IBPRO – A Novel Short-Duration Teaching Course in Advanced Physics and Biology Underlying Cancer Radiotherapy

Abstract

This article provides a summary and status report of the ongoing advanced education program IBPRO – Integrated course in Biology and Physics of Radiation Oncology. IBPRO is a five-year program funded by NCI. It addresses the recognized deficiency in the number of mentors available who have the required knowledge and skill to provide the teaching and training that is required for future radiation oncologists and researchers in radiation sciences. Each year, IBPRO brings together 50 attendees typically at assistant professor level and upwards, who are already qualified/certified radiation oncologists, medical physicists or biologists. These attendees receive keynote lectures and activities based on active learning strategies, merging together the clinical, biological and physics underpinnings of radiation oncology, at the forefront of the field. This experience is aimed at increasing collaborations, raising the level and amount of basic and applied research undertaken in radiation oncology, and enabling attendees to confidently become involved in the future teaching and training of researchers and radiation oncologists.

Three discipline collaborative radiation therapy (3DCRT) special debate: FLASH radiotherapy needs ongoing basic and animal research before implementing it to a large clinical scale

“…For this reason, significant effort has been expended recently to foster collaborative multidisciplinary research in radiation oncology, with substantial demonstrated benefit. [1][2][3][4] In light of these results, we endeavor here to adopt this "team-science" approach to the traditional debates featured in this journal. This article is part of the series of special INTRODUCTION FLASH radiation therapy (RT) delivers doses at ultrahigh dose rates (HDRs) generally understood to be >40 Gy/s, therefore a 2 Gy dose would be delivered in less than 50 ms.…”

“…As a result, discussion of controversies or changes in practice within radiation oncology must involve input from all three disciplines. For this reason, significant effort has been expended recently to foster collaborative multidisciplinary research in radiation oncology, with substantial demonstrated benefit 1–4 . In light of these results, we endeavor here to adopt this “team‐science” approach to the traditional debates featured in this journal.…”

Expanding the reach of medical physics: Immunotherapy should be included as part of the curriculum for medical physics education and training

“…Increasing the communication between these two specialties will foster the infrastructure of clinical radiotherapy. Even with an advanced education program IBPRO (Integrated Course in Biology and Physics of Radiation Oncology) which was funded by NCI, the theme of immunotherapy was included in year 2016 to advance the knowledge and skill required to radiation oncologists, physicists, and biologists to promote the interdisciplinary collaboration to improve the quality of cancer care …”

Improving Research in Radiation Oncology through Interdisciplinary Collaboration

“…One possible solution is the creation of short-term educational environments to foster such stimulation and collaboration. An example is the educational course funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) developed at Wayne State University called ‘‘Integration of Biology and Physics into Radiation Oncology’’ (IBPRO) ( 12 ). This course was designed specifically with the intent of promoting the ability of radiation oncologists, medical physicists and radiobiologists to ‘‘speak the same language,” appreciate the specialized skills and knowledge of the other disciplines and engage in activities that foster collaborative investigation.…”