Welcome to the fall 2013 issue of UT-DRO NEWS! These recent months have been very exciting, and we have many achievements to celebrate in this issue.
This past year has seen many changes, including new roles at Sunnybrook with Dr. Greg Czarnota as the new Chief of Radiation Medicine; Dr. Arjun Sahgal as his Deputy Chief; Dr. Claire McCann as the Medical Director of Clinical Research/Trials; and Dr. Hany Soliman as the Director of Education. We look forward to their continued leadership and involvement, especially in the education portfolio of UT-DRO.
In addition, I welcome our newly appointed faculty members: Lee Chin, Daria Comsa, Audrey Friedman, Rosanna Macri, Claire McCann, Raxa Sankreacha, and Kathy Han.
On the national and international levels, several of our faculty members have received awards, and won competitive grants for their work. In addition, UT-DRO was well-represented at the recent meetings of CARO-COMP, ASTRO, and ESTRO, by both faculty members, as well as our trainees, as they presented their work in these national and international fora.
At the UT-DRO level, for the first time in its history, a Collaborative Seed Grant Competition was launched to support innovative and creative research that will impact on radiation medicine. We received many excellent applications; however, we were limited to funding only two proposals each year, and the committee had a challenging time selecting the winners, who are announced below.
Lastly, at our annual ASTRO Alumni event in Atlanta this year, we announced the newly established Dr. BJ Cummings Award for Research Excellence by a UT-DRO Trainee, in honour of our Inaugural Chair. Such an award will both celebrate Professor Cummings’ legacy, as well as reward the research accomplishments of our high caliber trainees. We have set an ambitious goal of $50,000 to fund this award, and we are currently at $7,710. There’s a way to go yet, but this is a great start! I encourage everyone to contribute to the growth of this fund by donating online. Any donations received by December 31st will receive a 2013 tax receipt; please feel free to contact Evan Donohue should you have any questions.
Clearly, we can take great pride in all the achievements within UT-DRO. Please browse through this Newsletter, and feel free to send in your stories, announcements, and achievements. For the next issue, we will be focusing on the development of our “Strategic Roadmap to 2017” – more on this to come shortly.
Many thanks everyone, for your invaluable contributions to the academic mission of UT-DRO. Have a wonderful and safe holiday season!
