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The Accelerators (Drs. Anna Brown, Matt Spraker, and Simul Parikh) have gone global!

We host Drs. Alison Tree (The Royal Marsden NHS, UK), Vedang Murthy (Tata Memorial Centre Mumbai, India), and Himanshu Nagar (New York Presbyterian Weill Cornell and Brooklyn Methodist, NYC) for a two-part exploration of prostate cancer care around the world!

In part 1, we discuss PSA screening, costs of care, selection of radiotherapy treatment techniques and androgen deprivation therapies, and the radiotherapy research efforts of the UK, India, and the US. 

Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham. Intro and Outro music generously donated by Emmy-award winning artist Lucas Cantor Santiago.

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. 

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Accelerators co-host Dr. Simul Parikh takes a very special trip to India and visits Tata Memorial Hospital! 

In this episode, he shares his experiences in their radiation oncology clinics as well as thoughts on patient care, clinical trials, education, and more.
 
Here are some papers from Tata Memorial that were mentioned during the show:

• The POP-RT Trial 
• Phase III trial of docetaxel for advanced head and neck cancer
• Contouring guidelines for penile cancer

Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham. Intro and Outro music generously donated by Emmy-award winning artist Lucas Cantor Santiago.

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. 

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The Accelerators (Dr. Anna Brown, Matt Spraker, and Simul Parikh) host radiation oncologist Dr. Amar Kishan and Brett Sloman, Product Sales Director at Viewray, Inc.

On this episode, we discussed the newly resulted MIRAGE trial, a single-center phase III study of prostate target reduction using MR-guided stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) versus standard CT-guided SBRT.

Amar kicks off this in depth interview by reviewing the results, then we cover a range of topics and critiques that arose on the release of this trial.

What is the impact of industry influence? Can we shrink prostate target size using other technologies? Given that the outcomes included quality of life measures, should this have been a blinded study? 

Are commutes in LA really easier if you listen to The Accelerators Podcast? 

Here are some things that were mentioned during the show:

• Siva et al. editorial on the MIRAGE Trial
• The SMART Trial for locally advanced pancreas cancer
• Parikh et al. SMART Trial ASCO results
• Viewray multi-center LAP-ABLATE trial for locally advanced pancreas cancer

Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham. Intro and Outro music generously donated by Emmy-award winning artist Lucas Cantor Santiago.

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. 

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Accelerators co-host Dr. Simul Parikh invites Dr. Todd Scarbrough for a #MedEd special on the once controversial topic of adjuvant radiotherapy for resected N2 non-small lung cancer. Should we listen to the science or is  it an... ART?

Here are some papers that were discussed during the show:

• Lally et al. SEER study
• PORT Meta-analysis 
• ANITA PORT sub-study
• The LungART trial 
• The PORT-C trial

Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham. Intro and Outro music generously donated by Emmy-award winning artist Lucas Cantor Santiago.

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. 

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Accelerators co-host Simul Parikh records a solo podcast about clinical dogma, gate keeping, and other... things.

Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham. Intro and Outro music generously donated by Emmy-award winning artist Lucas Cantor Santiago.

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. 

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On this episode, Matt is again joined by guest co-host patient advocates Julie Johnson (@solongsarcoma) and Katie Coleman (@kaydaustin) to discuss some mental health issues experienced by patients with cancer. We are joined by Sara Ariaudo, MHA, a former radiation therapist turned mindfulness coach and founder of Mindful Based Healing, LLC. 

We start with a discussion about mindfulness... specifically, what is it? Is it meditation or something more? We discuss how patients can create a personalized mindfulness plan to supplement their care. 

We then discuss patients' experiences managing mental health as the interact with oncology clinics. How can patient's best cope with the emotions surrounding a new diagnosis, and how might mindfulness techniques adjust after treatment is completed? 

Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham. Intro and Outro music generously donated by Emmy-award winning artist Lucas Cantor Santiago.

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. 

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The Accelerators (Dr. Anna Laucis, Matt Spraker, and Simul Parikh) are closing out 2022 with a focus on mental health!

In this episode, we are joined by friends-of-the-show Drs. Neil Newman and Christina Henson as well as Melody Wilding, LCSW. Melody is an executive coach and author of #RadOnc book club favorite "Trust Yourself: Stop Overthinking and Channel Your Emotions for Success at Work."

We discuss Melody's book and The Highly Sensitive Person phenotype, which may be expressed in up to 30% of people. This can pose challenges for anyone at work, but we discuss how the phenotype may uniquely impact physicians. We also share how Melody's book has impacted our careers in different ways. 

The discussion then shifts to how employers and physician leaders might make our hospitals and clinics a nicer place to work and how Sensitive Striver physicians might excel in this challenging workplace. 

Here are some things mentioned in the show:

• Melody Wilding's website
• The Highly Sensitive Person by Elaine Aron

Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham. Intro and Outro music generously donated by Emmy-award winning artist Lucas Cantor Santiago.

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. 

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This week, The Accelerators (Dr. Anna Laucis, Matt Spraker, and Simul Parikh) host Dr. Natalie Ridge (@nataliezumab), a DO radiation oncologist who is finishing training and searching for a job. We again discuss the hot - or not - #RadOnc job market. It depends on who you ask.

We start by discussing the fact that residents across the country face a heterogeneous job search experience as connections are essential to rise to the top of a competitive field.

We then turn to an insidious problem in Radiation Oncology and other medical fields: DO discrimination. We hope leaders in our field consider these experiences in their attempts to build inclusive training programs and practices.

Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham. Intro and Outro music generously donated by Emmy-award winning artist Lucas Cantor Santiago.

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. 

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On this episode, Matt is again joined by patient advocates Julie Johnson (@solongsarcoma) and Katie Coleman (@kaydaustin) for a conversation on patient education for clinical trials and beyond. We host one of our favorite experts, Radiation Oncologist and founder of PRIMR, Dr. David Grew. 
 
We start by discussing how information is presented to trial-eligible patients in clinic then David shares how he started creating scalable video content for local and national trials. 

What follows is an inspiring discussion about the power of readily available, web-based video to educate in a patient centered way.  
 
Here are some things mentioned during the show:

• Dr. Grew's Digital Explanations, patient education videos 
• Katie's video, what an open liver resection and nephrectomy is like
• Katie's video, what is a biopsy like for cancer? 

Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham. Intro and Outro music generously donated by Emmy-award winning artist Lucas Cantor Santiago.

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. 

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The Accelerators (Dr. Anna Laucis, Matt Spraker, and Simul Parikh) use a "small viral" tweet as a seed for discussion about technology, inequity, and community practice. 

This week, we host Dr. Anna Paulsson, a community Radiation Oncologist practicing in Sonoma County, California. Recently, she wondered whether the celebration of technology in #RadOnc is furthering inequity in our field.

We discuss messaging from societies and conferences to the general public, the role of industry, the PPS-exempt cancer hospitals program, and how medical education might improve with greater access to community practice physicians.

Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham. Intro and Outro music generously donated by Emmy-award winning artist Lucas Cantor Santiago.

The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production.