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Radiation Oncology Newsletter January 2014

Stanford University School of Medicine

For our patients, we are excited to introduce a new patient tradition. Through

the generosity of Sue McCollum and the My Blue Dots Foundation, patients will receive

a pin at “graduation” to signify their completion of a course of radiation treatment.

These pins, with their three blue circles in a cloverleaf pattern, represent the tattoos

patients receive for radiation beam alignment. Mrs. McCollum dedicated these pins to

Dr. Sarah Donaldson for her excellence and devotion to patient care. We are fortunate

to have such an enthusiastic supporter of our patient care mission, one who reminds us

why we joined the radiation oncology field in the first place.

I’m happy to report that we continue to provide excellent service to our

patients. The latest patient satisfaction report shows our Radiation Oncology treatment

area and Cyberknife with likelihood to recommend mean scores of 95.8 and 96.3

respectively. These scores place the department at the higher end of the cancer center

spectrum, but there is also room for improvement. Michelle Kenyon has pulled

together a Patient Satisfaction Committee, whose focus will be to look for areas to

improve the patient experience and place us at the top. I would like to thank our

therapists, nurses, front desk staff, residents, and faculty for their continued dedication

to giving our patients the best service. Michelle Kenyon, Richard Falasco, and Tori

Shannon also deserve recognition for guiding our teams and helping maintain these high

scores.

Our Radiation Oncology Quality and Safety (ROQS) reporting system is up and

running, and we’ve already begun to reap the benefits. If you recall, we rolled out this

system in April in order to track and analyze patient safety and quality data. Based on

the results from ROQS, we’ve made changes, such as adjusting new patient start times

that will lead to smoother workflows and higher patient satisfaction.

And we’ll be expanding the scope of that service to more patients in the South

Bay, with the opening of the new cancer center in San Jose. We’ll be joining Medical

Oncology, Surgical Oncology, Radiology, and the Infusion Center in 2015 at this new

satellite facility. This is an exciting new venture for our department and Stanford

Hospital and Clinics, and I look forward to watching this project take off. Special thanks

to Diana Ho and Albert Koong for representing our department and patients

throughout the planning process.

Patient Care

Happy New Year!

As 2014 begins, this is the perfect time to look back and

reflect on everything the department has accomplished.

Special points of interest:

Page 3 – Awards and

Accomplishments

Page 4- New Employees

Page 5- Staff Additions and

Updates

Page 6- Personal News

Page 7- Research News

Page 8- Residency News

Page 9- ASTRO Recap

Page 10- Years of Service

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Education For our educational mission, I am excited by our reinvigorated Kaplan Fellowship Program. Under

the guidance of Iris Gibbs and Dan Chang, this program will now begin while the selected therapy resident

is in his / her final year. They will begin taking courses in grant writing, leadership, and professional

advancement while working with a research mentor on a specific project. Following graduation, the Kaplan

fellow will spend 80% of their time performing in depth work on that translational research project, and the

remainder of their time in patient care activities. I strongly believe that under this new structure, we are

giving our trainees a solid foundation to be highly competitive for grant funding, and launching careers of

physician scientists in radiation oncology. The Kaplan Fellowship Program is made possible thanks to the

generosity of our alumni, and I am grateful for the continued support our trainees receive.

Research On the research front, we have had an upswing in both the number of proposals submitted, as

well as the number of grants awarded. Considering the difficult funding climate, I am heartened that our

drive in the basic and translational research arenas has not dimmed. Some recent data from the NCI

confirms that Stanford Radiation Oncology receives the highest per capita federal funding for radiation

oncology departments in the country. Considering our small size, this is a significant accomplishment, and

a credit to the high quality research being done by our faculty, postdocs, residents, and research staff.

In order to support the research mission, the department will continue its Seed Grant Program for a

second year. This is an opportunity for faculty, especially junior faculty, to receive funding for strategic

research initiatives that foster intra-departmental collaborations. I look forward to learning about the

novel ideas our faculty bring forward, and thank you to Sarah Donaldson, Amato Giaccia, and Lei Xing

for serving on the selection committee, and Yvonne Concepcion for coordinating the applications.

Thank You Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to recognize Sarah Donaldson. As she wrapped up

her year as president of the Radiological Society of North America, I am awed by everything she has

accomplished, and all she continues to do. Last year, even with the demands of her presidency, she

continued to care for her patients, educate our trainees, and serve as an administrative leader in the

department. As Mrs. McCollum thanked Sarah for her dedication to her patients, I would like to do the

same.

Best wishes to you and your families, and

Happy New Year!

- from QL

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Linda Glatt and Margaret Ratto for successfully completing the

Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS) Program.

Dr. Quynh Le on her election to the membership of Institute of

Medicine. This prestigious honor is given to individuals who have

demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and

commitment to service.

Dr. Iris Gibbs on being recently elected to become a Fellow of the

American Colelge of Radiology (FACR) based on her outstanding

contributions and service to our field.

Dr. Ben Fahimian and Dr. Karl Bush on their promotion to Assistant

Professors in the Clinical Educator line.

Drs. Scott Bratman, Adam Schmitt, Dave Shultz, and Youssef

Zeidan have all passed their physics and radiobiology boards.

Dr. Gary Luxton and the Physics Division on the renewal of the

Medical Physics Residency Program through the Commission on

Accreditation of Medical Physics Educational Program (CAMPEP)

through 2017.

Dr. Amato Giaccia on receiving the ASTRO Gold Medal Award

bestowed on revered members who have made outstanding

contributions to the field of Radiation Oncology.

Dr. Susan Hiniker on receiving 2013 American Association of

Women Radiologists Member-in-Training Award.

Manny Villagas and Dr. Karl Bush for receiving the 2nd Annual

Unsung Hero Award which recognizes any member of the

Department who has gone above and beyond the call of duty, and

whose work has an impact beyond their immediate work group.

CONGRATULATIONS!

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Jason Freeman

Radiation Oncology Manager for IT Systems and Imaging

Jason comes to Stanford Hospitals and Clinics from his previous role as the Senior

Manager of Radiation Therapy Informatics at the BC Cancer Agency/Provincial Health

Services Authority. He is an experienced technical consultant with an expert level

understanding of security, architecture, programming, databases, web technology and

active directory. He has worked in almost every IT related role over the past decade

and continues to pursue computer related interests in his business and career. He

previously designed and supported the world's largest implementation of the Varian

software suite with a system that crosses the entire province of British Columbia and

brings with him a wealth of information and experience. Jason started on January 6,

2014. Please join us in welcoming Jason to our Stanford Family.

Dr. Mark Buyyounouski

Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology (Radiation Therapy)

Dr. Mark Buyyounouski obtained his B.S. from Lafayette College in 1995 and his M.S.

from Columbia University in 1996. He received his M.D. from New Jersey Medical

School in 2000. He completed his residency at Fox Chase Center in 2005. Mark was

hired as an Assistant Professor in July 2005 at Fox Chase Center. In June 2011, he was

promoted to Associate Professor. Dr. Buyyounouski was the director for clinical

research at the Fox Chase Cancer Center. He is a principal investigator for the

Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) and vice chair of the American Society

for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) New Technologies Committee. He is patient-

focused and thoroughly enjoys teaching and mentoring students and residents. Please

join us in welcoming Mark to our Stanford Family.

Welcome!

Dr. David Yang

Clinical Associate Professor

Dr. David Yang obtained his PhD. in Medical Physics from Peking Union Medical

College in 2001. He then spent three years at Stanford University as a Postdoc

working on treatment planning and Radiation Dosimetry. He was on Medical Physics

Faculty at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center starting in 2005 and was the

Chief of Clinic of UPMC Cancer Centers Shadyside starting in 2007. At UPMC, David

has been the driving force in SBRT, clinical implementation of CyberKnife M6,

TrueBeam and many other clinical physics activities. David's office desk is located in the

G101B (physics room) inside the dosimetry room. Please introduce yourself to David

the next time you see him.

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Staff Additions and Updates

Radiation Oncology

Melody Lin – Clinical Research Assistant (Graves, Pratx)

Yao Sun – Visiting Instructor

Aiping Ding – Research Associate

Masoud Zarepisheh – Postdoctoral Scholar

Renhui Gong – Post Doctoral Scholar

Madhu Sudhan- Post Doctoral Scholar

Radiation Therapy

Sharon Chin – Physician Assistant

Gail O’Hanlon – Nurse Coordinator

Radiation and Cancer Biology

Chaio-Ling (Eugenia) Tsai – VSR

OMysia Anderson – Research Assistant

Max Liu – Medical Student

Mihalis Kariolis- Post Doctoral Scholar

Margaret Bowen- Post Doctoral Scholar

Rachelle Johnson- Post Doctoral Scholar

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Welcome Andrew Richard Rankin Jr!

Erinn Rankin and her husband, Andy, announce AJ

Andrew Richard Rankin JR, born at 9:09 on December

5th, 2013 weighing 7 lbs 9oz.

Welcome Forrest Cole Atwood!

Congratulations to Todd and

Heidi on their newborn son, born

on November 27th at 6:31 AM

(7 lbs 5 oz, 20.5 in).

Heidi and I would also like to

thank everyone for the

contributions to our baby shower

box. We greatly appreciate all of

the generosity and support from

the department.

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Dr. Giaccia was featured on the Stanford School

of Medicine website for his work in identifying

the protein, PD3 that could be a target for the

development of new diabetes therapies.

Dr. Bill Loo and Dr. Peter Maxim's project to

improve lung cancer screening by pulmonary

nodule CT elastometry has been showcased by

the Department of Defense for their work on

improving diagnostic specificity of CT for early

detection of lung cancer.

Dr. Max Diehn was recently awarded the NIH’s

prestigious New Innovator Award to use high-

throughput resequencing of cancer genomes to develop

a noninvasive approach for detecting cancer at early

stages and after radiation treatment. At the same time,

he was also awarded the V-Foundation grant to study

stem cells in cancer.

Research News

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The Radiation Therapy Residency program was granted

a 10-year ACGME accreditation cycle approval until

2023.

“SAVE THE DATE” for our 2014 Spring Visiting Professor

Stephen M. Hahn, M.D of Perelman Center for Advanced

Medicine will be our featured 2014 Spring Visiting

Professor on Friday, April 4th, 2014.

2013 Fall Visiting Professor

Phuoc T. Tran, MD, PhD came as our inaugural Fall

Visiting Professor for the residents October 28th and it

was a great success. The residents enjoyed his talk on

"Structure-functions studies of the TWIST1

oncoprotein in lung and prostate cancer".

Residency News

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Radiation Oncology Medical Student, Clinical Research Associate, and Therapy Resident Trainees at

55th annual American Society of Therapeutic Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) in Atlanta, Georgia.

We are proud of all of the Clinical Research Associates, Medical Students, and Residents who all collaborated with Clinical Faculty on the accepted abstracts below. Clinical Research Associates

Cato Chan Clinical Research Associate

Anemia During Radiotherapy Correlates With Outcomes In Pancreatic Cancer

Jonathan Pai Clinical Research Associate

Plasma SPARC Following Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy (SBRT) Predicts for

Progression-Free Survival in Locally Advanced Pancreatic Cancer

SMAD4 Inactivation and Prognosis in Colorectal Cancer

Jacob Wynne Clinical Research Associate

Analysis of Circulating Tumor Cells in Early Stage Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Patients Treated with Stereotactic Ablative Radiotherapy

Medical Students

Jeremy Harris Stanford Medical Student

Prognostic Metrics on Serial PET for Lung Tumors Treated with Hypofractionated Radiation

Presented on behalf of Resident, Susan Hiniker, MD

Performance of PET in Evaluating Local Recurrence after Stereotactic Ablative Radiotherapy for Early Lung Cancer

Margaret Kozak Visiting Medical Student

SMAD4 Inactivation and Prognosis in Colorectal Cancer

Therapy Resident Trainees

Todd Aguilera, MD, PhD PGY-III Resident

Novel Imaging Biomarkers in Stage I Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Treated with Stereotactic Ablative Radiotherapy

Scott Bratman, MD, PhD PGY-V Resident

Noninvasive and Ultrasensitive Quantitation of Circulating Tumor DNA by Hybrid Capture and Deep Sequencing

Ben Durkee, MD, PhD PGY-III Resident

Adaptive Replanning Does Not Inherently Improve Dose to Pharyngeal Constrictors in Patients with Cancer of the Oropharynx

Carolina Fasola, MD, MPH PGY-IV Resident

Low Dose Radiotherapy (2 Gy x 2) in the Treatment of non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma of the Ocular Adnexa

Susan Hiniker, MD PGY-IV Resident

Survival and Neurocognitive Outcomes Following Addition of a Cranial or Craniospinal Boost to Total Body Irradiation Prior to Stem Cell Transplantation in Pediatric Leukemia Patients with CNS Involvement

Martin King, MD, PhD PGY-IV Resident

Validation of Image-based Biomarkers for Analyzing Long-Term Pulmonary Toxicity after Radiation Therapy

David Shultz, MD, PhD PGY-V Resident

Post-radiotherapy CA19-9 kinetics correlate with outcomes in patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma

Evan Osmundson, MD, PhD PGY-IV Resident

Hepatobiliary Toxicity After SBRT to the Liver for Central Liver Tumor

Adam Schmitt, MD PGY-V Resident

Regulation of the DNA Damage Response by an Inducible Long Noncoding RNA

Jenny Shaffer, MD PGY-II Resident

Predicting Liver Volume Changes After Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy for Liver Tumors

Jennifer L. Shah, MD PGY-III Resident

Clinical and Dosimetric Predictors of Peri-Operative Pulmonary Complications in Esophageal Cancer Patients Treated with Neoadjuvant Chemoradiation

Evaluation of Tumor Expansion Following 3-Fraction Stereotactic Radiosurgery for Vestibular Schwannomas

Youssef Zeidan, MD, PhD PGY-V Resident

Botulinum Toxin Confers Radioprotection In Murine Salivary Glands

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Radiation Oncology Years of Service as of January

2014

The Annual Staff Recognition Program has been a long-standing tradition to honor staff

whose work and dedication have helped make Stanford the great institution that it is

today. Without their contributions, the advances of faculty, researchers and students--

across all of the school's missions--would not be possible.

5 Years 10 Years

Lina Liu Jackie Thomas

Lei Wang Ted Graves

Bill Pickthorn Anthony Ho

Nargiza Karimbaeva Wendy Hara

Melissa Chao Anne Cruz

Elizabeth Finger Ben Ruiz

Gillian McFarlene Claire Woo

Dominique Rodriguez

Erika Marr-Pollasky

15 Years 20 Years

Andrew White Shoucheng Ning

Carole Hieatt Sandy Jow

Gary Luxton

Penny Peng

25 Years 30 Years

Lois Hill Larry Jang