People in the News – as reported March 1, 2010
Andrew Kennedy M.D., co-medical director at Wake Radiology Oncology in Cary, N.C., was named to the Board of Directors of Striving for More, a nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring that children with cancer and their families receive quality emotional and spiritual support.
In a February 5, 2010, [Racine, Wis.,] Journal Times article, John Moulder, Ph.D., FASTRO, a professor and director of radiation biology at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, was quoted as saying it is “somewhere between unlikely and impossible” that wearing a cell phone on your hip could cause sterility or other medical problems. The article, “Glad you asked,” answers reader questions.
Eric M. Horwitz, M.D., chairman of the radiation oncology department at Fox Chase Cancer Center wrote a February 15, 2010, column for The Philadelphia Inquirer on the benefits of radiation therapy where he addressed the recent radiation safety articles in The New York Times and last year’s incidents at the Philadelphia VA Medical Center, offered patients questions to ask about safety, and provided helpful links to RTanswers.org, the National Cancer Institute and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network for patients with questions about radiation therapy.
Tim Williams, M.D., chairman of the ASTRO Board and a radiation oncologist at Boca Raton Community Hospital in Boca Raton, Fla., was quoted in a February 26, 2010, ABC News article on the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health hearing on radiation safety. Dr. Williams was quoted from his testimony at the hearing where he said, “My hope is that patients across the country will recognize these incidents for what they are – isolated acts – and that these reports will not dissuade patients who need radiation therapy from receiving needed treatments.
A February 28, 2010, The [Jacksonville] Florida Times Union article mentions Scot Ackerman, M.D., a radiation oncologist at St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Jacksonville, Fla. Dr. Ackerman and Fist Coast Oncology sponsored a “Good Deeds” essay contest and donated a laptop to the Mandarin, Fla., high school student who won. The winning essay was on the student’s time spent taking care of her friend and neighbor’s two daughters while their mother battled leukemia.
Eric Klein, Ph.D., a professor of radiation oncology at Washington University in St. Louis, was quoted in a February 28, 2010, [Springfield, Mo.] News-Leader article on the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health hearing on radiation safety. Dr. Klein said that a federal requirement for training and creating a nationally recognized curriculum for qualified medical physicists is needed to provide a consistent level of education for the physicists responsible for operating and programming radiation technology.
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