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 …

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 Technologis…

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 Auto…

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 d…

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 entreprene…

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 j…

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, Simu…

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 Radformatio…

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! Leadersh…

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 w…

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 Jas…

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 residen…

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 tr…

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 …

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 treatme…

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 O…

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…

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 Li…

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 …

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 la…

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 congress…

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:…

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 n…

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 abo…

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 abo…

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 us…

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 ser…

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 voi…

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 o…

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 slide…

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, th…

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-awa…

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 trainin…

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…

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 b…

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 …

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 la…

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 patien…

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. …

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 Scarborou…

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, r…

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 Radi…

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 pa…

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 …

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…

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…

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 star…

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 a…