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Sean Ruck, Contributing Editor | October 13, 2015
From the October 2015 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
The American Society for Radiation Oncology’s 57th annual meeting will be held at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas, from Oct. 18 through Oct. 21. HealthCare Business News spoke with ASTRO president, Dr. Bruce Minsky, to learn more about his background, what to expect at this year’s big event, and this year’s theme, “technology meets patient care.”
HCBN: How did you get involved in ASTRO?
BM: I’ve been a member of ASTRO since my residency. Almost every radiation oncologist is a member. It provides amazing educational and professional development opportunities. Prior to my time as president, I had served on a number of committees.
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HCBN: What’s the major initiative or initiatives you’ve championed during your presidency?
BM: The role of the president is to design and oversee the national meeting. So my primary initiative has been to design the theme and appoint committee members that will choose the abstracts and oversee the scientific presentations.
HCBN: Can you tell us about this year’s theme?
BM: I’m excited about this year’s theme. With highlighting how technology meets patient care, we’re talking about the many great advances we’ve made and the variety of new methods available for treating patients. But it’s important that we don’t lose the key point — that we’re providing good patient care. We want to drive the idea that good patient care is not competitive. Instead, it’s synergistic with good technology. What we’re seeing in patient care today is similar to the revolution we’ve seen in communications.
For a long time, phone conversations were the main method to communicate and email was secondary. Now, with email so advanced, sometimes phone conversations are overlooked and there are missed opportunities. So it’s a balance of adopting emerging technology while making sure that the best technology is used case-by-case.
HCBN: Is there anything else you’d like to highlight from this year’s show?
BM: Yes, in addition to the robust array of scientific presentations, there’s a practical hands-on brachytherapy workshop on prostate cancer. We’re also providing a more-integrated program with our physics colleagues in order to drive home the importance of the physics field to radiation oncology.
