for preservation of memory function in patients with brain metastases,” in the June issue of Chinese Clinical Oncology (2015;4(2):24). He was the sole author of “The controversy surrounding the use of whole-brain radiotherapy in brain metastases patients,” in the July issue of Neuro-Oncology (2015;17(7):919–923), and was among the authors of “Phase II trial of pre-irradiation and concurrent temozolomide in patients with newly diagnosed anaplastic oligodendrogliomas and mixed anaplastic oligoastrocytomas: long term results of RTOG BR0131,” e-published on June 19 ahead of print in the Journal of NeuroOncology.

Jinghao Zhou, PhD, assistant professor; Giovanni Lasio, PhD, assistant professor; Baoshe Zhang, PhD, assistant professor; Navesh K. Sharma, DO, PhD, assistant professor; Karl Prado, PhD, professor; and Warren D’Souza, PhD, MBA, professor, all in the Department of Radiation Oncology, were among the authors of “Automated compromised right lung segmentation method using a robust atlas-based active volume model with sparse shape composition prior in CT,” e-published on July 20 ahead of print in Computerized Medical Imaging and Graphics.

Phil Brazio MD, resident in the Department of Surgery; Min C. Oh, MD, clinical assistant professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology; Nelson H. Goldberg, MD, professor in the Department of Surgery; and Cherif N. Boutros, MBChB, MSc; associate professor in the Department of Surgery, authored “Large pleomorphic hyalinizing angiectatic tumor of the forearm: A multidisciplinary perspective,” e-published on June 4 ahead of print in Surgery.

Mu-Han Lin, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology, was the lead author of “Robotic radiosurgery system patient-specific QA for extracranial treatments using the planar ion chamber array and the cylindrical diode array,” in the July 8 issue of the Journal of Applied Clinical Medical Physics (2015;16(4):5486).

Pranshu Mohindra, MD, assistant professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology, was among the authors of “Multifunctional superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles for combined chemotherapy and hyperthermia cancer treatment,” in the August 7 issue of Nanoscale (2015;7(29):12728–12736).

Terez Shea-Donohue, PhD, professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology; Rex Sun, graduate student in the Department of Radiation Oncology; and Leon McLean, MD, MPH, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Medicine, were among the authors of “Enteric nematodes and the path to up-regulation of type 2 cytokines IL-4 and IL-13,” e-published on July 15 ahead of print in Cytokine.

Boggs DH, Guerrero M, Patel K, Chen S, Moeslein F, Amin P, Vujaskovic Z. Pelvic local recurrence in a patient with muscleinvasive bladder cancer treated with interstitial thermal therapy and interstitial brachytherapy. Pract Radiat Oncol. 2015 Sep-Oct;5 (5):e483-7 Huang J, DeWees TA, Badiyan SN, Speirs CK, Mullen DF, Fergus S, Tran DD, Linette G, Campian JL, Chicoine MR, Kim AH, Dunn G, Simpson JR, Robinson CG. Clinical and dosimetric predictors of acute severe lymphopenia during radiation therapy and concurrent temozolomide for high-grade glioma. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2015;92:1000–1007.

McLean LP, Smith A, Cheung L, Sun R, Grinchuk V, Vanuytsel T, Desai N, Urban JF Jr, Zhao A, Raufman JP, Shea-Donohue T. Type 3 muscarinic receptors contribute to clearance of Citrobacter rodentium. Inflamm Bowel Dis. 2015;21:1860–1871.

Nguyen DM, Parekh PR, Chang ET, Sharma NK, Carrier F. Contribution of dual oxidase 2 (DUOX2) to hyper-radiosensitivity in human gastric cancer cells. Radiat Res. 2015;184:151–160.

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The Department of Radiation Oncology

The BEAM

Weber DC, Badiyan S, Malyapa R, Albertini F, Bolsi A, Lomax AJ, Schneider R. Long-term outcomes and prognostic factors of skull-base chondrosarcoma patients treated with pencil-beam scanning proton therapy at the Paul Scherrer Institute. Neuro Oncol.

2015 Aug 30. [Epub ahead of print] Weinstock C, Campassi C, Goloubeva O, Wooten K, Kesmodel S, Bellevance E, Feigenberg S, Ioffe O, Tkaczuk KH. Breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) surveillance in breast cancer survivors. Springerplus. 2015 Aug 28;4:459.

Thomas MacVittie, PhD, professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology, was the senior author of “The delayed effects of acute radiation syndrome: evidence of long-term functional changes in the clonogenic cells of the small intestine,” in the November issue of Health Physics (2015;109:399–413).

Minesh Mehta, MBChB, professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology, was among the authors of “CogState computerized memory tests in patients with brain metastases: secondary endpoint results of NRG Oncology RTOG 0933,” e-published on October 28 ahead of print in the Journal of Neuro-Oncology.

Thomas MacVittie, PhD, professor, and Ann Farese, MA, MS, assistant professor, both from the Department of Radiation Oncology, were among the authors of “A MALDI-MSI approach to the characterization of radiation-induced lung injury and medical countermeasure development,” in the November issue of Health Physics (2015;109:466–478). Other authors from their laboratory included Kory Barrow, research specialist, Kaitlyn Kieta, research specialist, Cheryl Taylor-Howell, research specialist, Sean Kearney, research specialist, Cassandra Smith, lab supervisor, and Allison Gibbs, lab supervisor.

Thomas MacVittie, PhD, professor, and Pranshu Mohindra, MD, assistant professor, both from the Department of Radiation Oncology, were among the authors of “The evolving MCART multimodal imaging core: establishing a protocol for computed tomography and echocardiography in the rhesus macaque to perform longitudinal analysis of radiation-induced organ injury,” in the November issue of Health Physics (2015;109:479–492). Other authors from their laboratory included Kory Barrow, research specialist, Bradley Ruehle, research assistant, Jordan Parker, research assistant, Elisa Swartz, research specialist, Cheryl TaylorHowell, research specialist, Kaitlyn Kieta, research specialist, Travis Dobbin, research assistant, and Adam Baron, research assistant.

Ann Farese, MA, MS, assistant professor, Kim Hankey, PhD, research associate, and Thomas MacVittie, PhD, professor, all from the Department of Radiation Oncology, were among the authors of “Lymphoid and myeloid recovery in rhesus macaques following total body x-irradiation,” in the November issue of Health Physics (2015;109:414–426).

Ann Farese, MA, MS, assistant professor, and Thomas MacVittie, PhD, professor, both from the Department of Radiation Oncology, were the authors of “Filgrastim for the treatment of hematopoietic acute radiation syndrome,” in the September issue of Drugs of Today (Barc) (2015;51:537–548).

Ann Farese, MA, MS, assistant professor, and Thomas MacVittie, PhD, professor, both from the Department of Radiation Oncology, were among the authors of “Comparing the hematopoetic syndrome time course in the NHP animal model to radiation accident cases from the database search,” in the November issue of Health Physics (2015;109:493–501). Alex Bennett, a research lead specialist from their lab, was also a coauthor.

Kim Hankey, PhD, research associate, Ann Farese, MA, MS, assistant professor, and Thomas MacVittie, PhD, professor, all from the Department of Radiation Oncology, were among the authors of “Citrulline as a biomarker in the non-human primate totaland partial-body irradiation models: correlation of circulating citrulline to acute and prolonged gastrointestinal injury,” in the November issue of Health Physics (2015;109:440–451). Alex Bennett, a research lead specialist from their lab, was also a coauthor.

Ann Farese, MA, MS, assistant professor, and Thomas MacVittie, PhD, professor, both from the Department of Radiation Oncology, were among the authors of “Citrulline as a biomarker in the murine total-body irradiation model: correlation of circulating and tissue citrulline to small intestine epithelial histopathology,” in the November issue of Health Physics (2015;109:452–465).

Wei Lu, PhD, associate professor, Steven Feigenberg, MD, professor, Hao Zhang, PhD, assistant professor, Mohan Suntharalingam, MD, professor, Min Kyu Kang, MD, visiting assistant professor, and Warren D’Souza, PhD, MBA, professor, all from the Department of Radiation Oncology; and Wengen Chen, MD, PhD, associate professor, and Seth Kligerman, MD, associate professor, both from the Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, were among the authors of “Prechemotherapy FDG PET/CT cannot identify residual metabolically active volumes with individual esophageal tumors,” published in the Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Radiation Therapy (2015;6:226).

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The Department of Radiation Oncology

The BEAM

Thomas MacVittie, PhD, professor, Ann Farese, MA, MS, assistant professor, and Karl Prado, PhD, professor, all from the Department of Radiation Oncology, were among the authors of “The effect of radiation dose and variation in Neupogen® initiation schedule on the mitigation of myelosuppression during the concomitant GI-ARS and H-ARS in a nonhuman primate model of highdose exposure with marrow sparing,” in the November issue of Health Physics (2015;109:427–439). Other authors from their laboratory included Alex Bennett, research lead specialist, Cheryl Taylor-Howell, research specialist, Cassandra Smith, lab supervisor, and Allison Gibbs, lab supervisor.

Thomas MacVittie, PhD, professor, and Ann Farese, MA, MS, assistant professor, both from the Department of Radiation Oncology, were among the authors of “The hematopoietic syndrome of the acute radiation syndrome in rhesus macaques: a systematic review of the lethal dose response relationship,” in the November issue of Health Physics (2015;109:342–366).

Thomas MacVittie, PhD, professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, was the author of “The MCART Consortium Animal Model Series: MCART animal model refinement and MCM development: defining organ dose, organ-specific tissue imaging, model validation and the natural history between the acute radiation syndrome (ARS) and the delayed effects of acute radiation exposure (DEARE),” in the November issue of Health Physics (2015;109:335–341).

Thomas MacVittie, PhD, professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, was among the authors of “The H-ARS dose response relationship (DRR): validation and variables,” in the November issue of Health Physics (2015;109:391–398).

Thomas MacVittie, PhD, professor, and Karl Prado, PhD, professor, from the Department of Radiation Oncology, were among the authors of “Mean organ doses resulting from non-human primate whole thorax lung irradiation prescribed to mid-line tissue,” in the November issue of Health Physics (2015;109:367–373). Also among the authors was Alex Bennett, research lead specialist from Dr. MacVittie’s lab.

Minesh Mehta, MBChB, professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology, was the senior author of “A randomized phase I/II study of ABT-888 in combination with temozolomide in recurrent temozolomide-resistant glioblastoma: an NRG oncology RTOG group study,” e-published on October 27 ahead of print in the Journal of Neuro-Oncology.

Young Kwok, MD, associate professor, and Minesh Mehta, MBChB, professor, both from the Department of Radiation Oncology, were among the authors of “Pathology concordance levels for meningioma classification and grading in NRG Oncology RTOG Trial 0539,” e-published on October 22 ahead of print in Neuro-Oncology.

Ann Farese, MA, MS, assistant professor, and Thomas MacVittie, PhD, professor, both from the Department of Radiation Oncology, were among the authors of “An interlaboratory validation of the radiation dose response relationship (DRR) for H-ARS in the rhesus macaque,” in the November issue of Health Physics (2015;109:502–510).

Thomas MacVittie, PhD, professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, was among the authors of “Delayed effects of acute radiation exposure in a murine model of the H-ARS: multiple-organ injury consequent to <10 Gy total body irradiation,” in the November issue of Health Physics (2015;109:511–521).

Terez Shea-Donohue, PhD, professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology, was among the authors of “IL-25 or IL-17E protects against high-fat diet-induced hepatic steatosis in mice dependent upon IL-13 activation of STAT6,” e-published on September 30 ahead of print in the Journal of Immunology.

Pei Zhang, PhD, postdoctoral fellow, Wanchang Cui, PhD, research associate, Kim Hankey, PhD, research associate, and Thomas MacVittie, PhD, professor, all from the Department of Radiation Oncology, were among the authors of “Increased expression of connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) in multiple organs after exposure of non-human primates (NHP) to lethal doses of radiation,” in the November issue of Health Physics (2015;109:374–390). Also among the authors from Dr. MacVittie’s lab were Allison Gibbs, lab supervisor, Cassandra Smith, lab supervisor, Cheryl Taylor-Howell, research specialist, and Sean Kearney, research specialist.

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Each year we try to schedule the following annual events around the same time. Please mark your calendar: 

Annual Holiday Party (Grand Lodge in Cockeysville, MD) (Friday, December 11th, 7:00 - 11:00 pm)



11th Annual Radiation Oncology Symposium-Best of 2015 (Thursday, January 14, 2016)



13th Annual Radiobiology & Physics Review Course (Thursday, April 7th — Saturday, April 9th)



Resident Graduation Dinner (June - TBD)



Rad Onc Summer Picnic (Saturday, June 18th)

Suggestions and Submissions: We’re always looking for recent pictures of faculty, staff and alumni, or new information for the BEAM. Please contact Cathy Hall with any contributions.

Phone: 410-328-6928

Email: chall1@umm.edu

To view previous issues of the Beam, please go to: http://umm.edu/programs/cancer/services/radiationonc/the-beam-newsletter 30