Nearly 150 medical physicists from around the country landed in Hanover, New Hampshire this week for the annual American Association for Physicists in Medicine “Summer School” national conference. This year’s theme is “Workflow Optimization in Radiation Oncology: From Theory to Clinical Implementation.”
In a world of persistent pressure to do things faster and to get more done with fewer resources, topics from the event will cover the wave of technological advances in radiation oncology, including automated contouring, scripting, and AI-based treatment planning, that promise to help improve workflow efficiency.
This year’s Summer School is co-led by Program Director Colleen J. Fox, PhD, DABR, clinical physicist in Dartmouth Cancer Center’s Department of Radiation Oncology, and Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. “I am so proud of the impressive faculty we were able to assemble from across Dartmouth, along with physicists and physicians from around the US and Canada. Several Thayer School of Engineering graduate students are also participating,” says Fox, who also co-edited the monograph for this year’s conference.
The week will involve hands-on participation, panel discussions, and even “show and tell” success stories from various clinics and academic centers. Fox notes the lessons on operations management from the director of the Master of Health Care Delivery Science program at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business as a highlight. “The attendees were really engaged in these lessons and they showcase the unique relationship we have among the different schools of Dartmouth,” she says.
Attendees will explore meaningful avenues to identifying opportunities for improvement and return to their clinics with new skills in integrating technology into daily operations, as well as the connections and resources needed to succeed.