The members of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) recently elected three new officers to ASTRO’s Board of Directors, including Sameer Keole, MD, FASTRO, as President-elect; Wendy Woodward, MD, PhD, FASTRO, as Science Council Vice Chair; and Vivek S. Kavadi, MD, MBA, FASTRO, as Health Policy Council Vice Chair. The officers will begin their terms in October during ASTRO’s 65th Annual Meeting in San Diego.

During his four-year term on the Presidential track, Dr. Keole will represent the society’s 10,000 members, who include physicians, physicists, biologists, dosimetrists, radiation therapists, nurses and other professionals involved in radiation oncology care. Dr. Keole will serve one year as President-elect, followed by a year as President where he will oversee the 2025 ASTRO Annual Meeting; he then will serve one-year terms as Board Chair and Immediate Past Chair. Dr. Woodward and Dr. Kavadi will serve two-year terms as Vice Chairs, followed by two-year terms as Chairs of their respective councils.

Dr. Keole is a radiation oncologist at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona and also sees patients at Phoenix Children’s Hospital. He focuses on treating pediatric patients as well as adults diagnosed with brain, spine and other central nervous system tumors. He previously served on the ASTRO Board as head of the Government Relations Council, helping lead ASTRO’s work with Congress and other policymakers on prior authorization and Medicare payment reform. Dr. Keole is a longtime champion of fair reimbursement for physicians from all practice settings, and he will continue this advocacy as ASTRO works to implement the recently introduced Radiation Oncology Case Rates (ROCR) program with a goal to achieve payment stability through legislative action.

In addition to efforts on the Hill, Dr. Keole will focus on boosting collaboration within radiation oncology and with other oncology fields, focusing on policies that support physicians in both community and academic practices. “Excellent clinical care can be provided in any practice setting, and innovations in how we treat cancer can be achieved in many different environments,” he said. “I am confident that by working together, we can make significant progress in the fight against cancer for the benefit of patients worldwide.”

Other priorities for Dr. Keole include increasing partnerships with industry and other stakeholders on radiopharmaceuticals; looking more closely at the impact of workforce issues on early career physicians; and drawing attention to the role of radiation therapy for patients with non-malignant conditions. “More than one million people receive radiation therapy each year to treat cancer, and potentially many more could benefit from this important modality,” he said.

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