July 2025 Early Career Newsletter
July 28, 2025
| ABR meets with ASTRO stakeholders, Certifying Exam update By Anna Paulsson, MD, ASTRO Early Career Committee Vice Chair |
| On July 14, representatives from the Early Career Committee (ECC) met with ABR leadership as well as other stakeholders from the ASTRO Board, ADROP, SCAROP and ARRO to discuss the recent results of the oral certifying exam.
Michael Yunes, MD, ABR Associate Executive Director for Radiation Oncology, emphasized that we have a single certifying exam (vs. site specific) that tests all disciplines across the field of radiation oncology such that a board-certified radiation oncologist is competent to safely treat all types of cancer and all treatment modalities, even if their current practice does not utilize them. The minor refinement of the exam scoring that took place this year was an improvement to ensure standardization, fairness, and consistency of the scoring process, similar to the other specialties that the ABR certifies. Although this is a perceived change, examinees have always been graded on individual cases to establish a final score. The focus this year was to ensure that scoring of each case was consistent between examiners and that the final score was a true representation of the performance of the candidate without scoring outliers influencing the result. Attention to this detail resulted in significant additional discussion regarding every failed case, ensuring that the final category score was appropriate. Going forward, the ECC will work toward helping recent graduates find ways to successfully navigate taking the oral exam, including dedicated programming in conjunction with the ABR during the ASTRO Annual Meeting that will take place in the Early Career and Mentoring Lounge on Sunday, September 28, from 12:15 p.m. to 1:00 p.m., as well as other potential opportunities that are being discussed. Meanwhile, please refer to this article in the Summer Issue of ASTROnews, Radiation Oncology Certifying (Oral) Exam Updates, for more information. |
| Back to the future: Revitalizing radiation therapy for non-malignant conditions By Grace Blitzer, MD |
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In the past several decades, the field of radiation therapy has been focused on radiation as a cancer treatment. However, a growing body of evidence has demonstrated radiation’s effectiveness in treating non-malignant conditions, sparking renewed interest. We interviewed two experts in the field of non-malignant radiation therapy to share some insights in this field and provide a general overview of how to treat two different non-malignant conditions. Jessica Schuster, MD, Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin, shared about building her practice for caring for patients with connective tissue disorders such as Dupuytren’s contracture and other non-malignant diseases. Evan Thomas, MD, PhD, Chief Medical Officer and founder of Renaissance Institute of Precision Oncology & Radiosurgery, addressed using high dose radiation therapy for non-malignant conditions including radiation for essential tremor. Read what they had to say. |
| The ASTRO 2025 Annual Meeting will address non-malignant radiation therapy indications in depth, with the Presidential Symposium, led by Sameer Keole, MD, FASTRO, highlighting this field. The Advance Registration rate for the Annual Meeting ends August 14. | |
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| Start planning your ASTRO 2025 experience | |
| The ASTRO Team is in the home stretch for planning an exciting Annual Meeting in San Francisco! In addition to the Scientific and Education Sessions, more sessions are specifically available for the early career audience in the Early Career and Mentoring Lounge (EC&ML). Topics include The ABR: Transparency in the Certification Process, Navigating Parenthood in the Early Career, Clinical Research and RTOG Foundation – How You Can Get Involved and more. View the EC&ML schedule. | |
| You are invited to attend the Early Career Committee Meeting | |
| Don’t miss the opportunity to participate in the Open Early Career Committee meeting on Sunday morning, September 28, 7:45 a.m. - 8:30 a.m. in the Early Career and Mentoring Lounge. Committee members will provide an update on recent ECC activities, and you’ll have the opportunity to tell us about what is important to you! | |
| Speed Mentoring returns to the Annual Meeting | |
| Three Speed Mentoring Sessions are being offered this year in the Early Career and Mentoring Lounge. Speed mentoring features a series of 10-minute sessions where you have the opportunity to meet with experts in the field on various topics. View the schedule and line up of topics and mentors. | |
| Have you tuned in to ASTRO’s podcast channel? |
| ASTRO has two podcast shows, On Target and RadOnc Report. On Target features podcasts to help patients and caregivers better understand what radiation therapy is, potential side effects, treatment types and what to expect before, during and after treatment. Listen to our newest On Target Podcast: Alternative, Complementary and Integrative Therapies in Cancer Care.
RadOnc Report provides timely and educational information for all members of the radiation oncology team. Released earlier this year is Navigating Multidisciplinary Care. In this episode, ASTRO Early Career Committee member Avinash Chaurasia, MD, a radiation oncologist at Brooke Army Medical Center, interviews Eric Singhi, MD, a medical oncologist at MD Anderson Center and Timothy Vreeland, MD, a surgical oncologist at Brooke Army Medical Center about the importance of, and how to enhance collaboration with multidisciplinary providers. Coming up next is an interview with Dave Adler, ASTRO Vice-president of Government Affairs, who will answer tough questions about the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule proposed rule for 2026. Additionally, you can register for the ASTRO 2026 Medicare Payment Town Hall on August 6 at 7:00 p.m. |
