New ROI Research Awards Will Advance Care for All
Every year, millions of people worldwide benefit from the curative power of radiation therapy, yet many barriers prevent even more patients from accessing this life-saving treatment. The Radiation Oncology Institute’s (ROI) 2024 research award winners are pursuing bold and innovative ideas to overcome some of the obstacles that stand in the way of people living with cancer from receiving optimal care. ROI envisions a world where every person has access to the best radiation therapy to live a longer, healthier life, and is thrilled to support four new teams of talented investigators who are seeking solutions that are important steps toward making our vision a reality.
Creative and Compelling Animated Videos Aim to Improve Understanding
Eulanca Liu, MD, PhD, and faculty mentor Ricky Savjani, MD, PhD, of the UCLA Department of Radiation Oncology are leading the development of a series of short, attention-grabbing animated videos that explain radiation therapy and its side effects. People preparing for radiation treatment often experience anxiety because they do not know what to expect. Dr. Liu and Dr. Savjani are partnering with animators from the world-renowned UCLA Animation Workshop, as well as Radiation Oncology faculty including Robert Chin, MD, PhD, to create videos that will clearly and concisely illustrate treatment logistics, common toxicities, and management strategies that patients will be able to access throughout their radiation treatment journey. To reach a wide audience of viewers, the videos will be translated from English into Spanish and other commonly spoken languages and employ accessibility options for individuals with sensory, intellectual, learning and physical disabilities. With the 2024 James D. Cox Research Award* from ROI, Dr. Liu will lead the team producing and evaluating five videos focusing on head and neck cancer that they hope will serve as a foundation for an entire library of videos that will eventually be available worldwide.
* The James D. Cox Research Award is a special recognition for a resident pursuing a career in research that is generously supported by Ritsuko Komaki-Cox, MD, FASTRO.
Expanding Access for Hispanic Breast Cancer Patients
Shearwood McClelland, III, MD, of the University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center Department of Radiation Oncology is investigating novel strategies to ensure that Hispanic Americans with breast cancer receive the best possible treatment. Hispanic Americans are less likely to have breast conserving surgery and radiation therapy for early-stage breast cancer than Caucasians and have an increased risk of experiencing delays between surgery and radiation treatment. Dr. McClelland and his colleagues have launched the Navigator-Assisted Hypofractionation (NAVAH) program to address disparities in breast cancer care through navigators who support patients by helping to ensure they complete their treatment and to limit the financial toxicity of their care. Building on the NAVAH program that they have established for African American breast cancer patients, the team is working with members of their local Hispanic/Latinx community to tailor the experience based on language and culture. The new award from ROI will support Dr. McClelland as he leads the first randomized controlled trial on the impact of patient navigation on radiation therapy treatment completion and financial toxicity in Hispanic American breast cancer patients.
Streamlining the Workflow for a Low-Resource Setting
Baozhou Sun, PhD, and Alexander Hanania, MD, of the Baylor College of Medicine Department of Radiation Oncology are developing a patient-centered, expedited workflow for palliative radiation treatments that will help improve delivery in a low-resource setting. Atwell Radiation Therapy Center at Smith Clinic, where the new workflow will be implemented and tested, has limited and aging equipment that results in patients waiting at least two weeks for a CT simulation appointment. Additionally, over 70% of the patient population is uninsured or underinsured, and more than 50% of patients referred to Smith Clinic have advanced-stage cancer and require palliative treatments. Dr. Sun and his colleagues have proposed a pioneering approach to eliminate the CT simulation from the workflow that will account for variations in patient positioning between diagnostic CT scans and radiation treatments better than existing sim-free workflow models. Their new workflow adds innovative immobilization strategies — including 3D printing technologies and low-cost curved cushions — and a novel artificial intelligence approach using CBCT-guided adaptive plans for simulation-free delivery. If successful, the approach being developed by Dr. Sun’s team with support from ROI can be replicated in other low-resource settings to reduce wait times and costs and increase access to radiation therapy for patients worldwide.
Enhancing Real-Time Communication during Radiation Therapy
Lin Zhu, MD, PhD, and faculty mentors Idalid “Ivy” Franco, MD, MPH, and Kevin Oh, MD, of the Mass General Brigham Department of Radiation Oncology are building an inventive audiovisual platform to improve communication with patients who have hearing loss, deafness or limited English proficiency during radiation treatment. Since radiation therapists must leave the room before radiation is delivered, they rely on an intercom system to speak to the patient during treatment, which can present challenges for people with diverse communication needs. Dr. Zhu and her colleagues are developing the Advancing Communication Equity for Radiation Therapy (ACE-RT) software that will enable patients to see the face of the therapist who is speaking, watch prerecorded videos with instructions, and view user-entered text. ACE-RT will be compatible with any computer connected to a projector and screen placed in the patient’s line of sight so that clinics will be able to easily integrate this cost-effective communications tool into their practice. The grant from ROI will allow Dr. Zhu’s team to complete software development, test feasibility, and prospectively evaluate how well ACE-RT improves the quality of communication for patients with diverse communication needs.
These four new research awards are the result of the Advancing Care for All: Innovations to Drive Access to Radiotherapy request for proposals (RFP) that ROI issued in September 2023. As the charity foundation for ASTRO – the American Society for Radiation Oncology – these grants and all work advanced by ROI are made possible thanks to the generosity of our donors. With the support of our donors, ROI continues to accelerate bold and innovative ideas in radiation therapy.
Join ROI in celebrating our newest award winners and look for our next funding opportunity to be announced this fall!
