VIDEO: Example of Moving X-ray Images Using a DR X-ray System

Mahadevappa Mahesh, Ph.D., chief of medical physicist and professor of radiology and medical physics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, and treasurer of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM), explains some of the trends in medical physics and new features of the AAPM 2019 meeting. 

Watch the related VIDEO: Bridging Diversity in Medical Physics to Improve Patient Care — Interview with AAPM President Cynthia McCollough, Ph.D., at the 2019 AAPM meeting.
 

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Cynthia McCollough, Ph.D., director of the Mayo Clinic Computed Tomography (CT) Clinical Innovation Center, professor of medical physics and biomedical engineering, and the 2019 president of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM), explains the "building bridges" theme of the 2019 AAPM meeting. 

This theme was the focus of her president’s address at the 2019 AAPM meeting. She spoke on the theme of diversity and how to break down the barriers between various minorities, male-female, religion, national origin, etc. She gave many photo examples of how we pigeon hole people into neat categories and that we often say we have equally in society, however her images showed recent images of big political summits where there are no women present, or they were the secretaries in the background. She said in medical practice, department administration and collaboration on projects, people need to be cognoscente of bias they have engrained by culture for which they may not even be aware.

She showed a slide of the AAPM membership makeup by generation and said members need to keep in mind the way each generation thinks and communicates varies by their generation's life experience and upbringing. McCollough said understanding these differences can help bridge perceived gaps in communication. 

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Stephen Sorensen, Ph.D., DABR, chief of medical physics, St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center, Phoenix, Arizona, explains the first commercial use of the Zap-X stereotactic radio surgery (SRS) brain radiotherapy system. The system uses a capsule-like shield to surround the gantry and patient, eliminating the need for expensive room build outs requiring vaults. The goal of the system is to expand SRS brain therapy by making it easier and less expensive to acquire the treatment system. Sorensen spoke about this system in sessions at the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) 2019 meeting.

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