Accelerator Dr. Simul Parikh hosts urologist Dr. Riccardo Bertolo, MD, PhD, first author of a recent article on late toxicities of radiotherapy for prostate cancer: 

Real-World Burden and Management of Late Genitourinary Toxicity After Prostate Radiotherapy: Insights from IRRADIaTE, the Italian Registry of Radiotherapy-Associated Disorders and Urological Treatment & Evaluation

Online discussion about this article was... divisive.

Simul and Riccardo discuss the motivation behind the study, some limitations, and Riccardo's experience using AI for the visual abstract.

They share experiences working with urology and radiation oncology, discuss training, and explore patient selection for surgery or radiation. 

Finally, importantly, they discuss physicians as keyboard warriors, peer engagement, and social media in medicine. 

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. For more from Matt, visit his website. For more from Simul, visit his blog, Radiation Medicine: Dollars and Sense.

Accelerator Dr. Matt Spraker hosts Drs. Ana Kiess, Brandon Mancini, and Dustin Boothe to review radiopharmaceutical therapies (RPTs), aka theranostics. 

In part 2 of our RPT mini-series, Ana, Brandon, and Dustin share some of their experience with the practical aspects of launching a RPT program. 

We discuss collaborating with administrators to launch a program and required clinic space to deliver these therapies. General tips the clinical management of patients under treatment are also shared.

The discussion continues with a review of informed consent, radiation safety, and potential side effects patients may notice with RPTs.

We close with, Ana, Brandon, and Dustin sharing practical advice for growing a new RPT program.

Don't miss these great editorials about the economics of RPT programs:

Amdur et al., Answering the Call

Beckta et al., ROs and RP Therapy

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. For more from Matt, visit his website. For more from Simul, visit his blog, Radiation Medicine: Dollars and Sense.

Accelerator Dr. Simul Parikh hosts Dr. Eliane Garlock to discuss health and longevity for our patients and ourselves. Eliane is a doctor of osteopathic medicine and radiation oncology resident at VCU.

Simul and Eliane discuss the benefits of exercise, fiber and diets, smoking cessation, and alcohol as a carcinogen. They also cover supplements and complementary therapies such as vitamin D, creatine, and ivermectin. 

They close with a discussion of sleep and 3 things Eliane wants to see further studied in oncology.

Here are some other things that were discussed during the show:

• Ekelund et al., 2022. Small amounts of exercise averts deaths
• The CHALLENGE Trial
• Book Recommendation from Matt, Fiber Fueled by Dr. Will Bulsiewicz
• E-cigarette or Vaping Associated Lung Injury (EVALI)
• The VITAL Trial
• The SUNSHINE Trial
• Trial of ivermectin and balstilimab in metastatic TNBC
• The SELECT Trial (NCI Website)

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. For more from Matt, visit his website. For more from Simul, visit his blog, Radiation Medicine: Dollars and Sense.

Accelerator Dr. Matt Spraker hosts Drs. Ana Kiess, Brandon Mancini, and Dustin Boothe to review radiopharmaceutical therapies (RPTs), aka theranostics. 

The first episode in this TAP miniseries starts by reviewing how we define radiopharmaceutical therapy for our patients and colleagues. We review Lutathera and Pluvicto including indications for treatment. 

We then review aspects of training and how we've collaborated with nuclear medicine and radiology in training and practice. 

We close the episode scratching the surface of RPT radiobiology, beta versus alpha emitters and BED concepts.

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. For more from Matt, visit his website. For more from Simul, visit his blog, Radiation Medicine: Dollars and Sense.

TAP is back with another live podcast for ASTRO 2025! Well, sort of. 

The Accelerators (Drs. Matt Spraker and Simul Parikh) didn't make it to the meeting this year and we were missing our time with our friends! 

We invited Drs. Laura Dover, Jamie Pawlowski, and Jeff Ryckman to hang out and discuss some of the new data from this year's meeting. 

Here are the studies we discussed:

1. RADCOMP
2. NRG BN001
3. NOM-ERA
4. PACE C / GU005
5. NRG GU006
6. LUNAR
7. EXTEND 

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. For more from Matt, visit his website. For more from Simul, visit his blog, Radiation Medicine: Dollars and Sense.

The Accelerators co-host Dr. Matt Spraker is joined by two experts in brachytherapy for brain tumors, Radiation Onocologist and CMO of GT Medical Technologies Dr. Michael Garcia, MD, MS and Neurosurgeon Dr. Simon Hanft, MD, FAANS.

We first review the origin story of GammaTile, an evolution of the practice of brachytherapy for brain tumors. 

Simon then shares how he has deployed GammaTile in his practice. We dive in to patient selection, how the design facilitates a shallow technical learning curve, and the process of prescribing and placing the implant.

Discussion then shifts to research. We review some of the published studies (see links below) that support use of GammaTile for both brain metastases and recurrent primary brain tumors, such as GBM and meningioma. We also discuss some recently completed and soon-to-open trials, including Mike's creative idea - time intensification! -  to move the needle on outcomes for glioblastoma. 

Here are some of the studies we discussed and other useful links:

• The ROADS Study 
• The GESTALT Study
• Ekhator et al., Review of GammaTile Studies 
• Prasad et al., Radiation Protection Considerations for GammaTile
• Griffin et al., Fast Neutron Therapy for GBM
• Beckham et al., GammaTile for Salvage of Recurrent Brain Mets and a nice industry summary of findings in context (BioSpace)
• Dr. Simon Hanft, Building a Successful GammaTile Program (YouTube)
• A nice Insta patient video by a Dr. Bohnen, a neurosurgeon at Matt's center

Editor's Note: TAP were compensated for this episode and GT Medical Technologies participated in planning the content. The discussions in this episode are the opinions of the participants and are not clinical advice.

Please see our website for complete information on our past and current sponsors.

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. 

Welcome to Season 4! 

The Accelerators (Dr. Matt Spraker and Cameron Tharp, MPH, RT(T)) kick it off with a sequel to our prior podcast on the Advanced Practice Radiation Therapist (APRT) role. 

We host friends-of-the-show Drs. Join Luh and Marsha Haley, Radiation Oncologists who bring important past experiences and unique expertise to the discussion. 

We kick off by examining some articles from the Spring 2025 issue of ASRT's Radiation Therapist:

• Caldwell and Lee, Defining Advanced Practice Radiation Therapy at MDACC
• Burch et al., Advanced Practice Role in IGSRT for Nonmelanoma Skin Cancer Treatment
• Beckert, Implementation of an APRT in Online Adaptive Radiation Therapy

We then explore "scope creep", a phrase used to describe mid-level healthcare provider encroachment on traditional physician roles. One example is the UPenn study comparing the interpretations of Radiology Assistants with physician residents. Don't miss the excellent YouTube review of this study by Physicians for Patient Protection. Join shares his experience with another example, California Assembly Bill (AB) 890.

Later, Join shares some discussion about the APRT among ASRT and CARROS members at the ACR 2025 meeting.

This leads to an open discussion of what APRTs should do -- versus could do -- in a radiation oncology clinic. As evidenced by Table 1 in Caldwell and Lee, the tasks are wide ranging, may replicate existing roles of US radiation therapists, and might make more sense in international markets than in the United States.

We close by reviewing Marsha's letter to the IJROBP editor in response to an APRT role scoping review. 

Here are some other things we discussed in the episode.

• Physicians for Patient Protection Website
• AMA successfully fights scope of practice expansions (2024)
• Patients at Risk Audio and Video Podcast
• Council of Affiliated Regional Radiation Oncology Societies (CARROS)
• Beckert et al., Impact of APRT for on-table adaptive radiotherapy
• Shah et al., Radiation Oncology Workforce Analysis Review
• Book recommendation: Lower Ed by Tressie McMillan Cottom
• Patients at Risk Video - Deficiencies in NP Education

The Accelerators (Drs. Matt Spraker and Simul Parikh) host the 2025 ACRO candidates for Vice President/President-Elect in the first ever radiation oncology election debate! 

Well, it's more like a friendly discussion, but Simul asked them their opinions on 4 great topics. 

1. What differentiates ACRO from other radiation oncology societies? 
2. Can you explain ACRO's position on physician supervision of radiation oncology services over the years? 
3. Why link accreditation to payment in ROCR?
4. Should proton therapy be included in ROCR, and what is your position on the PPS exemption program? 

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. For more from Matt, visit his website. For more from Simul, visit his blog, Radiation Medicine: Dollars and Sense.

Accelerators co-host Dr. Matt Spraker is joined by radiation oncologists Drs. Bobby Koneru and Mudit Chowdhary for an update on low dose radiotherapy for osteoarthritis! 

Dr. Koneru is a radiation oncologist in Freeport, IL and prolific social media educator on benign indications. Dr. Chowdhary is a radiation oncologist at Northside Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, and a friend of TAP (see his prior episodes).

We start by discussing their ASTRO 2024 panel on benign indications for radiotherapy; it sounds like there was a lot of knowledge sharing among those getting started with these treatments.

Bobby and Mudit share how they built a referral network for their successful practices.

We close by discussing some practical tips and recommended educational resources. 

Here are some other things we discussed in the show, or links that may be helpful in building your benign radiotherapy practice: 

• Matt's LDRT & Benign Resource List
• Radiotherapy Academy for Benign Diseases (RT-ABC)
• Makarova et al., RCT showing LDRT reduces disability risk in OA
• English Translation of the DEGRO-AG “Radiotherapy of Benign Diseases”
• TAP reviews LDRT with Dr. Austin Dove 
• Alvarez et al., Radiotherapy for Benign Conditions Contouring Atlas
• LDRT for arthritis PRIMR video

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. 

The Accelerators (Drs. Matt Spraker and Simul Parikh) host Dr. Stacy Wentworth, Radiation Oncologist, Author, and Podcaster!

We discuss her career and how she developed her voice as a physician content creator. Do not miss her Less Radical narrative podcast about the life of Bernie Fisher, it is a masterpiece!

In this episode, we cover our experiences with our evolving careers. As a radiation oncologists solidify their clinical and technical expertise, how can they expand their ability to help the world?

We discuss developing a voice outside the mainstream communication channels of medicine and academics, and going a different way. As radiation oncologists, it's in our DNA.

Editors note: Don't miss Simul's Substack post related to this show, "How to Publish Outside of the Academic 'Priesthood'".

Here are some other things mentioned during the show:

• Subscribe to Stacy's Substack, Cancer Culture
• Stacy's most popular article, Why Your Doctor is Leaving You
• Why Mars is Boring and Cancer is Not, by Stacy Wentworth
• Healthcare A to Z with Eric Bricker
• Zotero organizational software
• Eric Topol's Ground Truths 
• Will Dowd's monthly Lunar Dispatch
• How to start writing on Substack 
• An Inconvenient Truth, by Graypeace
• A biography of Juan Del Regato (ROI Institute)
• The NSABP
• Shibamoto and Takano, Non-surgical management of operable breast cancer review
• Hess et al., Phase 1 trial of low-dose radiotherapy for COVID-19

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. 

The Accelerators (Drs. Matt Spraker and Simul Parikh) host Dr. Donald Abrams, MD, Medical and Integrative Oncologist at the UCSF Oscher Center for Integrative Health.

Donald offers a comprehensive review of a very poorly understood topic!

We review the history of cannabis regulation in the US and globally, different delivery forms, and Donald's observations throughout his oncology practice.

We additionally discuss indications for use in cancer care; is smoking cannabis safer than taking sugary edibles?

Of course, we discuss cannabis misinformation. Right now Donald offers the best discussion of this topic that we have seen.

We close the episode with a dicussion of CBD, the future, and a bit on studies of psychedelic therapies and melatonin.

Don't miss the ASCO Cannabis and Cannabinoids guideline. 

Here are some other things we discussed during the show:

• The Marijuana Tax Act and AMA opposition
• The Controlled Substences Act
• Federal Marijuana Compassionate Use Program
• Braun et al., JCO, National Survey of Medical Oncologists Perceptions
• NASEM report on The Health Effects of Cannabis
• Tashkin, Annals ATS, Effects of marijana smoking on the lung
• Nabiximols
• Waissengren et al, TAMO, Effect of cannabis on oxaliplatin-induced peripheral neuropathy
• Overview of cannabis for peripheral neuropathy (Cleveland Clinic)
• Munson et al, JNCI, Antineoplastic Activity of Cannabinoids
• Guzmán et al., Br J Cancer, Pilot study of CBD for recurrent GBM
• Twelves et al., Br J Cancer, Phase 1b study of CBD for recurrent GBM
• Book Rec: The First Cell, Azra Raza
• Piper et al, Cancers, Regarding cannabinoids and immunotherapy

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. 

The Accelerators Podcast co-host Dr. Simul Parikh is heading back around the globe, this time to discuss breast cancer!

He hosts Drs. Anna Kirby (Royal Marsden Hospital & Institute of Cancer Research), Sushil Beriwal (Allegheny Health Network, Varian Medical Systems), and Revathy Krishnamurthy (Tata Memorial Centre), Radiation/Clinical Oncologists from the UK, US, and India.

The group kicks off it's discussion by comparing and contrasting breast cancer screening processes in their respective countries. 

Then they run cases, examining varied cases of breast cancer and techniques: early stage, locally advanced, triple negative, PMRT, VMAT and SIB, and the oligometastatic state.

Here are other things that were discussed in the show:

• The PRIMETIME Trial (UK)
• SOUND Trial Findings and Discussion, American Society of Breast Surgeons
• Omission of Sentinal Lymph Node Biopsy, American College of Surgeons]
• Hypo-G Breast Abstract, ESTRO 2024
• FAST-Forward Boost Trial (UK, PI Anna Kirby)

The Accelerators Podcast is a production of Photon Media, a division of the Cold Light Legacy Company.

If you'd like to support our efforts, please visit the Cold Light Legacy Company to learn more.

Cameron Tharp, MPH, RTT joins The Accelerators (Drs. Matt Spraker and Simul Parikh), and we host radiation therapist Shaun Caldwell, EdD, RTT to discuss the Advanced Practice Radiation Therapist (APRT) role. 

Here are some things we discussed during the show:

• Mohan et al. on record and verify systems (1984)
• American Society of Radiologic Technologists (ASRT)
• American Registry of Radiologic Technologists (ARRT)
• Health Education England Advanced Clinical Practice Definition

Here are some peer reviewed publications on the APRT role:

• Lawlor and Leech. Scoping review of established APRT roles
• Skubish et al. Exploring possibilities for the APRT in the US

The Accelerators Podcast is a production of Photon Media, a division of the Cold Light Legacy Company.

If you'd like to support our efforts, please visit the Cold Light Legacy Company to learn more.

The Accelerators (Drs. Matt Spraker and Simul Parikh) host Christine Gnaster, MS, DABR, FAAPM, Vice President of Product of Radformation and medical physicist Chelsea Page-Robertson for a #MedEd discussion of AutoContour, ClearCheck, and the use of AI in Radiation Oncology. 

Christine kicks us off with an approachable overview of how tools like AutoContour actually work. We discuss how Radformation have trained hundreds of models to help you contour in clinic. She also shares how they are approaching current challenges in the field of automated contouring. 

We then discuss ClearCheck, how it is linked to AutoContour, and why it is so much more than a checklist for dosimetry review. Chelsea shares how her and Matt have implemented AutoContour and ClearCheck in their practice. 

We close with a discussion of the "psychology" of implementing AI tools in the Radiation Oncology clinic. Should we trust the computer to draw clinical target volumes? Are we planning to green boxes? Are these tools going to us worse clinicians? 

Plus, all the (live) music that makes us happy.

Here are some other things we discussed during the show:

• See a list of AutoContour's included models
• Radformation Acquires Limbus AI
• TAP Re-irradiation Episode
• AAPM TG 132
• Dean et al., CB-CHOP plan review strategy
• Chen et al., Physician vs. AI Chat Bot for cancer
• Physics World, "Automation in the radiotherapy workflow"
• Batumalai et al., Survey of RO professionals perceptions of automation

Editor's Note: While our love for their products is genuine, The Accelerators were compensated for this episode and Radformation participated in planning the content. The discussions in this episode are the opinions of the participants and are not clinical advice.

Please see our website for complete information on our past and current sponsors.

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. 

The Accelerators (Drs. Matt Spraker and Simul Parikh) team up with Vision RT for the first of two tech-forward episodes! 

We are joined by Mike Tallhamer, MSc DABR, Chief of Radiation Physics at Advent Health for a masterclass on Surface Guided Radiotherapy (SGRT). We discuss how VisionRT has leveraged SGRT to enhance the radiotherapy planning and delivery.

After reviewing SGRT basics, we discuss how SimRT can be used to improve the patient experience: no set up tattoos and "open mask" radiotherapy. We also review its use as a platform for respiratory management.

We then discuss MapRT, a new SGRT tool that gives planners knowledge of vault geometry. Increased planning efficiency could increase access to advanced techniques.

We close with a discussion of AlignRT, a patient positioning and monitoring tool, and DoseRT, a technology providing real-time visualization of dose delivery.
 
Here are other some things we discussed during the show:

• Jarvis et al., Dartmouth Cherenkov Imaging experience
• VisionRT's open face mask solutions for head and neck radiotherapy
• Moser et al., Women's experience with tattoos in breast radiotherapy
• The patient-led Remove the Mask project, video and website
• Matt on Out.Of.The.Basement, IGRT episodes part 1, 2, and 3
• TAP re-irradiation episode for #ESTRO23
• ESTRO "Challenges in Reirradiation: From Art to Science" Webinar Series
• Cherenkov radiation
• Zhang et al., SGRT reduced PTV margins for sarcoma
• SGRT Community Upcoming Meetings & Videos for more educational content
• Learn more about SGRT reimbursement

Editor's Note: TAP were compensated for this episode and VisionRT participated in planning the content. The discussions in this episode are the opinions of the participants and are not clinical advice.

Please see our website for complete information on our past and current sponsors.

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. 

The Accelerators (Drs. Matt Spraker and Simul Parikh) host Sam Mazin, Ph.D. and Sean Shirvani, MD, CTO and CMO of RefleXion. This Rad Onc startup have created a linear accelerator with on board PET/CT. This allows for SCINTIX biology-guided radiotherapy for bone and lung disease. 

Sam and Sean join the show to share their story in medical entrepreneurship, discuss the technology, and their vision for the future of our field. 

Why is SCINTIX any better than fusing a PET/CT to a standard CT simulation? 

PET/CT on board and in real time offers potential safety advantages and opportunities for personalized therapy. 

Many would argue that novel radio-molecules and total metastatic ablation are the future of our field. Sam and Sean invite us to think bigger and a lot more creatively about how that future might look for our patients. 

Here are some other things that were discussed during the show.

• Bob Timmerman and Nina Sanford on TAP, Parts 1 and 2
• RefleXion Research Program Information
• Shankar Siva and others with a good discussion about total metastatic ablation, X
• SCINTIX receives FDA clearance, RefleXion

The Accelerators (Drs. Matt Spraker and Simul Parikh) host Radiation Oncologists and elite GI educators Drs. Krish Jethwa and Nina Sanford.

We discuss the exciting phase III ESOPEC study presented at ASCO 2024. The study demonstrated an overall survival benefit for perioperative FLOT chemotherapy versus pre-operative chemoradiation therapy for GE junction adenocarcinoma. 

• Krish's ESOPEC thread on X
• Nina's ESOPEC thread on X
• Krish on TAP discussing esophageal radiotherapy dosing
• ASCO Daily News on the ESOPEC Study
• The FLOT4 Study
• Keynote-585 Study
• Latest publication from the DANTE trial
• MATTERHORN Trial at ESMO 2023
• ASCO Daily News on Keynote-585 and MATTERHORN (2024)
• The CheckMate 577 Study
• CALGB 80803 (Alliance) Study
• "The Firefighter Study from the 70s" (1981)

The Accelerators Podcast is a production of Photon Media, a division of the Cold Light Legacy Company.

If you'd like to support our efforts, please visit the Cold Light Legacy Company to learn more.

The Accelerators (Drs. Matt Spraker and Simul Parikh) host a very special guest! 

Cameron Tharp, M.P.H., R.T.T. has joined the TAP team to help us out with show development and offer new perspective to our content. 

We introduce Cameron and tease future discussions on a hot radiation therapy topic: Advanced Practice Radiation Therapy.

Of course, Simul makes Cameron sit in The Hot Seat. 

Here are some resources as well as some other things mentioned in the show:

• Oliveria et al., Advanced practice roles of therapeutic radiographers/radiation therapists: A systematic literature review.
• Skubish et al., Exploring opportunities & pathways for advanced practice radiation therapy roles in the United States.
• McDonagh et al., An Environmental Scan of Advanced Practice Radiation Therapy in the United States: A PESTEL Analysis.
• D'Alimonte et al., Toronto APRT Experience.
• "Intersting discussion" of the Advanced Practice Radiation Therapy role on Twitter
• ASRT White Paper, Advanced Practice in Radiation Therapy 
• Flow State, arousal and challenges at work

The Accelerators Podcast is a production of Photon Media, a division of the Cold Light Legacy Company.

If you'd like to support our efforts, please visit the Cold Light Legacy Company to learn more.

The Accelerators (Drs. Matt Spraker and Simul Parikh) team up with Radformation for a very special #ESTRO24 episode!

We host Dr. Dora Correia, a Portuguese Radiation Oncologist currently working at Cantonal Hospital Aarau in Switzerland and EORTC Y-ECI ROSC Chair as well as Ana Rato, Medical Dosimetrist and Clinical Success Manager with Radformation.

In honor of ESTRO 2024, we discuss a hot topic for the conference... reirradiation!

We first compare and contrast patterns of referral and practice in Switzerland versus the US then give our thoughts on the ESTRO Challenges in Reirradiation: From Art to Science webinar series. This is free and not to be missed!

We then discuss how we manage re-irradiation in our day to day clinical job... and how Radformation ClearCheck, AutoContour, and deformable registration can enhance our re-irradiation workflows! 

Finally, we discuss how to approach treatment intent with patients when they may be facing a high risk of serious toxicity.

We close the show with Simul's Portuguese Lightning Round! 

We hope you enjoy ESTRO 2024, check out Radformation at booth 550!

Here are some other things we discussed during the episode:

• ReCare: a prospective observational registry cohort on high-dose re-irradiation within the E2-RADIatE platform
• Portuguese Vinho Verde
• Fado Music 
• Some of Dora's recommendations for Portugese Artists: Salvador Sobral, Mariza, Sara Correia (not Dora's cousin)
• Sanford and Timmerman, optimizing risk versus reward through calculated useful trauma (CUT)
• Sanford and Timmerman on TAP, parts 1 and 2
• ESTRO Session: Innovations in Re-irradiation Trial Design
• ESTRO Re-irradiation one day pre-meeting boot camp
• ESTRO Foundations in Leadership in Radiation Oncology Course

Editor's Note: While our love for their products is genuine, The Accelerators were compensated for this episode and Radformation participated in planning the content. The discussions in this episode are the opinions of the participants and are not clinical advice.

Please see our website for complete information on our past and current sponsors.

The Accelerators Podcast is a

The Accelerators (Drs. Matt Spraker and Simul Parikh) host Dr. Clifford Hudis, medical oncologist and CEO of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. 

We discuss a wide range of topics surrounding organizational leadership. While we examined the topic through a physician's lens, anyone that works in healthcare will love this conversation! 

Leadership coaching, physician-led healthcare organizations, remote work and virtual care, engaging law makers and the public, and more! 

Learn from one of oncology's best physician leaders. 

Here are some other things we discussed during the show:

• Hudis on the Healthcare Unfiltered Podcast (audio only, video)
• Dying and Living in the Neighborhood by Probhjat Singh
• ASCO Resources Webpage and Leadership Development Programs
• ESTRO Foundations of Leadership in Radiation Oncology
• ASAE, The Center for Association Leadership
• Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It by Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson
• Common Sense Oncology
• The Accelerators Podcast -  "The Emporor Is Just Wearing Underwear" with CSO leaders Drs. Booth and Goodman 
• Oncology Unscripted Podcast with Katie, Julie, and Matt
• Hughes et al., Lumpectomy Plus Tamoxifen With or Withoutt Irradiation in Women Age 70 or Older

The Accelerators Podcast is a production of Photon Media, a division of the Cold Light Legacy Company.

If you'd like to support our efforts, please visit the Cold Light Legacy Company to learn more.

In this episode, The Accelerators (Drs. Matt Spraker and Simul Parikh) host Mary Calys, DPT, a lymphedema physical therapist, and Katelyn Nees. They are the Senior Clinical Specialist and Senior Market Development Director for Tactile Medical, respectively.

Mary and Katelyn update our medical knowledge on the etiology and management of lymphedema with a special focus on breast and head & neck cancers.

Do not miss the awesome resources they provided for this show: a high-quality slide deck, clinician resources for lymphedema management in breast and head and neck cancers, and data supporting pneumatic compression.

We cover definitions, screening for symptoms, advanced measurements, and comprehensive management. We also cover the randomized data supporting the use of Flexitouch Plus, an advanced pneumatic compression device to treat lymphedema at home.

Finally, we cover the process of prescribing Flexitouch in clinic and Matt and Simul share their experiences with clinical use. 

We hope you enjoy this practical #MedEd episode as much as we enjoyed making it!

Here are some other things we discussed during the show:

•  Lymphology Association of North America - Find a Therapist
• American Physical Therapy Association - Find a Physical Therapist

Editor's Note: The Accelerators Podcast was compensated for this episode and Tactile Medical participated in planning the content. Matt and Simul are not compensated by the company for the clinical use of Tactile products, they just really like them! The discussions in this episode are the opinions of the participants and are not clinical, billing, or coding advice. We encourage you to contact your friendly local Tactile Medical representative or visit tactilemedical.com for more information.

Please see our website for complete information on our past and current sponsors.

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. 

At the end of last year, Dr. Jason Beckta published a docu-podcast about clinical supervision of radiotherapy services (parts one, two, and three). The series covers supervision terms, legal precedent, and dispels the misinformation shared by conflicted parties. 

In this episode, The Accelerators (Drs. Matt Spraker and Simul Parikh) join up with Jason to interview the famous Dr. Todd Scarbrough, the radiation oncologist at the center of supervision lore.

Todd shares his story and we discuss many aspects of supervision policy. 

Here are some links to things discussed in the show:

• TAP Episode with Simul, Jason, and Todd from ACRO 2022
• Jarvis et al., Initial Clinical Experience of Cherenkov Imaging in External Beam Radiation Therapy Identifies Opportunities to Improve Treatment Delivery
• Price et al., Washington University in St. Louis experience with remote SBRT coverage and adaptive radiotherapy coverage

The Accelerators Podcast is a production of Photon Media, a division of the Cold Light Legacy Company.

If you'd like to support our efforts, please visit the Cold Light Legacy Company to learn more.

The Accelerators (Drs. Matt Spraker and Simul Parikh) host early career radiation oncologists Drs. Austin Sim, Anna Paulsson, and Avinash Chaurasia to discuss... early career (EC) issues in radiation oncology!

It's no secret that this is a passion topic for TAP. One of our first episodes dished out practical tips for new attendings (and new residents), and we've since given an independent voice to our EC peers on a wide range of topics: boards, starting families, finding your place in community medicine, and more.

We've been watching the work of friends-of-the-show Austin, Anna, and Avinash in this space throughout the last year.

They are among founding members of the nascent ASTRO Early Career Committee, a new group created to "represent the needs of radiation oncologists and physicists who are eight years or fewer out of training."

Listen in as we discuss all the things they are working on and their ideas for the future!

Don't miss the ECC resource website (members only) as well as their open suggestion box!

The Accelerators Podcast is a production of Photon Media, a division of the Cold Light Legacy Company.

If you'd like to support our efforts, please visit the Cold Light Legacy Company to learn more.

It's another Accelerators journal club with Dr. Simul Parikh!

In this episode Simul reviews a recent industry sponsored publication in Advances in Radiation Oncology.

Image guidance improves freedom from recurrence rate after superficial radiation therapy for non-melanoma skin cancer

The article retrospectively compares patients with skin cancer treated with image-guided superficial radiotherapy to other previously published cohorts. Such a definitive title for a retrospective study! Well, there is more to the story. 

Simul discusses the article's methods, results, and adds important context for the message communicated by this paper. Edward Bernays would be proud.

Here are some links to things discussed in the show:

• The Sensus SRT-100+, a superficial radiotherapy machine
• SkinCure Oncology, funder of this study

The Accelerators Podcast is a production of Photon Media, a division of the Cold Light Legacy Company.

If you'd like to support our efforts, please visit the Cold Light Legacy Company to learn more.

The Accelerators (Drs. Matt Spraker and Simul Parikh) discuss critique versus negativity, why Simul quit social media, Student Doctor Network, and engaging in discourse about Radiation Oncology.

This episode is a companion to an episode we recorded in December, but Matt initially decided to hold it back. The episode is a strong, journal club style critique of payer policy article published by the IJROBP that we feel should be retracted.

We encourage you to listen to our "almost lost" episode and additionally read Mark Storey's amazing rebuttal to the IJROBP publication.  

Here we discuss how this contributed to Simul leaving social media, why we initially held back the episode, critique, misanthropy, and our mission for open discussion in Radiation Oncology. 

Here are some links to things we discuss in the episode:

• SDN Thread "Screenshotting Simul"
• A Wikipedia article on Preference Falsification
• Out.Of.The.Basement podcast on the ASTRO "collaboration letter" and propaganda
• Edward Bernays, an American pioneer in public relations and propaganda

The Accelerators Podcast is a production of Photon Media, a division of Cold Light Legacy Company.

If you'd like to support our efforts, please visit the Cold Light Legacy Company to learn more.

Update 12/17/24: Simul is back online with a new substack, check it out here.

For the first time ever, a lost episode has been found!

The Accelerators (Drs. Matt Spraker and Simul Parikh) recorded a "reaction" episode to a brief report published in December 2023 in the IJROBP shortly after it published.

The article demonstrates that freestanding departments have been slightly slower to implement hypofractionation for treatment of breast and prostate cancers that hospital-based departments. The authors argue that this burdens the healthcare system and propose ROCR as an incentive to drive increased use of these techniques.

In this episode, we discuss this article in detail and share our opinion that the authors examined this issue in a very disingenuous way.

Yet, if you holistically analyze this issue, the data does not support the author's argument.

Is the goal to help readers understand the complexities of our system or were data curated to support implementation of ROCR policy? You'll have to ask the authors. 

Here are some resources we feel are important complements to this episode:

• Out.Of.The.Basement podcast on the ASTRO "collaboration letter" and propaganda
• Out.Of.The.Basement podcast, a rural doctor's thoughts on The ASTRO President speaking at "The President's Cancer Panel"
• Out.Of.The.Basement podcast, on unaddressed significant conflicts of interest among ROCR authors
• Mark Storey's rebuttal to the IJROBP article

The Accelerators Podcast is a production of Photon Media, a division of Cold Light Legacy Company.

If you'd like to support our efforts, please visit the Cold Light Legacy Company to learn more.

The Accelerators (Drs. Matt Spraker and Simul Parikh) host new Associate Executive Director for Radiation Oncology at The American Board of Radiology (ABR), Dr. Michael Yunes! 

Mike is a community radiation oncologist in Springfield, MA and long time volunteer for the ABR. The transition to his leadership comes after a turbulent period for the Rad Onc board. Communication around the 2018 score anomalies dragged trainee confidence in the ABR to new lows and, soon after, COVID forced the board to complete a rapid redesign of testing. 

More than 5 years later, there are exciting signals of change. The "Orals 2.0" platform seems very well received by examiners and examinees and the board has voted to ramp up the clinical relevance of the qualifying exams in Rad Onc.

Most importantly, Mike is all about transparency and communication. His door is always open, so we invited ourselves in and recorded a podcast. 

We discuss all things Initial Cert: the successful move to virtual oral boards, the written boards and clinical relevance, Angoff'ing, and "crisis management" and communication. 

We close the episode with Simul's lightning round.  Lobster, wine, informatics, 3D printing for benign radiotherapy, Mike's got hobbies!

We hope you enjoy what we hope is the first of many fruitful conversations. 

Physician training and evaluation is a topic near and dear to our hearts; here are some prior episodes from our group related to the ABR.

• TAP, Beckta interviews Matt about boards
• Out.Of.The.Basement, Beckta covers the contentious 2018 ABR initial certification results

Here are some other resources discussed in the episode:

• Beriwal et al., Interdisciplinary debate on the physics test content
• Golden, United States Radiation Oncology Curriculum Development: The Tail is Wagging the Dog
• Warwzuta et al., The rise of negative portrayals of radiation oncology: A textual analysis of media news
• Chimney Rock Winery, a Yunes' family favorite
• See Mike's blog in ABR The Beam

The Accelerators Podcast is a production of Photon Media, a division of Cold Light Legacy Company.

If you'd like to support our efforts, please visit the Cold Light Legacy Company to learn more.

Welcome to MattPAC*, a new Accelerators pilot concept!

Radiation Oncologist Dr. Matt Spraker aims to introduce important healthcare policy concepts rooted in current events. Each show is designed to be efficient with your time and inspire you to get engaged with advocacy in around 30 minutes. 

In MattPAC #1, Matt covers quality payment programs (QPP). QPPs aim to incentivize "High Quality Care" by adjusting a portion of physician's pay according to performance on quality indicators, measures of healthcare quality. 

We'll discuss the rich history of care quality improvement in radiation medicine and examine how Medicare has approached the QPP with Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS). After, we examine practice accreditation, the QPP approach proposed in ASTRO's ROCR and close with a brainstorm of a better QPP. 

Here are some good resources for further reading on these topics:

• Albert and Das reviews, Quality Assessment in Oncology and Quality Indicators in Radiation Oncology
• MedPAC report, Examining MACRA implementation and the road ahead
• MedPAC report, Moving beyond the MIPs
• GAO Report, Provider Performance and Experiences under the Merit-based Incentive Payment System
• Patel et al., Oncologist Participation and Performance in the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System
• Luh, Radiation Oncology Alternative Payment Model's Impact on Small and Rural Practices
• Jones et al., Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) Participation in Radiation Oncology Practices — A Simple Survey
• Chera et al., Improving Quality of Patient Care by Improving Daily Practice of Radiation Oncology
• Coia and Hanks, Quality Assessment in the USA: How the Patterns of Care Study Has Made a Difference 
• Hanks et al., Patters of Care Studies: Past, Present, and Future
• Visit the CMS QPP page for a lot of info: check your participation status, MIPs guides, APMs, and more
• ASTRO ROCR FAQ page

The Accelerators Podcast is a production of Photon Media, a division of Cold Light Legacy Company.

*MattPAC is not a political action committee, it's just a cute name. If you'd like to support our efforts, please visit the Cold Li

The Accelerators (Drs. Matt Spraker and Simul Parikh) host the lung cancer legend, Brendon Stiles, MD. He is a Professor of Oncology, Medicine, and Thoracic Surgery at Montfiore and Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

We discuss all things lung cancer: early stage, locally advanced, staging, quality, and more.

The episode is capped with Simul's Lighting Round. Good luck Brendon!

We hope you enjoy this #MedEd instant classic!

Here are (almost?) all the studies and materials we mentioned during the show:

• Brendon's "Old Slide" on patient selection and operability
• Lobar or Sublobar Resection for Peripheral Stage IA Non–Small-Cell Lung Cancer (CALGB 140503)
• Stereotactic ablative radiotherapy with or without immunotherapy for early-stage or isolated lung parenchymal recurrent node-negative non-small-cell lung cancer (I-SABR)
• Stereotactic ablative radiotherapy versus lobectomy for operable stage I non-small-cell lung cancer: a pooled analysis of two randomised trials (STARS-ROSEL)
• Measuring the Integration of Stereotactic Ablative Radiotherapy Plus Surgery for Early-Stage Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer (MISSILE)
• Stereotactic ABlative Radiotherapy Before Resection to AvoId Delay for Early-Stage LunG Cancer or OligomEts During the COVID-19 Pandemic (SABR-BRIDGE)
• Five-Year Survival Outcomes From the PACIFIC Trial: Durvalumab After Chemoradiotherapy in Stage III Non–Small-Cell Lung Cancer
• Phase II Study of Accelerated High-Dose Radiation Therapy with Concurrent Chemotherapy for Patients With Limited Small-Cell Lung Cancer (RTOG 0239)
• Randomized Phase II Study of Preoperative Chemoradiotherapy ± Panitumumab Followed by Consolidation Chemotherapy in Potentially Operable Locally Advanced (Stage IIIa, N2+) Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (RTOG 0839)
• Neoadjuvant Nivolumab plus Chemotherapy in Resectable Lung Cancer (CheckMate 816)
• Pacific-2 Press Release, AstraZeneca
• Study of Durvalumab Given With Chemoradiation Therapy in Patients With Unresectable Non-small Cell Lung Cancer (MDT-BRIDGE, in progress)
• Society of Thoracic Surgeons quality initiatives

The Accelerators Podcast is a production of Photon Media, a division of Cold Light Legacy Company.

If you'd like to support our efforts, please visit the Cold Light Legacy Company to learn more.

The Accelerators (Drs. Matt Spraker and Simul Parikh) host Radiation Oncologist and prolific X'er Dr. Dave Chang for a discussion of Small Market Radiation Oncology.

We wax philosophical about the work and life of docs formerly known as #LittleRadOnc: radiation oncologists often under resourced and practicing solo, working miles away from large US cities. 

Dave's personal stories emphasize that the reality of radiation oncology "maldistribution" is a lot more complicated than is often described by city slicker researchers.

Simul and Dave close the episode by discussing practical problems faced by Small Market Radiation Oncology and potential solutions, including... of course... supervision policy!

The only link for this show is the X announcement of Dr. Glaucomflecken's medical school.

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. 

The Accelerators (Drs. Matt Spraker and Simul Parikh) host radiation oncologists Dr. Jona Hattangadi-Gluth and PGY-5 resident Dr. Austin Hopper. Jona is a central nervous system malignancies expert, co-lead of the Central Nervous System Disease Team and Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology at UC San Diego.

In this episode, we discuss Jona's lab's work in understanding the link between brain tumors, radiation (and other) treatments, and neurocognitive toxicity.

We start by discussing Austin's recently presented work that developed an normal tissue complication probability (NTCP) model for radiation dose and attention/processing speed. 

Later, we discuss specific methods used in the NTCP work. How can this work be translated to clinical counseling and practice? 

Also, Matt argues that building NTCP models based on neurocognitive outcomes, such as attention or fine motor control, can be more difficult to model than more simple clinical outcomes such as pneumonitis.

Here are some links to things we discussed during the show:

• Connor et al., 2023. Fine Motor Skill Decline After Brain Radiation Therapy—A Multivariate Normal Tissue Complication Probability Study of a Prospective Trial
• Unnikrishnan et al., 2021. Phase II Clinical Trial of Image-Guided Cognitive-Sparing SRS in Patients With Brain Metastases
• Oscar's Mexican Seafood, Oncology Twitter's favorite fish tacos in San Diego.

The Accelerators Podcast is a production of Photon Media, a division of Cold Light Legacy Company.

If you'd like to support our efforts, please visit the Cold Light Legacy Company to learn more.

Welcome to MattPAC*, a new Accelerators pilot concept!

Radiation Oncologist Dr. Matt Spraker aims to introduce important healthcare policy concepts rooted in current events. Each show is designed to be efficient with your time and inspire you to get engaged with #RadOnc advocacy in 30 minutes or less.  

In MattPAC #1, Matt covers two current congressional bills that are currently being considered for inclusion into next year's Medicare legislation: HR 2474 and HR3674. These bills seek to link Medicare physician pay to inflation and boost practice expense reimbursement for freestanding practices. The history of Medicare, administration processes, the payment formula, and sites of service are covered for context. 

Here are some good resources for further reading on these topics:

• A paper on how Medicare drove hospital desegregation, especially in the south.
• Power To Heal: Medicare and The Civil Rights Revolution
• How is Medicare Funded?
• Information about Medicare administration and procedures, Wikipedia
• A lot of info on the RUC, AMA
• The medicare physician fee schedule payment formula, MedicalBillersAndCoders.com
• Interesting write up of history of conversion factors, AMA
• Medicare payments are not keeping up with inflation, AMA
• Framework for Rational Medicare, AMA
• AMA letter to congress about these issues, March 2023
• AMA commends MedPAC for recognizing challenges of inflationary environment, April 2023
• HR 2474
• A Primer On Office Based Specialty Care, USPA
• USPA Letter to MedPAC about threats to free standing specialty practices, such as Rad Onc
• 2023 survey of multi-specialty practices regarding Medicare cuts
• HR 3674

The Accelerators Podcast is a production of Photon Media, a division of Cold Light Legacy Company.

*MattPAC is not a political action committee, it's just a cute name. If you'd like to support our efforts, please visit the Cold Light Legacy Company to learn more.

Friend of the show and GI super friend Dr. Nina Sanford joins The Accelerators (Drs. Matt Spraker and Simul Parikh) to host #RadOnc luminary Dr. Robert Timmerman, MD.

Our discussion concludes with a discussion of proton and adaptive radiotherapy, Wagyu beef, life advice, and Simul's Hot Seat.

Here are a couple of book recommendations from the show: 

• Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker, PhD
• Outlive by Peter Attia, MD

The Accelerators Podcast is a production of Photon Media, a division of Cold Light Legacy Company.

Friend of the show and GI super friend Dr. Nina Sanford joins The Accelerators (Drs. Matt Spraker and Simul Parikh) to host #RadOnc luminary Dr. Robert Timmerman, MD.

No notes.

It's Bob Timmerman, just listen.

The Accelerators Podcast is a production of Photon Media, a division of Cold Light Legacy.

Accelerators co-host Dr. Matt Spraker is joined by Out Of The Basement co-host and Dr. Jason Beckta. We're talking #ASTRO23 and jobs, the theme of the conference for Matt.

This episode is, in part, a reaction to Jason's most recent OOTB episode: Chicken Little Strikes Back. Jason weaves 2023's "hot" job market and the workforce data into a master narrative to describe the changing market across recent years.  As this episode is heavily referenced here, you may want to listen first!  (But its not required)

Matt and Jason kick off by discussing interview experiences at ASTRO 2017 in San Diego. We then share thoughts about the 2023 "workforce session", what this means for medical students and graduating residents, and a plea for Rad Onc advocacy in the broadest sense.

The episode concludes with more discussion of the conference and our future.

Here are links to things mentioned in the show:

• Dr. Susannah Ellsworth Xeet on over/under supply, and her thread on the session.
• Matt Xeet on the alarming SOAP data and the "12,000 RVU Poll"
• How Much Are Resident Physicians Worth by Dr. Carmody, an excellent read on "the economy of residents"

The Accelerators Podcast is a production of Photon Media, a division of Cold Light Legacy.

It's a Photon Media crossover episode! Accelerators co-hosts Drs. Matt Spraker and Simul Parikh team up with Dr. Jason Beckta, host of the Out Of The Basement podcast, to talk about billing.

We are joined by Shawna Stacey, ROCC, MBA, Coding and Billing Specialist at Radformation. The episode kicks off with a discussion about why you should care about billing and coding. Matt, Simul, and Jason discuss their (lack of training) training and experiences trying to learn on the job.

Simply learning about billing and coding doesn't make you greedy, it helps you understand how you are paid for your work. A transparent and well funded clinic offers the best chance of optimizing care for your patients!

Feeling overwhelmed by billing and wish you could just stick to patient care? Us too.

Later in the episode, we discuss resources that help you not care, especially Radformation's QuickCode. You already know how AutoContour and ClearCheck have automated your clinic, QuickCode does it for billing and coding. 

Don't believe us? We close the episode by asking Jason and Simul to "break" QuickCode with a complicated billing and coding scenario that is sure to frighten even the experts. 

Here are some things we discussed during the show:

• "What is a MAC?", from CMS
• "What's an LCD?", from Medicare.gov
• ACROInsights Newsletter from the Goverment Relations/Economics Committee (membership required)

Editor's Note: While our love for their products is genuine, The Accelerators were compensated for this episode and Radformation participated in planning the content. The discussions in this episode are the opinions of the participants and are not billing and coding advice.

Please see our website for complete information on our past and current sponsors.

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. 

This week, Dr. Matt Spraker hosts medical student and Rad Onc applicant Dr. Laura Flores, PhD to discuss The Rad Onc Match! 

With all these links there's no room for a summary, so just listen!

• Rank Order List: Buyers and Sellers Edition and accompanying video
• The Accelerators Podcast, Composite QoL Measure for #RadOnc Happiness
• That WaPo article about physician salaries and an excellent SDN post explaining why the number reported for Rad Onc is inflated
• Matt Spraker's Threads 
  • ERAS competitiveness
  • Degree during residency
• Tweet from Dr. Mary Mahoney on applicant demographics
• Holistic Review
• The Accelerators Podcast, ACROPolis Live! at #ACRO2023
• Out Of The Basement Podcast, History of RadOnc: the "2018 exams"
• The Accelerators Podcast, In Conversation with Join Luh
• Shah et al., The ASTRO Workforce Study
• ACGME Program Requirements for Radiation Oncology

For a deep dive, please check out the many Photon Media podcasts on the workforce.  From The Accelerators Podcast: 

• The One About Jobs
• Facility Volumes to Assess the Job Market
• Analyzing Job Board Postings
• New Starts: Residents

From Out Of The Basement:

• Rad Onc Job Secrets Part 1 and Part 2
• ASTRO Workforce Interim (2022) and Final Analysis
• Supply and Demand Impact

Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham. Intro and Outro music by Emmy-award winning artist Lucas Cantor Santiago.

The Accelerator

On this week's episode, Accelerator Dr. Simul Parikh hosts Radiation Oncologist Dr. Daniel Koffler to discuss psychedelics in oncology!

They kick off the conversation by discussing ketamine. They review it's use in head and neck and gynecologic cancers, and discuss two trials by Daniel and colleagues (see below).

Later, they discuss the systemic use of psychedelics, some practical advice for incorporating psychedelics (topical and systemic) and collaborating with psychiatrists and psychologists in your local practice.

Here are some things discussed during the show as well as some more stuff you should check out:

• Clinical trial of ketamine mouthwash by Daniel and friends (get the protocol)
• Clinical trial of ketamine psychotherapy (KAPTIVATED) by the same
• Analgesic effects of topical ketamine, a review
• Treatment of severe mucositis pain with oral ketamine mouthwash
• Topical Ketamine in the Treatment of Mucositis Pain, a dramatic case report
• "Finding medical value in mescaline" in Nature
• Efficacy of ketamine therapy in the treatment of depression
• Efficacy of Esketamine Nasal Spray Plus Oral Antidepressant Treatment for Relapse Prevention in Depression

(Editor's Book Recommendation! For an excellent book on the history of psychedelics research and their resurgence, check out How To Change Your Mind by Michael Pollen)

Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham. Intro and Outro music by Emmy-award winning artist Lucas Cantor Santiago.

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. 

This week The Accelerators (Drs. Anna Brown, Matt Spraker, and Simul Parikh) host radiation oncologist and legend Dr. Join Luh. This show is all about Join!

We discuss his path through internal and emergency medicine to radiation oncology, and his experience working as a rural, community radiation oncologist. What are the joys and challenges of serving a small community?

We then discuss Join's advocacy for his practice and his patients throughout his career with a special focus on his RO-APM editorial in the JCO. 

We close the episode with the return of Simul's Lightning Round! 

Texas versus California, which would you pick?

Here are some other things we discussed during the show:

• The Peacock Radiotherapy System and Where goest the Peacock?
• California Assembly Bill 890 and a CalMatters review of the bill
• The Accelerators Podcast: ACROPolis Live! Welcome to Rad Onc

Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham. Intro and Outro music by Emmy-award winning artist Lucas Cantor Santiago.

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. 

Accelerators co-hosts Drs. Matt Spraker and Simul Parikh host Drs. Chris Booth and Aaron Goodman to discuss their new organization, Common Sense Oncology (CSO).

Listen as Chris and Aaron describe the inspirational origin story of CSO, from an idea to a symposium to a groundbreaking movement. We discuss discomfort in speaking up against powerful voices in medicine, and how the interaction of hope and money can make this a big challenge.

We then move on to discussing details of their symposium and their inclusion of patients in the formation of their organization.

Finally, we discuss some future goals of CSO and how you can get involved!

Sign up to become a member of CSO and consider donating today (USA or non-USA). One hundred percent of the funds go to support CSO efforts!

Here are some other things we discussed during the show.

• Booth et al., Common Sense Oncology: Outcomes That Matter, Lancet Oncology, 2023
• Medical oncologist Dr. Bishal Gyawali
• Oncology Unscripted Podcast with Julie Johnson, Katie Coleman, and Dr. Matt Spraker
• You are told you have cancer: five questions you should ask your oncologist by Dr. Booth

Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham. Intro and Outro music by Emmy-award winning artist Lucas Cantor Santiago.

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. 

The Accelerators co-hosts Drs. Matt Spraker and Simul Parikh hang out over lunch and discuss a potpourri of #RadOnc current events!

We cover ASTRO’s ROCR policy proposal, Dr. Sameer Keole's ASTRO presidential campaign and engagement on Student Doctor Network, and the recent dysphagia optimized IMRT trial.

Then, Simul hypothesizes about the future of radiation oncology under case rate payment models.

We close with some more thoughts about proton therapy inspired by Dr. Mark Storey's latest piece.

Here are a lot of links to things we discussed on the show:

• The Moto ROKR 
• Accreditation Programs by the ACR, ACRO, and ASTRO
• ASTRO ROCR Policy Page 
• Register for the ROCR Town Hall this Friday, July 21 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM ET
• What Big Medicine Can Learn from the Cheesecake Factory by Atul Gawande
• Out.Of.The.Basement with Beckta, MD: The Code Bundling Conundrum: A Medicare Misadventure (the saga of 77280-77290 and 77301)
• ASTRO Strategic Plan
• Nutting et al., Dysphagia Optimized IMRT
• Kamran et al., Esophagus-Sparing IMRT
• Oncora.ai
• Common Sense Oncology
• The Accelerators Podcast: Mobilize the Canadians! A Workflow Episode
• Protons 101 by Mark Storey, MD

Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham. Intro and Outro music by Emmy-award winning artist Lucas Cantor Santiago.

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. 

Dear Radiation Oncology,

Here are some thoughts about ASTRO's methods, and some reflections on ROCR and the updated Proton Model Policy.

It is my plea for a more open and inclusive society.

Love,

Matt 

Here are some things that were discussed in this episode:

• RTanswers.org sarcoma section
• Radiation for Sarcoma Ask Me Anything
• ASTRO Sarcoma PPT slides (and others)
• TAP episode: The One About Jobs
• TAP episode: The One About Jobs (Boost), Facility Volumes
• The Graypeace Article on the Rad Onc Workforce 
• The Virtual Visiting Professor Network lecture featuring Simul has apparently been removed, but a transcription of his famous speech can be found on SDN
• TAP episode: RO-APM
• ASTRO updated proton policy 
• Join Luh, Radiation Oncology Alternative Payment Model's Impact on Small and Rural Practices
• ASTROgram from 5/3 stating that NAPT and Maryland Proton Treatment Center developed the updated proton policy. 
  • ASTRO tried to delete this, see the internet archive instead
• ASTROgram from 5/10 correcting the 5/3 ASTROgram that "mischaracterized" the stakeholders' role.
  • See the internet archive instead
• ASTRO VP of Advocacy Dave Adler on Twitter

The Accelerators Podcast is a production of Photon Media, a division of Cold Light Legacy.

It's an ACROPOLIS Live! welcome party with the Accelerators (Drs. Anna Brown, Matt Spraker, and Simul Parikh).

In this episode, newly matched #RadOnc residents-to-be Jazmyne Tabb, Tony Menghini, and Ashlynn Clark join the show to talk about the field. 

We discuss the radiation oncology learning curve, our excitement about the future of the field, the new doctors' future plans to spread the word about radiotherapy, and more. 

You will walk away inspired! 

Here are some things that were mentioned during the show:

• TAP Episode: I Can't Get No!... Patient Satisfaction
• TAP Episode: Low Dose Radiotherapy 
• Society of Women in Radiation Oncology (SWRO)
• Ma et al., Patient Experience Performance at a Primary Cancer Center Versus Affiliated Community Facilities
• RadOnc Tables and RadOnc Review Constraints
• eContour
• RadOncQuestions
• ROECSG
• RadOnc Wikibooks
• ACRO PAC
• ASTRO

Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham. Intro and Outro music by Emmy-award winning artist Lucas Cantor Santiago.

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. 

In anticipation of our #RadOnc Welcome Party, Accelerators co-host Dr. Simul Parikh records solo!

In this episode, he shares how he thinks #RadOnc has changed since he trained many, many... many years ago. Most things are better, but a few things are worse.

Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham. Intro and Outro music by Emmy-award winning artist Lucas Cantor Santiago.

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. 

The Accelerators (Drs. Anna Brown, Matt Spraker, and Simul Parikh) are joined by the hosts of the popular #RadOnc #MedEd podcast, At The Beam!

Drs. Trudy Wu and Hyunsoo Joshua No are PGY-4 radiation oncology residents at UCLA and Stanford and innovators in medical education. They started their podcast to help learners in all stages of their training master work up and treatment of all types of cancers.

In the show, we share the origin stories of At The Beam and The Accelerators Podcast, and discuss our thoughts about the changing landscape of medical education. We talk current unmet needs in medical education and how they might be filled: podcasts, The Accelerators Anthology, something else?

We cap the episode by heating things up with the return of Simul's Lightning Round. As expected, Trudy and Josh crush it.

Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham. Intro and Outro music by Emmy-award winning artist Lucas Cantor Santiago.

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. 

Accelerators co-host Dr. Matt Spraker hosts Radiation Oncologists Drs. Krish Jethwa, Neil Newman, and Jeff Ryckman for part 2 of our discussion on radiotherapy for liver tumors.

We kick off with Neil reviewing his Twitter thread comparing TACE and SBRT for liver tumors. We discuss the data supporting SBRT as superior therapy, especially in patients who have recurrence after TACE. We further share some talking points for your tumor board.

Then discuss one of our faves, a randomized trial of sorafenib with or without SBRT (NRG/RTOG 1112). This leads to more discussion about how to approach large/unresectable liver tumors in your tumor board and possible future studies for these patients. 

Here are some things we discussed in the episode:

• Barcelona Liver Staging
• Sapir et al., Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy as an Alternative to Transarterial Chemoembolization for Hepatocellular Carcinoma
• Comito et al., SBRT versus TACE/TAE for recurrence after TACE
• Akarapatima et al., TACE versus BSC for HCC
• Xiang et al., TACE versus BSC for HCC
• Llovet et al., TACE/TAE versus BSC for HCC 
• TRENDY trial., TACE versus SBRT for HCC
• Bush et al., proton radiotherapy versus TACE for HCC
• Verbus et al., SBRT versus TACE as bridging therapy in HCC 
• Hong et al., phase II trial of proton radiotherapy for unresectable cholangiocarcinoma
• RTOG 1112 survival curves

Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham. Intro and Outro music by Emmy-award winning artist Lucas Cantor Santiago.

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. 

Accelerators co-host Dr. Matt Spraker hosts Radiation Oncologists Drs. Krish Jethwa, Neil Newman, and Jeff Ryckman for romp through the exciting world of radiotherapy for liver tumors! 

In the first of this two part episode, we Krish, Neil, and Jeff explore how liver tumors are treated in practice. We learn that Jeff can tell your Child-Pugh score by looking at your finger nails and other tips that can help with patient selection. Then we have a fantastic data-driven discussion on treatment planning. We also cover motion management and delivery. 

Toward the end, we approach the topic that inspired this episode, comparing SBRT with catheter-based therapies. 

Like Krish, we all want to know: will Neil "let it fly" on why SBRT should be the therapy of choice? 

Tune in next week to find out.

Here are some things that were discussed doing the show:

• Dr. Newman's epic Twitter thread on TACE versus SBRT for HCC
• The liver has a body - a Cook's tour by Adrien Ruben
• Dr. Zaorsky's Liver Anatomy Explained Using Your Right Fist
• Bujold et al., phase I and II studies of SBRT for HCC
• Ritter et al., Application of Critical Volume-Dose Constraints for SBRT in NRG Trials
• Dawson et al., Individualized image guided iso-NTCP based liver cancer SBRT
• Dawson et al., Partial Irradiation of the Liver

Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham. Intro and Outro music by Emmy-award winning artist Lucas Cantor Santiago.

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. 

The Accelerators (Drs. Anna Brown, Matt Spraker, and Simul Parikh) host Clinical Geneticist Dr. Elizabeth Chao, Director of Medical Genetics at UC Irvine and Vice President and Clinical Diagnostics Laboratory Director at Ambry Genetics for a discussion about medical genetics in the oncology clinic and beyond! 
 
We start by discussing practice models for clinical geneticists and then spend some time discussing the role of genetic testing in pancreatic cancer care. 

We then discuss genetic testing more generally and what the future holds for the field. 

Our discussion concludes with Liz sharing her training path, which started in #RadOnc, to a very successful career. 
 
Here are some things that were discussed during the show: 

• Publication of the PALB2 pancreatic cancer susceptibility gene
• NCCN Guidelines for genetic/familial high-risk assessment: breast, ovarian, and pancreatic
• UK NHS 100,000 Genomes Project
• Ambry Genetics - The Care Program

Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham. Intro and Outro music generously donated by Emmy-award winning artist Lucas Cantor Santiago.

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. 

In this episode, The Accelerators (Drs. Matt Spraker and Simul Parikh) discuss Matt's proposed composite quality of life measure for happiness of radiation oncologists. 

A lot is written on how to job search and evaluate the quality of a radiation oncology practice, but how to be happy practicing independently is less frequently discussed. 

Matt's lays out his theory for Rad Onc happiness, a composite quality measure made up of three components: technical occupational components (such as base salary and case load), fulfillment from career goals, and the "life" of work-life balance. In this discussion, Simul adds his thoughts. 

Creating a theory of happiness is a tall order to be sure, but at least it makes for great discussion!

Here are some things mentioned during the show:

• Evaluating a Practice in Radiation Oncology by Drs. Zaorsky and Trifelleti
• Office Space (a must see)
• Dark Side of the 90s on Hulu
• Jerry Springer (RIP)

Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham. Intro and Outro music generously donated by Emmy-award winning artist Lucas Cantor Santiago.

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. 

The Accelerators (Drs. Matt Spraker and Simul Parikh) host radiation oncology resident physician and writer, Dr. Matt Farrell, to discuss narrative medicine.

We review his recent JCO publication "First Cousin Once Removed". In this piece, Matt describes his experience with a family meeting at the end of life for his cousin John, an actor and patient living with HIV and AIDS prior to the release of HAART. 

Matt's work sparks a discussion of family dynamics surrounding the death of a loved one, the language we use in medicine, and Matt's plans to keep writing a significant part of his life as a physician. 

Plus, book recommendations! 

Here are some things we discussed during the show:

• VVPN Reflections on Pandemics
• Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese 
• Thrillville, USA by Taylor Koekkoek
• Liberation Day: Stories by George Saunders
• The Combative Language of Cancer: A Plea for an Armistice by Dr. Matt Farrell

Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham. Intro and Outro music generously donated by Emmy-award winning artist Lucas Cantor Santiago.

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. 

Accelerator Dr. Matt Spraker hosts the first ever live #RadOnc podcast!

Drs. Todd Scarborough, Emma Fields, and Alexis Schutz join for this very special episode, recorded from the #ACRO2023 Afterparty in Orlando, Florida. We first discussed our love of ACRO, informal and collegial poster sessions, and our favorite parts of day 1 of the conference.

Then, we explored the elephant in the room, the radiation oncology workforce and job market. Todd reveals himself as part of Graypeace, authors of An Inconvenient Truth, a narrative that likens workforce trends in radiation oncology to global warming. We find that, recently, graduating residents are perceiving a strong job market. But is this just a cold day masking a larger trend of global warming?

Emma shares her thoughts on how the 2018 ABR initial certifying exam debacle may have initiated concerns that are driving decreased numbers of medical student applications to our field. Will programs commitment to cleaning without soap correct forecasts of radiation oncologist oversupply? 

We close our session with Q&A and, of course, a discussion of our favorite radiation oncologists.

We would like to extend a special thanks to the American College of Radiation Oncology for allowing us to record during their event and supporting our quest to produce balanced editorial content about the field of radiation oncology. Check out the ACROPOLIS Content Channel to check out all their supported digital properties. 

Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham. Intro and Outro music generously donated by Emmy-award winning artist Lucas Cantor Santiago.

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. 

Accelerator Dr. Simul Parikh and Dr. Jason Beckta of the out.of.the.basement / radiation.medicine podcast team up to "simul-cast" their reaction to the radiation oncology workforce study commissioned by ASTRO and completed by Health Management Associates.

Simul and Jason are joined by friend of the show and #RadOnc workforce guru Dr. Todd Scarborough. They discuss the "supply side" of the model, hiring consultants, and the folly of forecasting the past.

Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham. Intro and Outro music generously donated by Emmy-award winning artist Lucas Cantor Santiago.

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. 

School is in session! The Accelerators (Drs. Anna Brown, Matt Spraker, and Simul Parikh) sit down for a radiation oncologist and colorectal specialist Dr. Nina Sanford for an informal lesson on the state of radiotherapy for rectal cancer in 2023. 
 
We work our way through an informal discussion of total neoadjuvant therapy, sequencing of therapies, radiotherapy techniques, and my favorite new #RadOnc concept, PULSAR. 

We close the show by peer reviewing Simul's case and discussing the finer points of rectal cancer contouring.

Here are other some things we discussed during the show:

• We talked about a lot of rectal studies, just check out Rad Onc Tables GI Tab
• Todd's Twitter poll on IMRT for rectal cancer 
• Bob Timmerman's excellent editorial about his SBRT constraints
• Tzeng sarcoma study referenced for bowel constraints
• The Janus Study
• Wax Lips and Fun Dip Candy

Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham. Intro and Outro music generously donated by Emmy-award winning artist Lucas Cantor Santiago.

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. 

The Accelerators (Drs. Anna Brown, Matt Spraker, and Simul Parikh) are back with Drs. Alison Tree (The Royal Marsden NHS, UK), Vedang Murthy (Tata Memorial Centre Mumbai, India), and Himanshu Nagar (New York Presbyterian Weill Cornell and Brooklyn Methodist, NYC).

We pick up our international discussion of prostate cancer by further discussing Radiation Oncology training and research in India, the UK, and the US.

Then we move to discuss more practical matters, such as the remarkable variation in prostate SBRT techniques across the world. We also discuss the future.

We close this episode with a discussion of our favorite Indian dishes. 

Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham. Intro and Outro music generously donated by Emmy-award winning artist Lucas Cantor Santiago.

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. 

The Accelerators (Drs. Anna Brown, Matt Spraker, and Simul Parikh) have gone global!

We host Drs. Alison Tree (The Royal Marsden NHS, UK), Vedang Murthy (Tata Memorial Centre Mumbai, India), and Himanshu Nagar (New York Presbyterian Weill Cornell and Brooklyn Methodist, NYC) for a two-part exploration of prostate cancer care around the world!

In part 1, we discuss PSA screening, costs of care, selection of radiotherapy treatment techniques and androgen deprivation therapies, and the radiotherapy research efforts of the UK, India, and the US. 

Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham. Intro and Outro music generously donated by Emmy-award winning artist Lucas Cantor Santiago.

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. 

Accelerators co-host Dr. Simul Parikh takes a very special trip to India and visits Tata Memorial Hospital! 

In this episode, he shares his experiences in their radiation oncology clinics as well as thoughts on patient care, clinical trials, education, and more.
 
Here are some papers from Tata Memorial that were mentioned during the show:

• The POP-RT Trial 
• Phase III trial of docetaxel for advanced head and neck cancer
• Contouring guidelines for penile cancer

Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham. Intro and Outro music generously donated by Emmy-award winning artist Lucas Cantor Santiago.

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. 

The Accelerators (Dr. Anna Brown, Matt Spraker, and Simul Parikh) host radiation oncologist Dr. Amar Kishan and Brett Sloman, Product Sales Director at Viewray, Inc.

On this episode, we discussed the newly resulted MIRAGE trial, a single-center phase III study of prostate target reduction using MR-guided stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) versus standard CT-guided SBRT.

Amar kicks off this in depth interview by reviewing the results, then we cover a range of topics and critiques that arose on the release of this trial.

What is the impact of industry influence? Can we shrink prostate target size using other technologies? Given that the outcomes included quality of life measures, should this have been a blinded study? 

Are commutes in LA really easier if you listen to The Accelerators Podcast? 

Here are some things that were mentioned during the show:

• Siva et al. editorial on the MIRAGE Trial
• The SMART Trial for locally advanced pancreas cancer
• Parikh et al. SMART Trial ASCO results
• Viewray multi-center LAP-ABLATE trial for locally advanced pancreas cancer

Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham. Intro and Outro music generously donated by Emmy-award winning artist Lucas Cantor Santiago.

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. 

Accelerators co-host Dr. Simul Parikh invites Dr. Todd Scarbrough for a #MedEd special on the once controversial topic of adjuvant radiotherapy for resected N2 non-small lung cancer. Should we listen to the science or is  it an... ART?

Here are some papers that were discussed during the show:

• Lally et al. SEER study
• PORT Meta-analysis 
• ANITA PORT sub-study
• The LungART trial 
• The PORT-C trial

Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham. Intro and Outro music generously donated by Emmy-award winning artist Lucas Cantor Santiago.

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. 

Accelerators co-host Simul Parikh records a solo podcast about clinical dogma, gate keeping, and other... things.

Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham. Intro and Outro music generously donated by Emmy-award winning artist Lucas Cantor Santiago.

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. 

On this episode, Matt is again joined by guest co-host patient advocates Julie Johnson (@solongsarcoma) and Katie Coleman (@kaydaustin) to discuss some mental health issues experienced by patients with cancer. We are joined by Sara Ariaudo, MHA, a former radiation therapist turned mindfulness coach and founder of Mindful Based Healing, LLC. 

We start with a discussion about mindfulness... specifically, what is it? Is it meditation or something more? We discuss how patients can create a personalized mindfulness plan to supplement their care. 

We then discuss patients' experiences managing mental health as the interact with oncology clinics. How can patient's best cope with the emotions surrounding a new diagnosis, and how might mindfulness techniques adjust after treatment is completed? 

Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham. Intro and Outro music generously donated by Emmy-award winning artist Lucas Cantor Santiago.

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. 

The Accelerators (Dr. Anna Laucis, Matt Spraker, and Simul Parikh) are closing out 2022 with a focus on mental health!

In this episode, we are joined by friends-of-the-show Drs. Neil Newman and Christina Henson as well as Melody Wilding, LCSW. Melody is an executive coach and author of #RadOnc book club favorite "Trust Yourself: Stop Overthinking and Channel Your Emotions for Success at Work."

We discuss Melody's book and The Highly Sensitive Person phenotype, which may be expressed in up to 30% of people. This can pose challenges for anyone at work, but we discuss how the phenotype may uniquely impact physicians. We also share how Melody's book has impacted our careers in different ways. 

The discussion then shifts to how employers and physician leaders might make our hospitals and clinics a nicer place to work and how Sensitive Striver physicians might excel in this challenging workplace. 

Here are some things mentioned in the show:

• Melody Wilding's website
• The Highly Sensitive Person by Elaine Aron

Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham. Intro and Outro music generously donated by Emmy-award winning artist Lucas Cantor Santiago.

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. 

This week, The Accelerators (Dr. Anna Laucis, Matt Spraker, and Simul Parikh) host Dr. Natalie Ridge (@nataliezumab), a DO radiation oncologist who is finishing training and searching for a job. We again discuss the hot - or not - #RadOnc job market. It depends on who you ask.

We start by discussing the fact that residents across the country face a heterogeneous job search experience as connections are essential to rise to the top of a competitive field.

We then turn to an insidious problem in Radiation Oncology and other medical fields: DO discrimination. We hope leaders in our field consider these experiences in their attempts to build inclusive training programs and practices.

Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham. Intro and Outro music generously donated by Emmy-award winning artist Lucas Cantor Santiago.

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. 

On this episode, Matt is again joined by patient advocates Julie Johnson (@solongsarcoma) and Katie Coleman (@kaydaustin) for a conversation on patient education for clinical trials and beyond. We host one of our favorite experts, Radiation Oncologist and founder of PRIMR, Dr. David Grew. 
 
We start by discussing how information is presented to trial-eligible patients in clinic then David shares how he started creating scalable video content for local and national trials. 

What follows is an inspiring discussion about the power of readily available, web-based video to educate in a patient centered way.  
 
Here are some things mentioned during the show:

• Dr. Grew's Digital Explanations, patient education videos 
• Katie's video, what an open liver resection and nephrectomy is like
• Katie's video, what is a biopsy like for cancer? 

Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham. Intro and Outro music generously donated by Emmy-award winning artist Lucas Cantor Santiago.

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. 

The Accelerators (Dr. Anna Laucis, Matt Spraker, and Simul Parikh) use a "small viral" tweet as a seed for discussion about technology, inequity, and community practice. 

This week, we host Dr. Anna Paulsson, a community Radiation Oncologist practicing in Sonoma County, California. Recently, she wondered whether the celebration of technology in #RadOnc is furthering inequity in our field.

We discuss messaging from societies and conferences to the general public, the role of industry, the PPS-exempt cancer hospitals program, and how medical education might improve with greater access to community practice physicians.

Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham. Intro and Outro music generously donated by Emmy-award winning artist Lucas Cantor Santiago.

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. 

The Accelerators host (Dr. Anna Laucis, Matt Spraker, and Simul Parikh) another resident-attending duo to discuss the #RadOnc workforce and job market! 

Drs. Mudit Chowdhary and  John Shumway (a graduating PGY-5 resident at University of North Carolina) review their recent publication evaluating trends in numbers of yearly society job board postings versus graduating residents. We then analyze some of the paper's methods and online discussion of the statistics.

We then discuss the ratio of job postings to graduating residents over time and supplement the data with the lived experience of interviewing for a job in #RadOnc. There is now a strong, data-driven argument against expanding residency positions in our field, so what factors are being considered when departments decide to expand? Are people considering activity in their region? We don't think so.

Finally, Mudit is optimistic that publication and discussion of this issue has initiated a contraction, or at least halted growth. We all agree that progress has been made and modern discussion of the radiation oncology workforce is improved compared to the past.

Remember friends, help control the graduating resident population and don't SOAP in March!

Here are some other things mentioned during the show:

• The Emergency Medicine Workforce Study
• "How Much Are Resident Physicians Worth?" by friend of the show Dr. Carmody (The Sheriff of Sodium)
• Mudit's article on the growth of radiation oncology residency programs 
• The 2020 ARRO Graduating Resident Survey 

Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham. Intro and Outro music generously donated by Emmy-award winning artist Lucas Cantor Santiago.

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. 

In this episode, the Accelerators (Dr. Anna Laucis, Matt Spraker, and Simul Parikh) discuss current events and topics: conflicts of interest, the definition of SBRT, medical marijuana, and ultrasound image guidance for skin cancers. 

Here is a book mentioned during the show: 

• How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollen

Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham. Intro and Outro music generously donated by Emmy-award winning artist Lucas Cantor Santiago.

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. 

In this episode, Matt hosts patient advocates Julie Johnson (@solongsarcoma) and Katie Coleman (@kaydaustin) to share their experiences and opinions about clinical trials. 

We start by discussing how patients find clinical trials and how they might be offered in oncology clinics. Is there a difference when one's oncologist says "There are no trials available" versus "I'm not aware of any trials"? Julie and Katie raise important considerations, especially for patients with rare cancers. 

We then discuss their experience with trial finders and how to manage participating in a trial, which may be out of state, many miles from home. 

The discussion ends with a challenge for oncology trialists. Why are there not more adjuvant trials in the curative setting? Can we be more thoughtful about the types of trials we run What happens to the patient-participants after trials end? 

Certainly there is much to consider.

We hope you enjoy the beginning of our first patient-driven conversation. 

Some other things that were mentioned in the show:

• Join over 50,000 fans and follow Katie on TikTok, YouTube, and Insta
• Some trial finders: Cancer Commons and TrialJectory
• ClinicalTrials.gov

Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham. Intro and Outro music generously donated by Emmy-award winning artist Lucas Cantor Santiago.

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. 

Accelerators hosts Drs. Simul "Neil" Parikh and Anna Laucis hosts The Neils!

Drs. Neil Newman, Neil Parikh, Avinash Chaurasia join Anna in sharing their thoughts after completing their first year of independent practice. Of course they discuss the 3 A's, but there is so much more. The doctors discuss how to gel with your team, protect your health, and other strategies to enjoy your PGY-6 year.  Celebrate yourself!

A thing mentioned on the show:

• Book Recommendation - Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones

Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham. Intro and Outro music generously donated by Emmy-award winning artist Lucas Cantor Santiago.

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. 

The Accelerators host (Dr. Anna Laucis, Matt Spraker, and Simul Parikh) the Suneja Lab,
leaders in health equity research! Radiation Oncologist Dr. Gita Suneja and PGY-5 resident Dr. Ryan Hutten to discuss their recent publication examining disparities in initiation of advanced radiotherapy between White patients and patients of minoritized groups. 

We summarize and analyze the paper, then discuss potential causes of these disparities. Of course, we must #FixPriorAuthNow - like, yesterday - but the causes spill outside the hospital. Racism and disparities in wealth, power, and resources add up in complex ways to delay care. 

We then discuss Dr. Suneja's local efforts to act on these findings, her health equity research laboratory. The group offers mentorship for a diverse group of students and cross pollination of ideas while recognizing health equity research as a valid academic pursuit. But you don't have to start a lab to act; we share ways to improve equity in your clinic as well.

Finally, Simul's Lighting Round is back! Grab your favorite mocktail, we're headed to Salt Lake City.

Other things we talked about in the show:

• Hutten et al. on worsening disparities between racial and ethnic groups in IMRT use in the US.
• The Michigan Radiation Oncology Quality Consortium (MROQC)

Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham. Intro and Outro music generously donated by Emmy-award winning artist Lucas Cantor Santiago.

We're back!

The Season 2 premier of Rad Onc's favorite podcast was inspired by Simul's Twitter poll on neoadjuvant radiotherapy dosing for esophageal cancer! Are you team 4140 or 5040... or something else?

In this episode, the Accelerators (Dr. Anna Laucis, Matt Spraker, and Simul Parikh) host Mayo Clinic Radiation Oncology GI specialist Dr. Krishan Jethwa and PGY-3 resident Dr. Yasamin Sharifzadeh for a conversation about the poll. We discuss dose selection and chemotherapy regimens for esophageal treatment as well as open-mindedness in adopting therapeutic strategies. 

Later, we discuss whether radiotherapy dose-escalation may offer patients benefits, the value of proton therapy for this disease, and... wait for it... carbon ions! 

Here are some studies discussed during the show: 

• Protect-1402 (FOLFOX and RT) and an associated treatment planning study
• ECOG-ACRIN 2174 (ImmunoRT)
• PRODIGE 26 (Dose Escalation) 
• ESO-Shanghi 12 (Dose Escalation)
• NRG GI-006 (Protons, phase 3)
• MDACC Trial (Protons, phase 2B)

Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham. Intro and Outro music generously donated by Emmy-award winning artist Lucas Cantor Santiago.

Dr. Matt Spraker is joined by Dr. Jason Beckta for a petite episode packed with announcements and teasers for The Accelerators Podcast Season 2.  The Accelerators will return from Summer break with renewed focus on "news and views", shorter episodes, and a new theme song generously donated by award winning musician Lucas Cantor Santiago! Check out his piece (and our theme song) "Pop With Toys" at the end of this teaser ep.

There's more. Today, Jason is launching his new podcast Out Of The Basement. It's an off-the-cuff educational podcast anchored in Radiation Medicine. It's taking RadMed out of the basement and into the underground. In a timely release, Matt and Jason have a wide-ranging discussion of #RadOnc contracts, work, and life in the first two episodes. Don't miss them!

Out Of The Basement will join The Accelerators Podcast in our new collaborative effort, Photon Media. Check out back at our shiny new website frequently for new episode releases and projects.

Here are some other things that were mentioned in the show:
-Lucas Cantor Santiago Music
-Lucas teams up with Huawei to complete Franz Schubert's unfinished Symphony No. 8
-Jason's website (becktamd.com)

Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham. Theme music "Pop With Toys" generously donated by Louis Cantor Santiago.

In part 2 of our series on paternal leave,  Accelerator Dr. Simul Parikh hosts 3 of our favorite #RadOnc and #MedPhys experts who are also moms: Dr. Laura Dover, Dr. Kaleigh Doke, and Dr. Kelly Paradis. 

The episode begins with Kelly, Laura, and Kaleigh sharing their experiences with paternal leave, which can vary between institutions and clinics. They then discuss how practice and compensation structures may impact how and when parents-to-be take leave from work.

Then the group covers the importance of leave for non-birthing partners and how those in leadership positions can establish healthy departmental culture surrounding parental leave.  In fact, #RadOnc and #MedPhys may have a unique opportunity in medicine to leverage remote work and enact change for parents balancing work and life! 

They close the discussion with tips for moms (or moms-to-be) who are interviewing for job, and thoughts on sharing home responsibilities with their partners. 

The episode concludes with Laura, Kaleigh, and Kelly diving in to The Accelerators Lighting Round!

Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham. 

Fill your cup with this inspiring episode of The Accelerators Podcast!

Dr. Matt Spraker is joined by Dr. Julianne Pollard-Larkin, medical physicist, service chief of the thoracic physics group at MD Anderson Cancer Center, and chair of the EDI Committee of the AAPM. We discuss topics and strategies for creating an inclusive workplace for all of #RadOnc, especially now when we need it the most. 

We begin with a discussion of how to be a great leader and it starts self-care. Star athletes don't do it alone, get yourself a coach! 

The discussion then moves to our personal experiences with COVID, the importance of leading with a physical presence, and how MD Anderson Radiation Oncology is screening for burnout. 

We close with a more traditional discussion of DEI and Julie's important work with AAPM creating affinity groups.

Some other things mentioned in the show:

• Black Men in White Coats 
• Dr. Kamran et al. analysis of diversity of US medical academic faculty over time and associated tweetorial

Happy Father's Day! Dr. Simul Parikh, host of The Accelerators Podcast, rounds up an all-star team of #RadOnc dads for part 1 of our 2 part series on parental leave and achieving work-life balance as a parent. Drs. Mudit Chowdhary, Sean McBride, and Ben Willen share their experiences with leave and how zoom video calls and evolving supervision policies may (or may not) help #RadOnc dads be the best they can be.

Later, the guys give tips to soon-to-be dad Ben and cover a staple Accelerators topics, pizza and vacations. Congratulations Ben!

Podcast art generally donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham.

The Accelerators Podcast hosts Dr. Simul Parikh and Dr. Matt Spraker invite Radiation Oncologist Dr. Mudit Chowdhary on the show to discuss the recently released, controversial study of Enzalutamide monotherapy versus active surveillance for low or intermediate-risk localized prostate cancer.

Our discussion of this study dovetails in to other related topics including conflicts of interest with the pharmaceutical industry and hype for early phase studies.

Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham.

Welcome to The Last Crusade, part 3 of our 3 part series to honor to the newest class of ABR Diplomates!

In this episode, friend of the show Dr. Jason Beckta examines another host of The Accelerators Podcast, Dr. Matt Spraker, with the same mock gynecologic oncology section faced by Dr. Simul Parikh.

Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham.

In part 2 of our 3-part series on the oral boards, we flip the script! Friend-of-the-show Dr. Jason Beckta interviews Accelerator Dr. Matt Spraker in a fireside chat about standardized tests, #RadOnc oral boards, and life as an early career attending. 

Don't miss part 3, in which Matt struggles through Jason's gynecologic oncology oral boards section.

Here are some things we discussed in the show: 

• Emergency Medicine physicians call to Quarantine the Oral Boards
• Matt's tweets about the value of radiation oncology oral boards
• Dr. Ohri's paper on radiotherapy protocol deviations and survival

Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham.

It's that time of year again, welcome to the newest class of ABR Diplomates! To honor them, The Accelerators are releasing a 3 part series related to the oral boards!

In part 1, Dr. Jason Beckta, a busy generalist, examines Dr. Simul Parikh for the gynecologic oncology section. He hasn't treated a case in 6 years. Good luck Dr. Parikh!

Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham.

Drs. Simul Parikh and Matt Spraker host health care quality experts radiation oncologist Dr. Marsha Haley and MROQC program manager Melissa Mietzel, MS for a discussion about everyone's favorite topic: patient satisfaction scores!

We begin with a discussion of Marsha's recent graduate work, a systemic review of whether patient satisfaction measures such as Press-Gainey and CAHPS are related to quality outcomes. You may be shocked to learn that the evidence is limited. Matt bravely shares his patient sat scores and then we discuss how games like "top box scoring" and low sample sizes make these instruments frustrating to use for continuous quality improvement. What's worse, Goodhart's law inevitability degrades the value of the surveys and some studies even suggest that they may impact practices such as pain management.

Yet, the future is bright! We move on to discuss patient reported outcomes as a better solution to measuring care quality. Melissa, who has helped implement robust collection of PROs across 26 radiation oncology clinics, teaches us the ways of implementation across MROQC.

We close the show with Simul putting Marsha and Melissa through a Pennsylvania and Michigan themed Accelerators Lightning Round!

Episode art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham.

Dr. Simul Parikh hosts Dr. Austin Dove for a fireside chat about his new review article in the Red Journal on low-dose radiotherapy for osteoarthritis (OA). 

In this episode, Austin reviews the history of low-dose radiotherapy for OA, which includes multiple prospective studies evaluating efficacy and safety of the technique. These studies show that one example, 0.5 Gy x 6 fractions (3 Gy total) delivered every other day is associated with an excellent and durable symptomatic response in a high number of patients with essentially no acute effects. 

Considering 32 million people suffer from osteoarthritis in the US, these data have huge implications for the field. This is similar to the number of patients with prostate cancer treated in the US every year with radiation.

Simul and Austin then discuss the German’s love for placebo pills and call for thoughtful and scientific evaluation of low-dose radiotherapy for OA in the US. 

Later, Austin hypothesizes that low-dose radiotherapy may be used for other etiologies of arthralgia, such as those experienced by patients with breast cancer undergoing hormone therapy. Regardless, Simul and Austin agree that multi-disciplinary collaboration will be required for optimal implementation.

At the end of the episode, Simul holds Austin’s feet to the fire in a mock oral exam and an Accelerators Lightning Round. Memphis BBQ or Nashville Hot Chicken? What is Austin’s backup specialty? And, importantly, is Taylor Swift’s music country?

Here are some other things that came up:

• Pattern of care study from Germany; 15,000 are treated each year with radiation for OA!
• DEGRO - a German radiotherapy organization

Episode art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham

Sim orders, documentation, prior auth, oh my! Is it death by 1000 clicks? The Accelerators Podcast (Drs. Anna Laucis, Simul Parikh, and Matt Spraker) host their first industry experts for an intimate discussion on the radiotherapy workflow: David Lindsey (CEO, Oncora Medical and graduating MD/PhD student), Sasa Mutic (SVP, Varian Medical Systems), Jacob Philip (CEO, Medlever), and Nathan Wolfe (CEO, Remote Dosimetrist).

We discuss current challenges such as interdisciplinary communication among dispersed teams, how EMRs are really designed for billing, and how artificial intelligence and automation could close the technology gap between centers in US #RadOnc and around the world.

Then, we discuss how increasing availability of high speed internet, the COVID19 pandemic, and culture change drove the rise of remote dosimetry and other remote work. This leads to a more broad discussion of resource allocation and Varian's effort to reduce treatment start time from an average of 2 weeks to 2 hours. We also discuss a new challenge, the increasing need for radiotherapy re-treatment.

In a short after-show, we discuss the "Cheesecake Factory" model of medicine. Will these workflow improvements help small clinics push back against growing hub-and-spoke networks?

Note: The opinions expressed on this episode do not reflect the opinions of the host's or guest's employers. The guests volunteered their time to participate in the show and their participation on The Accelerators Podcast is not an endorsement of their products. If you saw Simul driving a lambo shortly after this show, it is simply a coincidence. Unfortunately, nobody made any money on this show.

Custom show art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham.

#RadOnc legend Dr. Ralph Weichselbaum joins The Accelerators (Drs. Anna Laucis, Simul Parikh, and Matt Spraker) for one of our favorite episodes ever.

We kick off by discussing how to #MedTwitter, the state of technology and proton therapy, and radiation resource allocation. Then we discuss Ralph and Sam Hellman's 1995 paper, Oligometastases, the history of the concept, and where we are headed. This leads to a scientific discussion on the abscopal effect.

We close the show with an epic new segment: the lightning round! We grill Ralph on pizza, the MD/PhD degree, the best cities for conferences, and why #RadOnc would benefit from broadening our scope of work to include delivery of select systemic therapies.

Here are some other things that came up on the show:

• Michigan Radiation Oncology Quality Consortium 
• Ralph and Sam Hellman's (2011) Oligometastases revisited
• Turchan, Pitroda, and Weichselbaum (2021) on radiotherapy and immunotherapy for patients with metastatic disease. 
• Pitroda and colleagues (2018) on molecular subtyping to define an oligometastatic state in colorectal cancer. 
• Tsai and colleagues trial (2021) of SBRT for oligometastases from non-small cell lung cancer and breast cancer.
• Robin Mole's (1953) original description of the abscopal effect.
• Postow and colleagues (2012) NEJM case report of the abscopal effect. 
• Sylvia Formenti's Nature Medicine (2018) paper on radiotherapy plus immune check point inhibitors. 
• Huang and colleagues Nature (2017) paper on T-cell invigoration.
• McNeil, Weichselbaum, and Parker NEJM study (1981) on trade-offs between quality and quantity of life.
  • See also: McNeil, Weichselbaum, and Parker (1978) on the Fallacy of the Five-Year Survival in Lung Cancer.

Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham.

Drs. Anna Laucis and Simul Parikh use the recent criminal case of RaDonda Vaught to launch an introductory discussion of medical errors in #RadOnc. In this informal chat, they discuss important quality and safety concepts and share their experiences with incident learning, safety culture and, of course, Swiss cheese. 

Dr. Todd Scarbrough and Dr. Nick Zaorsky (http://zaorsky.com/) join Dr. Matt Spraker for a jobs show boost!

In this show we take a deep dive on radiotherapy utilization in the US. We start our exploration by reviewing a recent Cancer publication from Nick's team evaluating facility volumes. By reformatting Nick's data presentation, Todd discovers that utilization exists in a Pareto distribution across centers; most centers are treating a relatively low volume of patients per year.  How does this affect the job market? How does it affect your job?

Also, Simul calls in to speak against training expansion and Todd and Matt shares their thoughts on the changing landscape of radiotherapy utilization for patients with lung cancers. 

Here are some links to things we discussed on the show:

• Nick’s tweetorial about his team's paper 
• Todd’s tweetorial evaluating Nick’s team's data 
• Todd's tweetorial evaluating medicare payment data
• Todd's tweetorial on radiotherapy utilization for lung cancer 
• The Alabama Band 
• Dr. Join Luh's editorial on how the proposed RO-APM could have impacted small and rural radiotherapy centers.

Show art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham.

Drs. Anna Laucis, Simul Parikh, and Matt Spraker jump behind their mics to record a live podcast during the lunch break of day 1 of the 2022 ASTRO Refresher Course.  Yes, we had a live Zoom audience!

In this unplanned and unedited chat, we discuss #RadOnc The NRMP Match 2022 and SOAP results, more on the job market, and Matt's favorite: Prior Authorization!

At the end, we field an audience question on the discordance between job satisfaction survey data, which are overall positive, and anecdotal discussions on and offline, which seem to trend negative.

Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham.

Accelerator Dr. Simul Parikh and friend of the show Dr. Jason Beckta join Dr. Todd Scarbrough as he signs on live from #ACRO2022! 

In this unfiltered, slightly edited chat, they debrief on the job market and discuss the RO-APM, adaptive radiotherapy, breast IMRT, and more! 

And remember folks, #PantsArentReal

The Accelerators (Drs. Anna Laucis, Simul Parikh, and Matt Spraker) are joined by Drs. Jason Beckta, Emma Fields, Todd Scarborough, and Chirag Shah to discuss the #RadOnc job market.

Join us on an epic journey through the past, present, and future of the job market. We  cover the highly variable written record of the #RadOnc workforce, how patient volumes are changing with hypofractionation, and the what the market will look like in the future.

We close the show with a round robin on advice for young radiation oncologists heading into the field we all love. 

More information on the topics we discussed:

• Dr. Lawrence Davis in 1986: “The manpower crisis facing radiation oncology”
• Dr. Chirag Shah’s letter: “Expanding the Number of Trainees in Radiation Oncology: Has the Pendulum Swung Too Far?”
• "In Regard to Shah"
  • By Dr. Anthony Zietman 
  • By Dr. John Leung
  • By Drs. Dennis Hallahan and Stephanie Perkins 
  • By Dr. W. Robert Lee 
  • By Drs. Paul Wallner and Dennis Shrieve 
• SDN Radiation Oncology Forum 
• Medical School Reddit 
• Dr. Ben Smith's team in 2010: "The Future of Radiation Oncology in the United States From 2010 to 2020: Will Supply Keep Pace With Demand?"
• Dr. Ben Smith's team in 2016: "The Radiation Oncology Job Market: The Economics and Policy of Workforce Regulation"
• Mudit Chowdhary's team in 2019: "The Impact of Graduates' Job Preferences on the Current Radiation Oncology Job Market"
• Follow Nicholas Zaorsky on Twitter
• Updated ACGME Program Requirements for Radiation Oncology and FAQs 
• Dr. Li's team in 2020: "Temporal Trends of Resident Experience in External Beam Radiation Therapy Cases: Analysis of ACGME Case Logs from 2007 to 2018"

Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham

**Update**

Dr. Zaorsky comments with a thread of threads, packed with more info for a deeper dive on #RadOnc facility/utilization.

Dr. Fuller tweets a deep pull from the archives.

In our final episode of 2021, Drs. Laura Dover (@LauraDoverMD), Caleb Dulaney, and Samuel Marcrom from QuadShot News (@QuadShotNews) join the The Accelerators (Drs. Anna Laucis, Matt Spraker, and Simul Parikh) for a scientific year in review! 

The reports of our death are greatly exaggerated; it was a great year in #RadOnc science! Join us as we review our favorite articles of the year and commentate on their impact for #RadOnc.

Caleb’s Pick — The Empire One Trial
Anna's Pick — The Flame Trial
Samuel's Pick — The VISION Trial
Laura's Pick — KROG 0806
Matt's Pick — CCTG SC.24/TROG 17.06
Simul's Pick — SBRT in lieu of systemic therapy for RCC

Happy holidays and happy new year to all, and here's to a great '22!

In the final part of our Builders series, we all gather around for a fireside chat with #MedEd all-stars Dr. Erqi Pollom and Dr. Jenna Kahn (@JennaMKahn). The Accelerators (Drs. Anna Laucis, Matt Spraker, and Simul Parikh) interview the founders of ROVER, the Radiation Oncology Virtual Education Rotation.

Dr. Pollom is an Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology (and Neurosurgery) at Stanford University and Dr. Kahn is Assistant Professor of Radiation Medicine at Oregon Health and Science University.

We start by discussing how they launched their innovative distance learning program for radiation oncology trainees; special shout out to their initial resident web masters Utkarsh Shukla, MD and Ryan Hutten, MD! Later we discuss where ROVER might fit in residency education curriculums, the "flipped classroom" (h/t to @HoldDownTheFord), and upcoming ROVER sessions. 

Simul shares his love for hosting medical students and considers starting a residency (just kidding).

Here are some other things we talked about on the show:

• 13 things you didn't know about Costco's Pumpkin Pie
• Simul's amazing Thanksgiving turkey
• Serious Eats: How to Spatchcock a Turkey (YouTube)
• See the entire ROVER support team
• ASTRO's Peer-to-Peer Match Program
• Chartrounds.org

The Accelerators (Dr. Anna Laucis, Dr. Matt Spraker, and Dr. Simul Parikh) host a very special episode on the Radiation Oncology Alternative Payment Model.

We are joined by expert guests Anne Hubbard (Director of Health Policy, ASTRO), Dr. Constantine Mantz (Chief Policy Officer, GenesisCare), Dave Adler (Vice President of Advocacy, ASTRO), Join Luh (Providence Health and CARROS, president)  and Dr. Tomas Dvorak (Orlando Health Cancer Institute) as we chat about the past, present, and future of payment for radiotherapy services in the US. 

We close with a call to action and share how you can help advocate for our small but mighty field! 

Here are some important links mentioned in the show:

• ASTRO's excellent educational materials on the RO model
• Join's editorial about the RO model's impact on rural and small practices (its amazing)
• Donate to ASTRO PAC!
• Contact your representatives, it really works!

In part 3 of our Builders series, Dr. Matt Spraker interviews radiation oncologist and implementation scientist Dr. Erin Gillespie (@ErinGillespieMD). 

Dr. Gillespie is an Assistant Attending Radiation Oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York and Adjunct Assistant Clinical Professor at University of California San Diego. She is the co-creator of the popular, open-access contouring resource for radiation oncology, eContour. In this episode, she shares how eContour was built and the exciting future of the platform, including the Contouring Collaborative for Consensus in Radiation Oncology (C3RO). 

Later, we discuss Dr. Gillespie’s career as a grant funded implementation scientist. 

We close by sharing things we love.

Check out eContour and the C3RO! If you haven’t joined yet, there is no better time to start than now. It's sarcoma month! See C3RO's YouTube page for all the details.

Here are some things mentioned in the show:
The ABR online longitudinal assessment (OLA)
ROECSG structure, including the mentioned GME working group
Biostatistics and Evidence Appraisal for Radiation Oncologists by ROECSG
Maine Island Trail Association
Acadia National Park
#MedLasso by Explore The Space Podcast

In part 2 of our Builders series, Dr. Simul Parikh interviews the infamous Dr. Emma Holliday (@DrEmmaHolliday). 

Dr. Holliday is an Assistant Professor in the Gastrointestinal Radiation Oncology Section at MD Anderson, but she is also well known for her famous self exam review videos. They discuss how the videos were initially recorded as a favor to a classmate, but now have been viewed over 300,000 times! 

Later, they ask important questions about medical education. Dr. Holliday shares how she uses brutal transparency to fight imposter syndrome and create a safe learning environment.

In the cone down, Drs. Parikh and Holliday discuss how "time is a finite resource". Dr. Holliday gives excellent advice for work-life - and work-work - balance. 

Check out Dr. Holliday's shelf review videos:

• Surgery 
• Internal Medicine
• Psychiatry

Here is another link mentioned during the show:

• The Accelerators love ROVER

In part 1 of our Builders series, Dr. Laucis interviews one of our field's rising stars, Dr. Danielle Cunningham. She is a PGY4 radiation oncology resident physician at Mayo Clinic in Rochester and creates stunning medical illustrations on the side.

Dr. Cunningham shares how she used peer review of her early illustrations to overcome fear of sharing her creations with the world. She also discusses some of her current past and current projects, including creating illustrations for patient and resident education.  

See Dr. Cunningham's art on Twitter and at RadOncQuestions!

Here are some of the things mentioned in the show:

• Dr. Cunningham recommends Palm Springs - a movie with Andy Samburg
• Picmonic, a study resource mentioned by Dr. Laucis
• An illustration used in a patient-facing presentation 
• Dr. Cunningham's favorite illustrations:
  • Multiple Myeloma
  • Neuroblastoma
  • Orbital Malt Lymphoma

It’s September and we’ve got Application Fever! 

On Episode 3 of The Accelerators Podcast, Matt is joined by Dr. Ilana Rosman and Dr. Bryan Carmody for a deep dive on the medical residency application and selection process. Bryan, the self-proclaimed “Sheriff of Sodium” is a prolific blogger, raises awareness about conflicts of interest and other issues that poison The Match. Ilana serves as chair of the program director section of the Association of Professors of Dermatology. She’s working on enhanced ERAS application questions to improve applicant and educator experience and improve equity. 

Here are some of Dr. Carmody’s articles that I mentioned on the show:

1. https://thesheriffofsodium.com/2021/08/27/recommendations-from-the-coalition-for-physician-accountabilitys-ume-to-gme-review-committee-winners-losers-edition/
2. https://thesheriffofsodium.com/2019/03/03/symbiosis-the-usmle-eras-and-medical-education
3. https://thesheriffofsodium.com/2019/04/20/what-can-the-nfl-draft-teach-us-about-residency-selection/
4. https://thesheriffofsodium.com/2019/06/01/whats-the-antipyretic-for-application-fever/

Here are some great tweetorials by Dr. Rosman:

1. On virtual interviews for 2022: https://twitter.com/ilanarosman/status/1430211123391893506?s=20
2. On the ERAS supplemental application: https://twitter.com/ilanarosman/status/1423639958502445058?s=20

Technical Note: there was some glitchy audio for this one, but we still think its pretty good! We appreciate your support as we continue to improve the quality of our show.

The Accelerators (Drs. Laucis, Parikh, and Spraker) welcome Dr. Toby Chapman and Dr. Jerry Jaboin to discuss practical tips for getting started as a #RadOnc attending. We explore how to meet referring clinicians, being affable while maintaining work-life balance, and how to be your tumor board’s favorite oncologist - or not. 

At the end, Jerry serves up the introductory wellness module that every oncologist needs to hear. 

Here are all the books that were recommended during the show:

• BIFF Conflict Communication Series
• Blink
• Bobiverse Series (Audiobooks)
• Boom Town
• Gold Diggers
• The Investor’s Manifesto

The Accelerators (Drs. Laucis, Parikh, and Spraker) welcome radiation oncology program directors Dr. Christina Henson (University of Oklahoma) and Dr. Sarah McAvoy (University of Maryland) to discuss practical tips for succeeding in residency. 

We explore how to reflect and accept feedback, balance your life while training in an apprenticeship model, shaping your career, and share resources essential for training. 

Here is a helpful list of some great educational resources for #RadOnc:

• Radiation Oncology Education Collaborative Study Group (ROECSG)
• ROVER | virtual radiation oncology for medical students
• Rad Onc Tables | quick reference tables of studies
• QuadShot News | witty science #RadOnc news
• The MedNet | Q&A message board discussing clinical topics
• eContour | learn how to contour
• RadOncQuestions | just like that question bank you loved in med school
• eAnatomy | an anatomy text, but electronic
• RadOncReview.org | The Great Encyclopedia of Radiation Oncology
• CBCHOP | that’s an acronym for systematic plan review
• “The Osler Course” | a well-regarded boards review course