THE MEMBERS of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) have elected three new officers to ASTRO’s Board of Directors and three members to serve on the medical society’s Nominating Committee. The newly elected President-Elect, Health Policy Council Vice-Chair, Science Council Vice-Chair, and Nominating Committee members will begin their terms during ASTRO’s 59th Annual Meeting in San Diego, September 24–27.
The following radiation oncologists were elected to the Board of Directors:
- President-Elect: Theodore L. DeWeese, MD, FASTRO, Johns Hopkins Medicine, Baltimore
- Health Policy Council Vice-Chair: William Hartsell, MD, FASTRO, Northwestern Medicine, Chicago Proton Center, Chicago
- Science Council Vice-Chair: Catherine Park, MD, University of California, San Francisco
The following physicians and scientists were elected to the Nominating Committee:
- Nominating Committee Academic Physician: Charles Thomas, MD, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, Oregon
- Nominating Committee Community Practice Physician: Paul Sperduto, MD, MPP, FASTRO, Minneapolis Radiation Oncology PA, Minneapolis
- Nominating Committee Radiobiologist: Jacqueline P. Williams, PhD, FASTRO, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York
“The cancer care community is undergoing a seismic shift, as we determine what the next chapter will be. Radiation oncology is a key part of many of these discussions—from immunotherapy combinations to health-care reform. These demonstrated leaders will help guide the 10,000-plus ASTRO members and our field on key issues of science, health policy, and patient care,” said David C. Beyer, MD, FASTRO, Chair of ASTRO’s Board of Directors.
President-Elect: Dr. DeWeese
Theodore L. DeWeese, MD, FASTRO
DR. DEWEESE is Vice President for Johns Hopkins Medicine as well as Sidney Kimmel Professor and Chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology and Molecular Radiation Sciences at Johns Hopkins University, where he treats men with prostate cancer. He also holds professor appointments in the Departments of Urology and Oncology and a joint appointment in environmental health sciences at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Dr. DeWeese is a funded laboratory researcher and also leads therapeutic and nontherapeutic clinical trials for men with prostate cancer. He is an advisory board member of several prominent cancer centers and Chair of the ASTRO Science Council.
Dedicated to actively promoting the central role of radiation oncology in the cancer care continuum, Dr. DeWeese has established partnerships with other medical societies and collaborative funding opportunities to grow the pipeline of young cancer researchers. He also helped build scientific programs at annual meetings for the nation’s leading cancer societies, as Chair of the ASTRO Annual Meeting Scientific Committee for 3 years and as a member of the planning committees for the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and the ASCO Annual Meetings.
Health Policy Council Vice-Chair: Dr. Hartsell
William Hartsell, MD, FASTRO
DR. HARTSELL is a radiation oncologist at the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital, Medical Director of the Northwestern Medicine Chicago Proton Center, and a Partner in Radiation Oncology Consultants, Ltd. in Chicago.
For more than a decade, Dr. Hartsell has worked with ASTRO to help shape health policy, specifically in code development and utilization for medical billing. He is the current ASTRO Advisor to the American Medical Association’s CPT® (Current Procedural Terminology) panel, which is responsible for the development of new codes.
Science Council Vice-Chair: Dr. Park
Catherine Park, MD
DR. PARK is Professor and Chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), where her focus is breast cancer. She also is an attending physician at the UCSF Medical Center and previously was faculty biologist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
Dr. Park has been instrumental in shaping the scientific content at major ASTRO meetings. She has served as Chair and Vice- Chair of the Best of ASTRO Meeting; as Chair and Vice-Chair of the Annual Meeting Education Committee; and as a longstanding member of the Annual Meeting Steering Committee. ■
