Congratulations to the 2018 Collaborative Research Seed Grant recipients
The UTDRO Collaborative Research Seed Grant competition was established to encourage collaborative research and innovation in radiation medicine. This competition supports meritorious projects, which have the potential to significantly impact the science of radiation medicine and improve patient outcome.
There were six grant proposals submitted in total this year.
We would like to announce the two successful recipients for this year’s UTDRO Collaborative Research Seed Grant Competition:
1. Reducing acute rectal toxicity for hypofractionated prostate radiotherapy – a multi-institution investigation of reduced PTV margin
Principal investigators:
Dr. Beibei Zhang (Stronach Regional Cancer Centre) Dr. Charles Cho (Stronach Regional Cancer Centre)
Co-Applicants:
Dr. Timothy Craig (Princess Margaret Cancer Centre) Dr. Danny Vesprini (Odette Cancer Centre) Dr. Melanie Davidson (Odette Cancer Centre) Dr. Peter Chung (Princess Margaret Cancer Centre) Dr. Louis Fenkell (Stronach Regional Cancer Centre) Dr. Douglas Moseley (Stronach Regional Cancer Centre) Dr. Jason Wong (Stronach Regional Cancer Centre) Ms. Vejitha Raveendran (Stronach Regional Cancer Centre)
Scientific Summary: Hypofractionated radiotherapy is being adopted as standard practice for intermediate risk prostate cancer patients. The objective of this project is to retrospectively validate a reduced margin schema for intermediate risk prostate hypofractionated VMAT treatments from multiple institutions and to prospectively demonstrate that patients planned and treated with the reduced margin schema under advanced image guidance as well as consistent bladder and rectum preparation will have reduced acute rectal toxicity.
2. Development and implementation of a brachytherapy discharge education program to build healthcare provider patient teaching competency toward improving patient engagement and quality of care
Principal Investigators:
Dr. Jennifer Croke (Princess Margaret Cancer Centre) Dr. Meredith Giuliani (Princess Margaret Cancer Centre) Dr. Janet Papadakos (Princess Margaret Cancer Centre)
Co-Applicants:
Dr. Sarah Rauth (Carlo Fidani Regional Cancer Program, Trillium Health Partners) Dr. Julia Skliarenko (Simcoe Muskoka Regional Cancer Centre, Royal Victoria Hospital) Ms. Tina Papadakos (Princess Margaret Cancer Centre) Ms. Anet Julius (Princess Margaret Cancer Centre)
Scientific Summary: Although brachytherapy is curative, a significant proportion of women develop late treatment-related vaginal toxicity, negatively impacting their quality of life and limiting recurrent disease detection by preventing adequate clinical examination during the post-treatment surveillance period. Consistent with the literature, results from a study at Princess Margaret revealed that vaginal toxicity management education and training is inadequate. We seek to develop, implement and evaluate companion online brachytherapy discharge education programs (BrachDEPs) to promote synergistic compatibility and standardization across three Regional Cancer Centres (RCCs) to support healthcare provider teaching competency as well as patient engagement in self-management.
Thank you to everyone who submitted a proposal. Visit the Collaborative Research Seed Grant page on our website to learn more about our about the competition.
