Photo credit: Visit San Antonio
The 64th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) will take place October 23-26, at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio, TX. The 2022 ASTRO Annual Meeting delivers the top scientific and educational programming related to the field of radiation oncology.
Led by ASTRO President Geraldine M. Jacobson, MD, MPH, MBA, FASTRO, the conference is expected to attract thousands of oncologists, clinicians, researchers and other health care professionals from around the globe. Attendees can choose to join the meeting in-person in San Antonio or register for virtual access to live-streaming of all scientific and educational sessions. This option is new for 2022, offering in-person and virtual full conference registration including the OnDemand meeting at no added charge. Additionally, live SA-CME sessions are now included as part of the in-person and live virtual meeting registration options.
Offering top science in the field with practice-changing research, ASTRO 2022 will feature a Presidential Symposium focused on “AI and EI: Caring for the Patient in a Wireless World.” According to Laura A. Dawson, MD, FASTRO, who serves as Chair, Board of Directors of ASTRO, “The theme is timely as advances and benefits of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in a digital world are just starting to come to fruition, and many are experiencing some burnout and/or moral injury after these challenging past few years.”
Meeting highlights include two dynamic keynote speakers, “Cancer Breakthrough” Sessions, four Master Classes, Science Highlight sessions, more than 300 abstracts, an Exhibit Hall, award presentations, networking and career development opportunities.
Featured Sessions
The “Cancer Breakthroughs” session will feature the year’s top oncology research from a variety of disciplines. Six Science Highlight sessions will be held for in-person and virtual meeting registrants, and additional sessions will be available OnDemand. Additionally, Master Classes, Storytelling and poster sessions are back on the program.
Sessions at the meeting will highlight the potential of AI, Big Data and scientific advances, in addition to showcasing the central role of human interaction in patient care, according to Andrea Ng, MD, MPH, FASTRO, Chair of the Annual Meeting Scientific Program Committee. She noted that cutting-edge research will be featured, adding that abstracts to be presented, over 300 as part of the Oral Scientific and Quick Pitch sessions, will explore: challenges and changes in radiation oncology practice in response to the global pandemic; approaches to improving care of patients from underrepresented minority groups and underserved communities; and effective practices to reduce treatment side effects. Further, over 1,300 sessions as digital posters covering all major disease sites, as well as Physics, Biology, Palliative Care, Digital Innovations, and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Health Care.
In the Meeting Guide Issue presented by the association’s Astronews online publication, Ng encouraged attendees to preview the schedule of abstracts. She noted some of the top-scoring abstracts to be presented, which include the following:
Frank Vicini, MD, FASTRO, Michigan Healthcare Professionals: “NRG RTOG 1005: A Phase III Trial of Hypo-fractionated Whole Breast Irradiation with Concurrent Boost Versus Conventional Whole Breast Irradiation Plus Sequential Boost following Lumpectomy for High Risk Early-State Breast Cancer.”
Jonathan Tward, MD, PhD, FASTRO, Huntsman Cancer Institute at University of Utah: “Prostrate Cancer Risk Stratification in NRG Oncology Phase III Randomized Trials Using Multi-Modal Deep Learning with Digital Histopathology.”
Chelsea Pinnix, MD, PhD, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: “Response Adapted Ultra Low Dose Radiation Therapy for the Definitive Management of Orbital Indolent B-cell Lymphoma.”
Tamim Niazi, MD, Jewish General Hospital: “Conventional vs. Hypo-fractionated, Radiotherapy for High-Risk Prostate Cancer: 7-year outcomes of the Randomized, Non-Inferiority, Phase 3 PCSS Trial.”
Nikitha Moideen, MD, BC Cancer Agency: “A Randomized Phase 3 Trial Comparing Health-Related Quality of Life after Low Dose Rate (LDR) or High Dose Rate (HDR) Prostate Brachytherapy Boost Combined with External Beam Pelvic Radiotherapy (EBRT).”
Emily Daugherty, MD, University of Cincinnati Medical Center: “FAST-01: Results of the First-in-Human Study of Proton FLASH Radiotherapy.”
Todd Atwood, PhD, University of California, San Diego: “Examining the Impact of Direct Patient Care for Medical Physicists: A Randomized Prospective Phase III Trial.”
About ASTRO
The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) is the largest radiation oncology society in the world, with nearly 10,000 members who are physicians, nurses, biologists, physicists, radiation therapists, dosimetrists and other health care professionals who specialize in treating patients with radiation therapies.
ASTRO is led by Board Chair Laura A. Dawson, MD, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto, Ontario. Dawson is an active radiation oncologist and the upper gastrointestinal cancer multi-disciplinary site lead at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, and Professor of Radiation Oncology at the University of Toronto. She leads the palliative radiation oncology program (PROP) and treats patients with gastrointestinal malignancies and patients with oligo-metastases from a variety of malignancies.
ASTRO 2022 Chair Dr. Geraldine Jacobson is the founding Chair and a professor of radiation oncology at West Virginia University, as well as the Physician in Chief for Radiation Oncology for the West Virginia University Hospital System.
General registration is available at www.astro.org/annualmeeting.
For additional information: https://www.astro.org/Meetings-and-Education/Micro-Sites/2022/Annual-Meeting
March 24, 2023 
