Fostering Radiation Oncology Physician Scientist Trainees Within a Diverse Workforce: The Radiation Oncology Research Scholar Track.
Abstract
There is a need to foster future generations of radiation oncology physician scientists,
but the number of radiation oncologists with sufficient education, training, and funding
to make transformative discoveries is relatively small. A large number of MD/PhD graduates
have entered he field of radiation oncology over the past 2 decades, but this has
not led to a significant cohort of externally funded physician scientists. Because
radiation oncologists leading independent research labs have the potential to make
transformative discoveries that advance our field and positively affect patients with
cancer, we created the Duke Radiation Oncology Research Scholar (RORS) Program. In
crafting this program, we sought to eliminate barriers preventing radiation oncology
trainees from becoming independent physician scientists. The RORS program integrates
the existing American Board of Radiology Holman Pathway with a 2-year post-graduate
medical education instructor position with 80% research effort at the same institution.
We use a separate match for RORS and traditional residency pathways, which we hope
will increase the diversity of our residency program. Since the inception of the RORS
program, we have matched 2 trainees into our program. We encourage other radiation
oncology residency programs at peer institutions to consider this training pathway
as a means to foster the development of independent physician scientists and a diverse
workforce in radiation oncology.
Type
Journal articleSubject
HumansCareer Choice
Radiation Oncology
Training Support
Internship and Residency
Research Personnel
Program Development
North Carolina
Radiation Oncologists
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https://hdl.handle.net/10161/24177Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1016/j.ijrobp.2020.12.050Publication Info
Salama, Joseph K; Floyd, Scott R; Willett, Christopher G; & Kirsch, David G (2021). Fostering Radiation Oncology Physician Scientist Trainees Within a Diverse Workforce:
The Radiation Oncology Research Scholar Track. International journal of radiation oncology, biology, physics, 110(2). pp. 288-291. 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2020.12.050. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/24177.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
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Show full item recordScholars@Duke
Scott Richard Floyd
Gary Hock and Lyn Proctor Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology
David Guy Kirsch
Barbara Levine University Distinguished Professor
My clinical interests are the multi-modality care of patients with bone and soft tissue
sarcomas and developing new sarcoma therapies. My laboratory interests include utilizing
mouse models of cancer to study cancer and radiation biology in order to develop new
cancer therapies in the pre-clinical setting.
Joseph Kamel Salama
Professor of Radiation Oncology
I have the privilege to be the Chief of the Durham VA Radiation Oncology Service,
where I care for veterans who have served our country. I am a dedicated educator,
serving as the Residency Program Director for the Duke Radiation Oncology Residency
Program. I am also a cancer researcher developing novel treatment techniques for
patients with head and neck cancer, lung cancer, prostate cancer, and those limited
metastatic disease, and integration of these treatments with drug therapies. 
Christopher G. Willett
Chair, Department of Radiation Oncology
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