Program Information

Science, Educational and Professional Program

Society Oriented Sessions - Make Plans to Attend

• Student and Trainee Events
• New Member Symposium
• Society of Directors of Academic Medical Physics Programs (Annual Meeting and Business Meeting)
• Annual Business and Town Hall Meeting

Program Information

New and exciting for the 2017 Program:

• MPLA Leadership Session (Pre-registration required) Tuesday, August 1, 2017 | 1:45-3:45 In the symposium, Leading from the Middle, experts in the field of Leadership Effectiveness will focus on methods to enhance and grow your current leadership skills focusing on networks and interactions to maximize performance and outcomes. Participation by each attendee is expected; space is limited for this interactive program.
• New Symposium structure and special Joint Symposium at this year’s annual meeting - Each year the Professional Council and Education Council host symposia at the annual meeting on timely topics of interest to the membership. This year, the chairs of the four councils (Professional, Education, Science, and Administrative) are joining forces to have a coordinated set of symposia on the general theme of new trends in medical physics. There will be three symposia on Sunday morning, starting with the Professional Council Symposium on "Communicating with Patients: A Vital Skill for a Medical Physicist,” followed by a Joint Symposium co-sponsored by all four councils on the topic of “New Opportunities for Medical Physics.” The morning session will conclude with the Education Council Symposium on “Future Trends in Medical Physics Education.” The joint symposium will include talks about new research horizons, the important new skills needed for medical physicists across all work environments, and a look at the challenges and opportunities of medical physics around the world. We encourage members to attend these three symposia to get a broad view of new directions in the many facets of medical physics.
• ePosters
• NEW and IMPROVED General ePoster Discussions - In addition to the moderated ePosters in the ePoster Theater, we will expand our ePoster capabilities and include ePoster stations throughout the lounge areas in the Exhibit Hall. General ePosters include a select group of high-scoring posters identified by the Program Directors to be of special interest to attendees of the scientific program. This is an alternative to the hardcopy general poster to allow the authors to present their general poster electronically at a large screen display, dedicated to only their poster during a specifically assigned 30-minute timeslot. These General ePoster presentations will occur in the ePoster Theater and throughout the Exhibit Hall promoting lively discussion and scientific exchange.
• Distinguished Lectureships:
  • The Carson/Zagzebski Distinguished Lecture on Medical Ultrasound - Lihong Wang, Gene K. Beare Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, will present Photoacoustic Tomography: Multiscale Imaging from Organelles to Patients by Ultrasonically Beating Optical Diffusion. This presentation will be held during the diagnostic ultrasound imaging sessions within the Special 3-day Ultrasound Track.
  • The Anne and Donald Herbert Distinguished Lectureship in Modern Statistical Modeling - Daniel Krewski, PhD, MHA, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Chair in Risk Science, Professor and Director, McLaughlin Centre for Population Health Risk Assessment, University of Ottawa will discuss the statistical modeling involved in making conclusions from analysis of accumulated data on the effects of radiation at low doses.
• Special 3-Day Program on Ultrasound (Monday - Wednesday, July 31 – August 2, 2017).
• Joint scientific symposium with the World Molecular Imaging Society – Imaging Hypoxia
• Joint scientific symposium with ESTRO – AAPM Symposium: From Bench to Bedside via Veterinary Radiation Oncology
• MR-in-RT mini-series: MR-in-RT is a multi-part course on the role of MRI in radiation therapy, intended to offer comprehensive and focused education to both imaging and therapy physicists, including those who may have missed the MRgRT certificate course offered previously. Coordinated sessions will be held in the Imaging Education, Therapy Education, Joint Scientific, Professional, and Practical programs.
• Educational Topic-Specific Guided Tours on the Exhibit Floor. Come visit our vendors as part of a guided tour. Topics for this year are Imaging: Quality Assurance Phantoms in Diagnostic Imaging; and Therapy: Secondary Dose Calculation Programs. Tourists will first hear a short introduction on the selected topic by one of the leaders in the field, then follow their AAPM-member Tour Guide to the vendor booths to hear about their related products. SAMs credit will be offered. Pre-registration required.
• Attend sessions aligned with your interest and get SAMs: Similar to last year, with only a few exceptions, all invited sessions in the Education, Science, Professional, and Practical Tracks will offer SAMs. SAMs questions can be answered on your own following the completion of the session. Attendance is verified using a participation device on your badge. Registration for the Participation Device is required for the SAMs Program.

Certificate Course:
Beyond Clinical Imaging: The Role of the Medical Physicist in Clinical Trials and Response Assessment

This year’s Certificate Course will be on Wednesday of the meeting (August 2) on the topic of “Beyond Clinical Imaging: The Role of the Medical Physicist in Clinical Trials and Response Assessment”.  This course will be open to all registrants and will focus on the important roles that medical physicists - both diagnostic and therapeutic - play in clinical trials and in clinical practice where the assessment of patient response to treatment is being evaluated.  This course will consist of 4 sessions: (a) an education session that will focus on clinical trials - both those using radiation therapy and those that involve diagnostic imaging - and on the roles that medical physicists may play in each; (b) an education session on advanced technologies such as MR-PET and MR/RT that are being used for trials and response assessment; (c) a scientific session with proffered talks on these topics and (d) a session that will describe several active clinical trial settings and the roles that medical physicists are playing now and in the future.   All sessions aim to be relevant to both diagnostic and therapeutic medical physicists, will seek to identify the unique requirements of trials compared to clinical practice and seeks to increase the communication between physicists in these important activities. All those who register for the AAPM meeting (weekly or Wednesday daily) will have access to these sessions as usual.

The mini-track will also serve as the certificate course at this year’s meeting, which provides an in-depth review of a particular topic with verification of learning objectives through on-line homework. Attendees may enroll in the certificate program for an additional fee. Enrollment in the program entitles participants to dedicated seating in the mini-track sessions as well as additional online materials. Following the meeting, certificate program participants will be required to take an online examination which covers the material presented throughout the day-long mini-track. Enrollees who demonstrate satisfactory attendance at the course and successful completion of the online examination (available after the meeting) will receive a certificate of completion for this course.

Partners in Solutions

Partners in Solutions continues to offer a unique way for physicists to interact with and learn from our vendors, with vendors providing physics-level applications training classes in a special-purpose lecture room located on the exhibit floor. These are not sales pitches, but practical information for the clinical physicist from the people who know their systems in depth. Topics for this year are:

• Imaging: Metal Artifact Reduction.  Metallic implants in a patient undergoing CT produce artifacts in the image set which can mask the anatomy and interfere with the accurate interpretation of the images. Learn about techniques and algorithms that vendors have introduced to minimize these artifacts.
• Therapy: Patient Treatment Delivery Verification.  A variety of methods are now available for clinical verification of radiation treatment delivery, particularly for IMRT/VMAT treatments but also applicable to static fields.  Vendors will present their solutions, describing how they work, how to interpret the results, and the pros and cons.  A better understanding of the available options will help the clinical physicist chose the best solution for his or her clinic.

Look for the Partners In Solutions sessions on the meeting program. CE credit will be offered. Come learn with us!

SPS Undergraduate Research & Outreach

The Society of Physics Students (SPS) Undergraduate Research & Outreach poster session highlights the work of undergraduate students with an interest in medical physics.  The first author (and presenter) of all posters in this session must be an undergraduate at the time of submission.  Posters should reflect either research related to medical physics or outreach to promote the importance of and relationship between physics in medicine.  All undergraduate members are invited to submit.

The following topics will be offered during the meeting:

Special 3-Day Program on Ultrasound

This track highlights recent advances in ultrasound for diagnostic imaging, ultrasound for guidance and control of radiation therapy, and therapeutic ultrasound such as MR guided HIFU and hyperthermia. These ultrasound symposia and scientific sessions have been allocated as a three day track.  Day 1 will highlight advances of ultrasound imaging technology applied to guiding and planning external beam radiation therapy and brachytherapy. Day 2 covers image guided therapeutic ultrasound, with clinical sessions covering HIFU in oncology and neurology, treatment planning, therapy monitoring, and innovative directions of therapeutic ultrasound for hyperthermia, thermal ablation, enhanced radiotherapy, targeted drug delivery, and immunotherapies. Day 3 brings together advances in diagnostic imaging, innovations in liver ultrasound imaging, contrast agents and theranostics, and includes the Carson-Zagzebski Distinguished Lectureship on Medical Ultrasound. A selection of proffered abstracts are incorporated within these sessions, and within a SNAP oral session. Each daily track begins with an Educational Session related to the subsequent scientific sessions: a two hour hands on ultrasound workshop to highlight US imaging and therapy systems; a primer on the biological and clinical rationale for ultrasound energy combined with radiation therapy/chemotherapy/immunotherapy; and a primer on QA for diagnostic ultrasound.

Imaging Track

The 2017 Imaging Track highlights ongoing research and advances in Imaging in Medical Physics.  In addition to proffered sessions, this track will include scientific symposia on photon counting detector and applications in CT, mammography, and phase contrast imaging, digital PET to update the most recent advances in PET and PET/CT, Deep learning in medical imaging, novel x-ray source for new applications, Status of sub-mSv CT imaging, Hypoxia Imaging in partnering with the World Molecular Imaging Society. Similar to other tracks, the goal is to offer SAM credits for all symposia for those participating in the ABR’s MOC program to keep up with the state-of-the-art in imaging science and technology. The scientific symposia and the proffered scientific sessions will explore the state of the art and also new frontiers in imaging.

Therapy Track

The 2017 Therapy Track will showcase several current hot topics in therapy physics including emerging fields that present unique opportunities:  The role of physics in epidemiology, normal tissue dose-volume effects for SBRT, advances in brachytherapy, radiomics for lung cancer, Microscopic Monte Carlo simulations for radiobiology modeling, and emerging QA techniques for modern rad therapy.  This year’s Joint Symposium of AAPM and ESTRO is titled ‘From Bench to Bedside via veterinary Radiation Oncology.’  As with other tracks, we are aiming to offer SAM credits for all symposia. 

Joint Imaging-Therapy Track

The 2017 Joint Imaging-Therapy Track will feature exciting topics highlighting the latest science incorporating imaging for improving therapeutic interventions. In addition to over 30 hours of proffered sessions, this track will include invited symposia covering many exciting topics. For example, the topics on Automated segmentation, in vivo dose verification, optical image-guided surgery, MR guided radiation therapy, nanoparticles, machine learning in radiomics, functional and quantitative MRI, and research funding symposium from NIH. This year, the goal is to offer all of the symposia for SAM credits for those participating in the ABR’s MOC program who don’t want to miss out on hearing the latest science in imaging and therapy.  Where possible we are coordinating sequential sessions from different tracks.  For example, we will have sessions on machine learning from the Education Program, followed by symposia on new advancements and applications organized by the Imaging and Joint Imaging-Therapy Tracks.

Educational Course - Imaging Track

The 2017 Imaging Education Track will feature a total of sixteen educational sessions, including 25 hours of CME and 18 hours of SAM sessions. General education sessions will cover CT, Nuclear Medicine, MRI, Mammography, Radiography, and Fluoroscopy. New this year are focused sessions on 4D imaging, stereotactic breast biopsy, and quantitative dual energy CT. Special attention was given to coordinating content between the imaging and therapy tracks in order to fulfill this year’s theme of “Connecting Our Pathways. Unifying Our Profession.” Two mini- courses will bridge imaging and therapy physics on the topics of MR in Radiation Therapy and Medical Physics 3.0.

Educational Course - Therapy Track

The 2017 Therapy Education track will feature 32 hours of educational sessions designed to meet the diverse interests of our membership, with the majority of sessions being SAM sessions. The program will include topics in electron therapy, optimization, shielding, electronic charting, big data, MRI in RT, SRS/SBRT, IGRT, brachytherapy, intra-operative RT, proton therapy, machine learning, EPID-based machine QA and safety.  New this year are joint Therapy & Imaging Education sessions (identified as cross-hatched on the program) focusing on radiation protection and shielding, and the concept of MedPhys 3.0.  Core therapy physics topics highlighted in this year’s education program include electron dosimetry and calculation algorithms, TG-51 and ICRU-90 updates, and radiation protection and shielding.

Practical Medical Physics Track

The Practical Medical Physics Track features presentations designed for practicing, clinical medical physicists.  For 2017, the practical medical physics track will feature a variety of expert speakers who will focus on topics you can implement immediately into your practice.  Sessions will be offered that focus on both Therapy and Imaging, so there’s something for everyone within the Practical track.

Professional Track

The Professional Track will be offering sessions designed to keep our imaging, research, and therapy members abreast of the latest profession-related developments. Topics this year include a point-counterpoint discussion on medical physicist assistants, a medical physics leadership academy session, updates on upcoming Medical Physics Practice guidelines, international, ethics, diversity, and other relevant aspects of our profession. SAMs sessions will be offered.

• Economics and Legal
• Workforce Reports
• MPPG and TG Updates
• Leadership Topics
• New Member Symposium
• Question Writing Workshop
• ABR: Prep, Therapy and Diagnostic and MOC Update

Science Council Session

Topic: Big Data, Deep Learning, and AI in Imaging and Radiation Oncology

The Science Council Session includes proffered abstracts on a topic at the cutting-edge of medical physics research, presented in a special, high-visibility proffered oral session. For the 2017 Annual Meeting, the Scientific Program invites abstract submissions on “Big Data, Deep Learning, and AI in Imaging and Radiation Oncology,” emphasizing research on physics contributions to artificial intelligence and the application of deep learning to find useful meaning to big data.

Criteria for abstract evaluation include the novelty of the research, the emphasis on innovation in the development and application of artificial intelligence and deep learning, and the potential impact / significance in diagnosis and therapeutic intervention.

Innovation in Medical Physics Education

The Education Council of the AAPM is sponsoring a session to honor and publicize Innovation in Medical Physics Education. AAPM members are invited to submit an abstract describing innovative medical physics educational activities for radiology residents, radiation oncology residents, medical physicists, technologists or others. The abstract can describe novel teaching strategies such as team teaching or adult learning efforts, novel educational materials such as lectures, websites, educational videos or interactive media, novel program designs, or other innovations. Submissions will be judged on the following criteria: the level of innovation, the potential for educational use, the extent to which the innovation has already been implemented and assessed, and how readily the innovation could be implemented or used at a variety of other institutions.

The top six submissions will be invited to present their abstracts at the session during the Annual Meeting. Each speaker will be allocated 15 minutes. The top presenting abstract will be announced at the Awards Ceremony during the Annual Meeting and presented a plaque and a $2,000 prize. The Award for Innovation in Medical Physics Education is made possible by a generous bequest of Harold Marcus.

How the Meeting is Organized

The numbering scheme encodes the day, time block, room assignment and talk number in the abstract presentation code. The organization for each day (Monday - Thursday) is shown in the table below. Times and Rooms vary on Sunday and Thursday. For example, on Tuesday:

TU – B – 205 – 1
Day of Week (SU – TH) – Time Block (A - H) – Room Assignment – Talk Number

The general layout of rooms for various programs is as follows; although there are numerous exceptions throughout the week, so check the program carefully:

• Therapy (Education and Scientific): Rooms 108, 201, 205, 605, 702 Four Seasons 1 & 2
• Imaging (Education and Scientific): Rooms 201, 702, 708, Four Seasons 1
• Joint Imaging-Therapy: Rooms 201, 205, 601, 605, Four Seasons 2 & 4, Exhibit Hall C
• Professional: Rooms108, Four Seasons 2, Exhibit Hall C
• Practical Medical Physics: Room 201
• Ultrasound: Room 708

Items of Note:

• SNAP Oral Sessions: A fast-paced short oral presentation format. Watch for the short oral sessions on Sunday (Time Blocks E, F, and K) and Thursday (Time Block AB).
• Young Investigators Symposium: The YIS is on Monday, 7:30 – 9:30 am, in Four Seasons 4.
• President’s Symposium: This symposium runs unparalleled - Monday, 10:15 – 12:15 pm, in Four Seasons 2.
• Science Council Session: This proffered session of abstracts on a topic of special relevance is scheduled for Tuesday, 1:45 – 3:45 pm, in Room 605.
• Innovation in Medical Physics Education Session:  This proffered session of abstracts is scheduled for Monday, 1:45 – 3:45 pm, in Room 201.

ePoster Theater

• Best in Physics: The top 5 abstracts in each track, Imaging, Joint – Imaging and Therapy, and Therapy, will be highlighted on Sunday, 3:30 - 4:00 pm in the ePoster theater in the exhibit hall.
• Campus ePosters: Campus Posters include a select group of high-scoring posters on a specific theme identified by the Program Directors to be of special interest to attendees of the scientific program. Reinvigorating scientific presentations through ePoster sessions lead by a Campus Provost, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday afternoons in ePoster theater in the exhibit hall.
• NEW and IMPROVED General ePoster Discussions - In addition to the moderated ePosters in the ePoster Theater, we will expand our ePoster capabilities and include ePoster stations throughout the lounge areas in the Exhibit Hall. General ePosters include a select group of high-scoring posters identified by the Program Directors to be of special interest to attendees of the scientific program. This is an alternative to the hardcopy general poster to allow the authors to present their general poster electronically at a large screen display, dedicated to only their poster during a specifically assigned 30-minute timeslot. These General ePoster presentations will occur in the ePoster Theater

Meeting Theme

The theme for the 2017 year for the AAPM and the Annual Meeting is “Connecting Our Pathways - Unifying Our Profession.” As many of us have observed in recent times, our profession of Medical Physics that had been functioning in fairly discrete segments not that long ago is now moving together at a rapid pace: Imaging with dual mode capabilities such as PET/CT or PET/MR and Therapeutic Modalities incorporating MR or X-ray localization immediately prior to energizing the treatment beam to ensure accurate placement of the treatment dose. Imaging is now an integral part of a Radiation Oncology Department to the extent that Radiation Oncology Physicists must be thoroughly familiar with all types of imaging modalities. The accuracy of treatment planning is totally dependent on the accuracy of the imaging information available for the patient. How we integrate the training of each of the current disciplines in Medical Physics is crucial to the success of our field in the future.

The Presidential Symposium this year will feature leading physicians speaking on the integration of each of the three branches of Medical Physics: Diagnostic Imaging Physics, Nuclear Medical Physics and Radiation Oncology Physics, into their practice. Their outlook concerning future developments that may be occurring as we speak with other modalities, particularly with the incorporation of the immunological therapy agents and genomic sequencing, will provide us valuable insights into our potential future work. The Radiology Profession has already incorporated Imaging 3.0 in their practice as we incorporate Medical Physics 3.0 into the practice of Medical Physics.

This year’s Annual Meeting in the Mile-High City of Denver will provide the perfect opportunity to showcase the highlights of our profession which requires that all of us work together to bring into the clinic those exciting and significant developments that our researchers are developing. Only when we utilize all of the talents of our multi-faceted profession will true success be obtained in providing the best possible diagnosis and treatment of our patients. Our Annual Meeting provides unique opportunities for you to share your scientific and clinical knowledge and skills. Ensure your professional development for the sake of our future in the field of Medical Physics by attending this year’s Annual Meeting in the Mile-High City.

Melissa C. Martin
2017 AAPM President

How the Sessions are Defined

Scientific Program

Scientific Session – These sessions comprise the bulk of the scientific program, in which the best-scored proffered abstracts are presented in a regular oral presentation format. Each session is on one or several specific scientific topics, with several oral presentations [10 min each (8 min talk + 2 min Q&A)].

Symposium – A symposium is a topical session focusing on a current topic related to pioneering or state-of-the-art research and development of medical physics. The symposia often include multiple, invited speakers to share their expertise on the topic. Some symposia will include a panel discussion aiming to define the current state of the field and to distill the thinking of the experts.

SNAP Oral Sessions – Similar to regular Scientific Sessions, the SNAP Oral Sessions feature high-scoring proffered abstracts presented in an accelerated presentation format [7 min each (5 min talk + 2 min Q&A)].

General Poster Discussion Session – This category includes proffered abstracts judged to be of high scientific quality and for merit presentation in poster format. Authors will be present during the scheduled session in order to interact with meeting attendees.

Educational Program

Education Council Symposium – This symposium is designed to update our members on the various activities of the Education Council. Emphasis is placed on the resources and programs that are available to enhance the skills of our members as well as resources that are available through the Association to assist our members when presenting programs to related health professionals and the public.

Educational Courses – The 2017 Therapy Education Program will feature a total of 35 hours of educational sessions designed to meet the diverse interests of our membership, with the majority designated as SAM sessions. New this year are 6 hours of Joint Imaging / Therapy Education sessions that bridge professional specialties. This year's joint-track topics are MedPhys 3.0 and Radiation Protection Programs. The program will also include topics in electronic charting and EMR integration, big data, incident reporting system findings, brachytherapy for gyn, brachytherapy treatment verification, proton therapy pencil beam scanning, machine learning, advances in inverse optimization, electron beam therapy, EPID-based quality assurance, intra-operative RT for breast, new plan checks, contour QA, reference dosimetry updates, SRS/SBRT small volume dose limits, and IGRT-based margins. Highlighted this year is a series of related "MR in RT" sessions across multiple Education and Scientific tracks that are intended to offer MR-focused education to both imaging and therapy physicists. The MR in RT session scheduled in the Therapy Education program will focus on MR image processing, registration and motion management that is commonly utilized in radiotherapy planning of brain, abdominal, and gynecological cancers.

The Joint Imaging-Therapy Education Program – New this year are 6 hours of Joint Imaging / Therapy Education sessions that bridge professional specialties. This year's joint-track topics are MedPhys 3.0 and Radiation Protection Programs.

Professional Program

Joint Council Symposium – New this year is a joint council symposium discussing new opportunities for Medical Physics. As part of our mission in advancing patient care we must look outside our normal spheres of influence and this symposium will explore new opportunities to use our skills and expertise to improve the lives of our patients

Professional Council Symposium – This symposium is focused on current topics that involve the professional practice of medical physics. This years’ symposium discusses the vital role of effective communication with patients. This often-overlooked skill is an essential asset to recognizing the rewards of patient interaction and advancing the value of the medical physicist.

Professional Symposium – The Professional program is devoted to the professional aspects of the Medical Physics Career and is highlighted by a leadership session entitled “Leading from the Middle”. Other symposia cover topics in economics, law, training, and ethics. The international symposium highlights advanced training techniques beyond North America. For those who are new to the profession of Medical Physics there is a new member symposium and sessions on navigating the board certification process.

Practical Medical Physics Program

The Practical Medical Physics Track offers presentations of use and interest to the practicing medical physicist. This year’s topics include: Tailoring CT Protocols to the Patient's Age, Size, and Clinical Scenario; Statistical Failings that Keep Us in the Dark & Practical Statistics; Implementing the Changes of the New MR QA Manual; Identifying Image Artifacts, Their Causes, and Solutions; MR in Radiation Therapy: Implementation in RT Planning and Delivery; Compliance with AAPM, ACR, Joint Commission Guidelines on CT Clinical Practice; An Interactive Safety Session for New Brachytherapy Practitioners; Good, Bad and Ugly of Patient Exposure and Dose Tracking; Perspectives in MRI Safety for Medical Dose Prescriptions for Safety, Reporting, and Clinical Guideline Consistency; Management of Radiotherapy Patients with Cardiac Implantable Electronic Devices; and Digital Breast Tomosynthesis Quality Assurance: Medical Physicists Role, From Equipment Evaluation to Soft Copy Image Display.

Ultrasound – Special Program

This track highlights recent advances in ultrasound for diagnostic imaging, ultrasound for guidance and control of radiation therapy, and therapeutic ultrasound such as MR guided HIFU. These ultrasound symposia and scientific sessions have been allocated as a three-day track to be held on Monday, July 31, through Wednesday, August 2. Day 1 will highlight advances of ultrasound imaging technology applied to guiding and planning external beam radiation therapy and brachytherapy. Day 2 covers image guided therapeutic ultrasound, with clinical sessions covering HIFU in oncology and neurology, treatment planning, therapy monitoring, and innovative directions of therapeutic ultrasound for hyperthermia, thermal ablation, enhanced radiotherapy, targeted drug delivery, and immunotherapies. Day 3 brings together advances in diagnostic imaging, innovations in ultrasound monitoring of treatment and response, elastography, contrast agents, and theranostics. Day 3 also includes the Carson-Zagzebski Distinguished Lectureship on Medical Ultrasound: Dr. Lihong Wang will present “Photoacoustic Tomography: Multiscale Imaging from Organelles to Patients by Ultrasonically Beating Optical diffusion”. A selection of proffered abstracts is incorporated within these sessions, and within a SNAP oral session to be held on Sunday, July 30th. Each daily track begins with an Educational Session related to the subsequent scientific sessions: a two-hour hands-on ultrasound workshop to highlight ultrasound imaging and therapy systems; a primer on the potential role of therapeutic ultrasound and immunotherapies; and a primer on QA for diagnostic ultrasound. The Ultrasound Track was supported in part by the generous donations from the Focused Ultrasound Foundation and Sensus Healthcare.

Certificate Course – Beyond Clinical Imaging: The Role of the Medical Physicist in Clinical Trials and Response Assessment

This year’s Certificate Course will be an all-day program on Wednesday (August 2) during the annual meeting. Upon fulfilling the requirements, participants will receive a certificate of completion with 7.5 hours of SAM credit. This course will be open to all registrants and will focus on the important roles that medical physicists - both diagnostic and therapeutic - play in clinical trials and in clinical practice where the assessment of patient response to treatment is being evaluated. This course will consist of 4 sessions: (a) an education session that will focus on clinical trials - both those using radiation therapy and those that involve diagnostic imaging - and on the roles that medical physicists may play in each; (b) an education session on advanced technologies such as MR-PET and MR/RT that are being used for trials and response assessment; (c) a scientific session with proffered talks on these topics and (d) a session that will describe several active clinical trial settings and the roles that medical physicists are playing now and in the future. All sessions aim to be relevant to both diagnostic and therapeutic medical physicists, will seek to identify the unique requirements of trials compared to clinical practice and seeks to increase the communication between physicists in these important activities. All those who register for the AAPM meeting (weekly or Wednesday daily) will have access to these sessions as usual.

The mini-track will also serve as the certificate course at this year’s meeting, which provides an in-depth review of a particular topic with verification of learning objectives through on-line homework. Attendees may enroll in the certificate program for an additional fee. Enrollment in the program entitles participants to dedicated seating in the mini-track sessions as well as additional online materials. Following the meeting, certificate program participants will be required to take an online examination which covers the material presented throughout the day-long mini-track. Enrollees who have registered and paid the additional fee, who demonstrate satisfactory attendance at the course and successful completion of the online examination (available after the meeting) will receive a certificate of completion for this course.

Partners in Solutions

This is the 4th year that the joint AAPM-exhibitor program, Partners in Solutions (PinS), has been held at the Annual Meeting. PinS continues to offer a unique way for AAPM members to interact with and learn from our exhibitors by providing an exhibitor led, physics-level applications training session in a specially design lecture room on the exhibit floor. In these topic-specific sessions, exhibitors will provide a “marketing free” but practical “how it works” presentation on their latest, commercially available technology. This year’s imaging topic is Metal Artifact Reduction and the therapy topic is In Vivo/Transmission Detection Systems.

CE Credits will be offered. Come and experience this great series!!

Exhibit Hall Guided Tours

The Educational Topic Specific Guided Tours, which are held in the Exhibit Hall, offers a new way for you, the attendee, to interact with our exhibitors and earn (1.0-1.5hrs) of SAM credit in the process.  First, you attend a short introduction by an AAPM-member Tour Leader on the selected topic – Secondary Dose Calculation Programs for Therapy or Quality Assurance Phantoms for Diagnostic Imaging. Then you follow a AAPM-member Tour Guide to the participating exhibitors’ booths, where the exhibitor will present detailed information about the solution(s) they offer.  It’s an interesting and fun way to get a comprehensive overview of the products available on the market to address the clinical needs of your facility. Please note – Pre-Registration is required.

Note: Presentation Identifiers
* - Where indicated, denotes Presenting Author