Items of Note

Important notices, upcoming deadlines, and events happening in the Medical Physics community.

• AAPM Receives a $250,000 Funding Award for Project on Communicating Radiation Risk in Medicine
  A team at the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) has received a $250,000 Eugene Washington PCORI Engagement Award from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). The award will fund a project titled “Radiation risk in medicine: Identifying and enabling patient-provider shared decision-making,” a first of its kind initiative to advance the relevance of patient voice in radiation medicine.
  Read the Press Release
• Comments Requested
  • New Task Group Proposals (under Science Council)
    Deadline: April 9, 2024
    View & Submit Comments for Task Group Proposals 
  • Medical Physics Practice Guideline 13.a Part B: HDR Brachytherapy
    Deadline: April 11, 2024
    View & Submit Comments for MPPG 13.a Part B 
  • Medical Physics Practice Guideline 17.a: Quality Control for Mammography Radiologist Review Workstation Displays
    Deadline: April 25, 2024
    View & Submit Comments for MPPG 17.a 
• AAPM Newsletter
  March/April 2024 Issue Available
  Read the Issue
• AAPM President’s Monthly Minute
  Please take a moment to listen to the March 2024 issue of President Todd Pawlicki’s Monthly Minute on major highlights of the Association.
  View the Video
• AAPM Webinars
  Missed any of our previous webinars? Archived webinars can be found here.
  
  • Webinar #1 | AAPM Webinar Series on Identifying Research Opportunities for Early Career and Busy Clinical Physicists
    Topic: Are Medical Physicists Satisfied with their Current Level of Research Opportunities?
    Synopsis: When surveyed, the majority of medical physicists say they enjoy doing research, yet most of us have clinical positions with only a small amount of effort dedicated to research. This webinar will investigate clinical medical physicists’ desire to do research, understanding some barriers to fulfilling that goal and then identifying some potential solutions to providing more research opportunities for clinical and early career medical physicists. This webinar will be hosted by Science Council’s Working Group on Early Career and Clinical Research Opportunities (WGECCRO) and include a panel of medical physicists from across AAPM.
    Speakers/Panelists: Crystal A. Green, Joseph P. Dugas, Ingrid Valencia Lozano, Jessica Fagerstrom
    Thursday, March 28, 2024 at 12:00 PM ET
    Register for Are Medical Physicists Satisfied with their Current Level of Research Opportunities? 
    
  • Webinar #2 | AAPM Webinar Series on Radiochemistry and Oxygen Sensing in the Era of FLASH RT
    Topic: Delayed Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging for Intra-Cellular pO2 Measurement
    Synopsis: FLASH radiotherapy utilizes ultra-high dose rates to spare normal tissues while preserving anti-tumor efficacy. During FLASH-RT, oxygen consumption may deplete tissue oxygen, with part of this leading to DNA damage oxygen fixation. Delayed fluorescence from protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) reflects mitochondrial oxygen partial pressure. Employing a wide-field time-gated imaging system, we monitored this tissue oxygenation signal during FLASH-RT. In vivo observations in mouse skin reveal significant radiation-induced oxygen depletion and a consumption that depended upon the tissue oxygen level itself. This innovative intracellular oxygen imaging technique provides insight into tissue metabolism and hypoxia-induced alterations during FLASH-RT, potentially suggesting the mechanism for the protective effect on healthy tissues. Ongoing investigations, conducted in pig skin, are aimed at examining the impact of FLASH radiation therapy on intracellular oxygen consumption, to test the observations in a model that more closely mimics human skin. This work using PpIX oxygen imaging only requires topical administration of 5-ALA, an FDA cleared agent, so that this approach can translate to oxygen measurement in human studies. These oxygen transients documented in pigs is the preliminary step to human translation.
    Speaker: Arthur Petusseau
    Thursday, April 4, 2024 at 12:00 PM ET
    Register for Delayed Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging for Intra-Cellular pO2
    Measurement 
    
  • Topic: AAPM Webinar on Innovations in Medical Physics Education
    Synopsis: The Arthur Boyer Innovations in Medical Physics Education Award is given for an innovative program in the medical physics education of physicists, physicians, ancillary personnel and the public presented at the AAPM Annual Meeting & Exhibition. Among many excellent submissions and presentations showcasing innovations in education in our field, top presentations will be shared as an encore Webinar presentation. The 2023 award was presented to Sarah Quirk and team, and she will present “A Pan-Canadian Initiative to Apply a Competency-Based Simulation Enhanced Education Framework for Medical Physics Learners in the Clinical Implications and Measurement of Absolute Dosimetry.” The 2023 award was presented to Sarah Quirk and team, and she will present “A Pan-Canadian Initiative to Apply a Competency-Based Simulation Enhanced Education Framework for Medical Physics Learners in the Clinical Implications and Measurement of Absolute Dosimetry.”
    Speaker: Sarah Quirk, Shannon E. O’Reilly
    Friday, April 19, 2024 at 12:00 PM ET
    Register for Innovations in Medical Physics Education 
    
• AAPM Funding Opportunities
  • 2024 AAPM Science Council Associates Mentorship Program (SCAMP)
    Deadline: April 3, 2024
    Learn More & Apply
  • AAPM International Council Associates Mentorship Program (ICAMP)
    Deadline: April 3, 2024
    Learn More & Apply
  • 2024 AAPM/RSNA Doctoral and Masters Graduate Fellowships
    Deadline: April 24, 2024
    Learn More & Apply
  • 2024 AAPM/RSNA Imaging Physics Residency Grant
    Deadline: May 15, 2024
    Learn More & Apply
  • 2024 AAPM Best Award
    Deadline: May 15, 2024
    Learn More & Apply
• AAPM Grand Challenges
  • Quantitative Intravoxel Incoherent Motion (IVIM) Diffusion MRI Reconstruction (IVIM-dMRI Recon)
    Learn More & Participate
• AAPM Member Profile
  Global Volunteer Information Section added.
  Update Your Member Profile 
• AAPM Mentorship Program
  Sign-up as a mentee or mentor at any time, as the program is an on-demand service.
  Become a Mentor or a Mentee 
• Confex
  Confex, an abstract system is now being used for all AAPM meeting program development. If you’re an author or submitter for any AAPM meeting program, please watch for and whitelist the email address aapm@confex.com.
• Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee (EDIC)
  AAPM members, please feel free to use this anonymous and confidential resource to inform the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee (EDIC) of any comments, questions or concerns you have regarding EDI within AAPM or your experience as a medical physicist.
  Learn More & Send Feedback 
• AAPM Website
  Is something on the website not working as it should? Please send an email to helpdesk@aapm.org - the AAPM IS Team

AAPM Meetings

Don't miss these important meetings and deadlines.
Mark your calendar now!