Speakers / Panelists
- J. Hoisak, R. Manger, I. Dragojević. “Benchmarking failure mode and effects analysis of electronic brachytherapy with data from incident learning systems”. Brachytherapy. 2021;20(3):645-654 doi: 610 1016/j brachy 2020 1011 1014 Epub 2021 Jan 1019.
- R. Manger, D. Rahn, J. Hoisak, I. Dragojević. “Improving the treatment planning and delivery process of Xoft electronic skin brachytherapy,” Brachytherapy , Volume 17 , Issue 4, 702 – 708 (2018).
- S.A.M. Lloyd, D. Rahn, J.D.P. Hoisak, I. Dragojević. “Evaluation of effective treatment depth in skin cancer treatments with electronic brachytherapy” Brachytherapy, Volume 17, Issue 6, 990 – 994 (2018).
Asim Amjad MD, MBBS, DMRT, DCO, FFRCSI
Asim Amjad MD, MBBS, DMRT, DCO, FFRCSI
Asim Amjad MD, MBBS, DMRT, DCO, FFRCSI
Dr. Amjad was born and raised in Pakistan, where he received his medical degree. He trained in oncology in Ireland and the United Kingdom before coming to Canada. He has been working at the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency in Regina since 2008. He has extensive clinical experience and specializes in prostate cancer, lung cancer, breast cancer, and gynecological cancers. Dr. Amjad also volunteers his time at a hospital in Pakistan, furthering cancer treatment in his home country.
Jean-Guy Belliveau, PhD, DABR, MCCPM
Jean-Guy Belliveau, PhD, DABR, MCCPM
Jean-Guy Belliveau, PhD, DABR, MCCPM
Dr. Belliveau is an Assistant Professor and Medical Physicist in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Dr. Belliveau has been part of the Ethos Adaptive program at UAB since May 2021. His research interest within the adaptive program is PSQA, and breast VMAT and IMRT deliveries for regional nodal irradiation.
Alanah Bergman, PhD, FCCPM
Alanah Bergman, PhD, FCCPM
Alanah Bergman, PhD, FCCPM
Dr. Alanah Bergman is a senior medical physicist at BC Cancer – Vancouver. She has provided medical physics support to the breast radiotherapy team since 1997. From 1998 – 2014, Dr. Bergman was certified by the CCPM to perform medical physics mammography image quality and radiation dose assessments. During that time, she supported the BC Cancer Screening Mammography Program (BCSMP), and provided physics leadership. On the radiotherapy side, she led the transition from 2D planning to 3D planning for breast RT with the installation of the centre’s first CT simulator. Many years later, she led the VMAT Breast/Chestwall team which established technical planning and delivery standards for the clinic. Breast radiotherapy prescriptions, volumes and techniques have seen some major changes over the last five years and Dr. Bergman is excited to be a part of the team moving this site forward.
Murray Brunt, MB.BS, FRCP, FRCR
Murray Brunt, MB.BS, FRCP, FRCR
Murray Brunt, MB.BS, FRCP, FRCR
Professor Murray Brunt graduated from Westminster Medical School, London in 1983. Murray was appointed Consultant Clinical Oncologist at the University Hospitals of North Midlands in 1991. Murray moved in 2020 to a substantive Chair at The School of Medicine, University of Keele, Staffordshire. Murray is Chief Investigator of the FAST-Forward trial. Murray has been closely involved with the UK series of trials that are changing UK and Global practice such as START, IMPORT LOW & HIGH, FAST and FAST-Forward. He has an Honorary Chair at The Institute of Cancer Research, London.
Leigh Conroy, PhD, MCCPM
Leigh Conroy, PhD, MCCPM
Leigh Conroy, PhD, MCCPM
Dr. Leigh Conroy is a Medical Physicist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto Department of Radiation Oncology. Dr. Conroy’s clinical and research interests include breast radiotherapy, quality improvement, automation, and motion management strategies. Her most recent research focuses on the clinical implementation of machine learning in Radiation Oncology and development of quality assurance (QA) processes and education for safe use of machine learning in medicine.
Kimberly Corbin, M.D.
Kimberly Corbin, M.D.
Kimberly Corbin, M.D.
I am a board certified, breast specialized Radiation Oncologist at the Mayo Clinic. I have clinic expertise in Breast radiotherapy and proton therapy for breast cancer. I have participated in several clinical trials using proton therapy for breast cancer and have published on proton therapy for inflammatory breast cancer, partial breast radiotherapy, post mastectomy radiotherapy, and re-irradiation.
Ria Corsten, MSc, MCCPM, CHE
Ria Corsten, MSc, MCCPM, CHE
Ria Corsten, MSc, MCCPM, CHE
Ria Corsten is the Head of Medical Physics for the Provincial Cancer Care Program of Eastern Health in St. John’s, NL. She is a member of the Canadian College of Physicists in Medicine and is a Certified Health Executive with the Canadian College of Health Leaders. Ria is co-leading the development of a new satellite site for cancer care in Corner Brook, NL. Her clinical interests include radiation safety, peer review and disaster recovery planning. She is a member of the organizing committee for COMP Winter School 2023 and is excited to see the developments in Breast Imaging and Radiation Treatment for Breast Cancer.
Juanita M. Crook, MD FRCPC
Juanita M. Crook, MD FRCPC
Juanita M. Crook, MD FRCPC
Dr Crook did her medical training at the University of Toronto, Residency in Radiation Oncology at the Princess Margaret Hospital and is currently a Full Professor of Radiation Oncology at the University of British Columbia. She is a staff Radiation Oncologist in Kelowna BC where she has developed image-guided HDR gynecologic brachytherapy, US-planned HDR prostate brachytherapy, HDR interstitial and surface mold penile brachytherapy and permanent seed brachytherapy for breast cancer. She is former president of the Board of the American Brachytherapy Society, recipient of the Thom Shanahan Distinguished Brachytherapy Educator Award and the ABS 2017 Henschke Award.
She is also the first to hold a Brachytherapy Research Chair position in British Columbia.
Irena Dragojevic, PhD
Irena Dragojevic, PhD
Irena Dragojevic, PhD
I have over 10 years of experience with electronic brachytherapy with Xoft. I have also commissioned and established the IORT electronic brachytherapy program at UCSD and one of the local hospitals. The experience resulted in publication of “Risk analysis of electronic intraoperative radiation therapy for breast cancer” in the Brachytherapy journal (2019 May - Jun; 18(3):271-276.). I have also been the PI on several other projects related to electronic brachytherapy with Xoft that resulted in the following publications:
Cheryl Duzenli, PhD, FCCPM
Cheryl Duzenli, PhD, FCCPM
Cheryl Duzenli, PhD, FCCPM
Dr. Cheryl Duzenli is the Medical Physics Leader at BC Cancer, Vancouver. She is passionate about medical physics education and was one of the founding members of the COMP Winter School. Prior to coming to BC Cancer, Cheryl completed her BSc in Honours Physics at Queen's University, MSc in Medical Radiation Physics at McGill University and PhD at University of Alberta. Some of her current research centres on developing ultra-light carbon fibre materials with a focus on reducing side effects in breast radiotherapy. She is very excited to be involved in the 2023 Winter School and looking forward to an exiting opportunity to exchange information and experience on treating breast cancer.
Idris Elbakri, PhD, MCCPM
Idris Elbakri, PhD, MCCPM
Idris Elbakri, PhD, MCCPM
Dr. Idris Elbakri is the chair of the CCPM mammography certification committee. He has been certified in mammography since 2007. In his current clinical practices, he provides support for mammography (screening and diagnostic) throughout the province of Manitoba. Between 2017 and 2021, he co-chaired three COMP mammography workshops aimed at providing a Canadian continuing education opportunity for mammography physicists and technologists. Early in his career he was involved in industry in the development of some of the early digital mammography units which lead to several publications and patents in this area.
Robynn Ferris, RTT, CMD
Robynn Ferris, RTT, CMD
Robynn Ferris, RTT, CMD
Robynn Ferris has been a Radiation Therapist at the Vancouver Cancer Centre, since 1999. She completed her Medical Dosimetrist Certification and became the Planning Resource Therapist in 2011. As a Radiation Therapist, Robynn has had the privilege of spending time with patients during the course of their treatment and follow-up for the Breast “RAPID” trial. In collaboration with the Breast Radiation Oncologists and Physicists, she currently works integrating recent advances and improvements into breast planning and treatment. Robynn is excited with her opportunity to highlight the patient experience as part of Winter School 2023.
Ralph George, MD, FRCS
Ralph George, MD, FRCS
Ralph George, MD, FRCS
Ralph George, MD, FRCS, is an Associate Professor of General Surgery at the University of Toronto and Medical Director of the CIBC Breast Centre at St. Michael's Hospital. He completed an Endoscopy and a Surgical Oncology Fellowship at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute.
Dr. George sat on the Board of Directors of St. Michael’s Hospital and is the past President of the Medical Staff Association. He is the Director of Continuing Professional Education for the Department of Surgery, University of Toronto. He is the past Chair of the Royal College Specialty Committee for Surgical Oncology, and an active member of the Royal College examination board in Surgical Oncology. He is an executive member of the Canadian Hidradenitis Suppurativa foundation, and past President of the Canadian Association of General Surgeons. In 2022 Dr. George will act as co-chair of the North American annual HS meeting the Symposium on Hidradenitis Suppurativa Advances.
Lisa Glass, PhD
Lisa Glass, PhD
Lisa Glass, PhD
Lisa did her PhD in astrophysics before switching to radiation oncology physics, training in Calgary and Oshawa. She has been a medical physicist at the Allan Blair Cancer Centre in Regina, Saskatchewan since 2015. Her clinical portfolio includes leading the brachytherapy program, gyne site group lead, and radiation safety education.
Paula Gordon, MD
Paula Gordon, MD
Paula Gordon, MD
Dr. Paula Gordon is Clinical Professor of Radiology at University of British Columbia, and was founding medical director of the Sadie Diamond Breast Program at BC Women’s Hospital. Her research has included Image-guided breast needle biopsies, and various aspects of breast ultrasound including supplemental screening for women with dense breasts. She volunteers as medical advisor to Dense Breasts Canada, and on the medical advisory board of DenseBreast-Info.
In recognition of her contributions to the field of breast imaging, she was made Fellow of the Society of Breast Imaging in 2004, and served on their Board of Directors. She received a Killam Teaching Prize from UBC in 2011 and was named one of Canada’s 100 Most Powerful Women by the Women’s Executive Network, receiving their Trailblazers and Trendsetters Award in 2014. She was called “one of the greatest Canadian specialists in breast cancer detection and diagnosis” by the Ministry for the Status of Women in 2017. In 2022 she received the Prix D’Excellence Award from the Royal College and the UBC Radiology Excellence in Research/Discovery/Innovation Clinical Faculty award. She was invested in the Order of British Columbia in 2013, and appointed to the Order of Canada in 2022.
Tami Joseph MacCormick, MS, RTT, CDS, CMD
Tami Joseph MacCormick, MS, RTT, CDS, CMD
Tami Joseph MacCormick, MS, RTT, CDS, CMD
Tami is a certified Medical Dosimetrist (MDCB) at the Nova Scotia Cancer Centre with nearly 20 years experience in radiation oncology. She earned a Bachelor of Science from Dalhousie University and completed her radiation therapy education at the BC Cancer Agency in Vancouver.
In 2019, Tami completed a Master of Science in Medical Dosimetry from the University of Southern Illinois. Additionally, she holds a Medical Dosimetry Specialty Certification. She has a keen interest in 3D printed bolus design and clinical implementation. Tami contributed to clinical research comparing 3D printed bolus versus standard vinyl gel sheet bolus for postmastectomy chest wall radiation therapy. Tami is thrilled to share the 3D bolus process with the COMP Winter School 2023.
Tania Karan, MSc, FCCPM
Tania Karan, MSc, FCCPM
Tania Karan, MSc, FCCPM
Tania Karan is a senior medical physicist at BC Cancer – Vancouver, with a focus on radiotherapy technique development and implementation for the breast site group. She feels that the most awesome part of this role is finding simple and elegant solutions to complex radiotherapy problems. The completion of her MSc from the University of British Columbia was followed by a residency at Southlake Hospital in Ontario. Tania then returned to BC Cancer in 2015 where she has been on staff since. Her additional medical physics interests are motion management and FLASH radiotherapy.
Scott Karnas, PhD, MCCPM
Scott Karnas, PhD, MCCPM
Scott Karnas, PhD, MCCPM
Dr. Scott Karnas is a Medical Physicist at the London Regional Cancer Program, London, Ontario since 2002. Scott completed a BSc in Honours Physics at the University of Waterloo and then his PhD in Medical Biophysics at the University of Western Ontario. He has been a member of CCPM since 2003 and has an academic appointment of Assistant Professor at Western University in the Department of Medical Biophysics and Department of Oncology. Scott is passionate about medical physics education, working closely with both medical physics and radiation oncology residents. In addition, he was the Program Director of the Medical Physics residency program from 2010-2021. Clinically, Scott is the physics lead for the skin, sarcoma and breast disease site teams, and has a strong interest in breast set-up, including the use of surface guided radiotherapy (SGRT).
Anat Kornecki, M.D, RCPSC
Anat Kornecki, M.D, RCPSC
Anat Kornecki, M.D, RCPSC
Professor, Head of Division of Breast Imaging, Western University, St. Joseph Health Care
Dr. Anat Kornecki is Professor at the department of Medical Imaging at St. Joseph Health Care in London, Canada. She graduated medical school and radiology residency program in Tel-Aviv University and completed Abdominal and Women’s Imaging fellowships. She is the head of the Division of Breast Imaging at Western University, Canada and Scientist Associate at Lawson and Robarts institutes, focusing on breast imaging.
Dr. Anat Kornecki had organized and presented at many national and international educational events.
Mike Kucharczyk, MB, BCh, BAO, MPH, FRCPC
Mike Kucharczyk, MB, BCh, BAO, MPH, FRCPC
Mike Kucharczyk, MB, BCh, BAO, MPH, FRCPC
Michael (“Mike”) Kucharczyk is a Radiation Oncologist practicing at the Nova Scotia Health Centre in Halifax. Completing his residency training at McMaster and pursuing fellowship in Thoracic Brachytherapy (McMaster) and advanced Genitourinary Oncology (McGill), he completed a Master of Public Health in Epidemiology (Harvard) to further his understanding in study design and clinical translation. His practice has a focus on genitourinary cancers and oligometastatic disease, also managing breast, gastrointestinal, and hepatobiliary cancers. Academic interests include the implementation of ablative therapies, clinical trials, and using automated processes to personalize and expedite patient care.
Dr. Supriya Kulkarni, DMRD, DNB, DABR, FRCPC
Dr. Supriya Kulkarni, DMRD, DNB, DABR, FRCPC
Dr. Supriya Kulkarni, DMRD, DNB, DABR, FRCPC
Dr. Supriya Kulkarni is the divisional head (Breast Imaging) & associate professor, department of medical imaging at the University of Toronto.
Her clinical engagement is at University Health Network, Mount Sinai Hospital and the Women's College Hospital, University of Toronto, Canada for over 20 years in the subspecialty practice in Breast Imaging. She is also the head of Breast Imaging Service, Medical Imaging Department, Health Sciences North, Sudbury.
Dr. Kulkarni’s special focus is on teaching and education internationally and is a recipient of several teaching awards for contributing to cancer education and manages continuing professional development initiatives and faculty development for the breast division of the University of Toronto providing mentorship and guidance to international trainees and new to practice radiologists.
She serves as a board member and the educational director of the Canadian Society of Breast imaging and is a member of the Canadian Association of Radiologists breast imaging guideline working group.
She serves in an advisory capacity pertaining to policy and quality for Ontario Health (OH) on provincial average and high-risk screening programs.
Dr. Kulkarni has worked to enhance diversity and opportunity to access breast screening for individuals from historically under-represented backgrounds including chairing the committee that developed the transgender screening policy with OH.
Dr Kulkarni is also the Regional Breast Imaging Lead for the Health Sciences North & Northeast LHIN and Toronto Central Regional Cancer Program.
Samantha Lloyd, PhD
Samantha Lloyd, PhD
Samantha Lloyd, PhD
Samantha Lloyd is a Medical Physicist at BC Cancer Vancouver, and a Lecturer and Clinical Instructor at the University of British Columbia. Samantha’s clinical and research work focus on planning automation in external beam and HDR brachytherapy, radiation medicine in under-resourced settings, and radiomics and machine learning for outcomes prediction.
Livia Marrazzo, MSc
Livia Marrazzo, MSc
Livia Marrazzo, MSc
Livia Marrazzo was born in Torre del Greco (Naples) in 1979. She completed her studies in Physics in 2003, and got the Specialization in Medical Physics in 2008 at the University of Florence (Italy). In 2005 she completed a Master of Science in Radiation Biology at the University College of London.
She became Medical Physicist at the Medical Physics Unit of the Careggi University Hospital (Florence) in 2009, where she currently works, mainly involved in Radiotherapy. She is now Assistant Professor of the University of Florence, Department of Biomedical, Experimental and Clinical Science “Mario Serio”.
Her major fields of interest are the use of advanced techniques in Radiotherapy, automated treatment planning, breast cancer treatment, DIBH, dosimetric verification, film dosimetry, clinical trials. She is sub-investigator of the APBI-IMRT Florence (NCT02104895) phase III Trial of the University of Florence and QA-RT responsible and steering committee member of the EUROPA (NCT04134598) phase III Trial of the University of Florence;. She is an active member of the European SocieTy for Radiotherapy & Oncology (ESTRO) and the Italian Association for Medical Physics (AIFM).
Quinn Matthews, PhD, MCCPM
Quinn Matthews, PhD, MCCPM
Quinn Matthews, PhD, MCCPM
I am a Senior Medical Physicist with BC Cancer – Centre for the North in Prince George, and joined the Prince George centre in 2015 after my residency with BC Cancer - Victoria. My clinical and research interests include rapid and automated planning workflows, 3D printing for bolus fabrication, SABR/SRT program development, and clinical trial support. For several years I have been involved in the development and refinement of our custom bolus process using 3D printing, and I hope that by sharing our experience with the COMP Winter School 2023 audience we can help facilitate adoption of our techniques by other RT departments.
Paulette McKeon, MRT (T)
Paulette McKeon, MRT (T)
Paulette McKeon, MRT (T)
Paulette is a senior radiation therapist at the Odette Cancer Centre at Sunnybrook Health Sciences, Toronto, Ontario. She currently works as a Team Lead on a linear accelerator treating primarily breast patients. She has participated in the development of the prone breast and reverse decubitus technique which work to treatment women with larger breasts or where it is necessary to reduce heart volume in the treatment field. Both techniques have experienced issues with setups where Paulette has been able to contribute her experience to increase patient comfort and ease therapists concerns and difficulties with daily positioning. She is happy to be able to share her experience at the 2023 Winter School Session.
Thalat Monajemi, PhD, MCCPM
Thalat Monajemi, PhD, MCCPM
Thalat Monajemi, PhD, MCCPM
I am a medical physicist at Nova Scotia Health (Halifax) and an assistant professor at Dalhousie University. My primary clinical research interests lie in breast radiotherapy, with an emphasis on VMAT planning. Recent work in this area has included the evaluation of skin dose for post-mastectomy radiotherapy patients, knowledge-based planning, and the impact of body contour variation during a course of radiotherapy. Other clinical interests include total marrow irradiation and brachytherapy. My academic research interests focus on development and application of novel radiation detectors especially in breast treatments.
Alan Nichol, MD, CCDP, FRCPC
Alan Nichol, MD, CCDP, FRCPC
Alan Nichol, MD, CCDP, FRCPC
I care for patients with brain tumours and breast cancer. I am involved in the teaching of medical students and radiation oncology residents, as well as radiation oncology clinical fellows and graduate students in medical physics. I am presently the local principal investigator of two clinical trials at BC Cancer – Vancouver: Canadian Cancer Trials Group CE.7 (A phase III trial of stereotactic radiosurgery compared with hippocampal-avoidant whole brain radiotherapy plus memantine for 5-15 brain metastases) and MA.39 (TAILOR RT: a randomized trial of regional radiotherapy in biomarker low risk node positive and T3N0 breast cancer). I am the BC Cancer principal Investigator for the Randomized phase II non-inferiority study of 5-day versus 1-day RAPid SimPLE (RAPPLE) targeted radiation treatment for brain Metastases (NCT05050929).
Marija Popovic, PhD, FCCPM
Marija Popovic, PhD, FCCPM
Marija Popovic, PhD, FCCPM
Sarah Quirk, PhD, FCCPM
Sarah Quirk, PhD, FCCPM
Sarah Quirk, PhD, FCCPM
Dr. Quirk is a Faculty Physicist at the Brigham & Women’s Hospital and Dana Faber Cancer Institute and an Assistant Professor at the Harvard Medical School. Dr. Quirk is the Director of Process Improvement with a scope spanning department-wide initiatives. Her clinical and academic work focuses on breast cancer, real-world data, informatics infrastructure, and change management science. Dr. Quirk has been instrumental in developing and refining radiotherapy options for women with early-stage breast cancer namely accelerated partial breast irradiation. Additionally, Dr. Quirk is leading initiatives to implement automated clinical radiotherapy workflows and to comprehensively integrate informatics and decision-support applications in radiotherapy. She has combined these clinical focuses to build an exciting and productive research portfolio.
Rasika Rajapakshe, PhD, FCCPM, HCISPP
Rasika Rajapakshe, PhD, FCCPM, HCISPP
Rasika Rajapakshe, PhD, FCCPM, HCISPP
Dr. Rasika Rajapakshe is a senior medical physicist at BC Cancer - Kelowna and serves as the Lead Medical Physicist for the BC Cancer Breast and Lung Screening Programs. He is a Fellow of the Canadian College of Physicists in Medicine and is certified in Radiation Oncology and Mammography Physics. He is also certified as a Health Care Information Security and Privacy Practitioner from (ICS)2.
Dr. Rajapakshe is a member of the Academic and Screeners Advisory committees for BC Cancer Breast Screening and an external reviewer for the Mammography Accreditation Program of the Canadian Association of Radiologists (CAR-MAP). He is a member of the Physics of Mammography Accreditation Committee at the Canadian College of Physicists in Medicine and has served as the Chair from 2007-2013. He has also served as a Technical Expert to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on quality assurance standards for Digital Mammography Systems. He has contributed to Local (British Columbia), National (Health Canada), and International (IAEA) standards on quality assurance of digital mammography systems, including imaging informatics.
His academic involvement includes his appointments as a Clinical Associate Professor for the Faculty of Medicine at UBC, Adjunct Professor for Computer Science at UBC –Okanagan, and Affiliate Faculty at the School of Health Information Science, University of Victoria. He was also a Senior Visiting Research Fellow at the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore from 2016-2018. His research interest is focused on the personalization of early cancer detection and prognostication, an interest which prompted him to found the Early Detection Research Group in 2008.
Eileen Rakovitch, MD, FRCP(C), M.Sc.
Eileen Rakovitch, MD, FRCP(C), M.Sc.
Eileen Rakovitch, MD, FRCP(C), M.Sc.
Dr. Rakovitch is a radiation oncologist with an active clinical practice and research program focused on breast cancer. The primary goal of her research program is to improve the care and outcomes of women with an early form of breast cancer called ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS).
She attended medical school and completed her residency training in Radiation Oncology at the University of Toronto. She completed a two year research fellowship at the Center for Radiological Research at Columbia University in New York City and then returned to Toronto to complete Master’s in Science in Clinical Epidemiology and joined the staff at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre where she remains until today.
She is a Professor and Vice Chair of Clinical Affairs in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Toronto and an Adjunct Senior Scientist at ICES. She is the L.C. Campbell Chair in Breast Cancer Research at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and is the Program Research Director of the Odette Cancer Program. She is the co-chair of the Canadian Clinical Trials Group Breast Cancer Executive, which leads and contributes to clinical trials improving the treatment of breast cancer. She is dedicated to teaching students, residents and fellows across the educational spectrum.
Jean Seely, MD, FRCPC
Jean Seely, MD, FRCPC
Jean Seely, MD, FRCPC
Dr. Jean Seely is a full Professor in the Department of Radiology at the University of Ottawa, Head of the Breast Imaging Section at the Ottawa Hospital, and Regional Breast Imaging Lead for the Ontario Breast Screening Program in the Champlain region. She is on the Executive Board of the CAR Mammography Accreditation Program. She is an Editorial Board member of the Canadian Association of Radiology Journal and The Journal of Breast Imaging. She is the President of the Canadian Society of Breast Imaging. Her research interests include Breast MRI, breast cancer screening, quality in breast imaging, and patient experience. She has been recognized for her achievements by being awarded Fellow of the Society of Breast Imaging in 2017 and Fellow of the Canadian Association of Radiologists in 2021. She is a volunteer on the Medical Advisory Board of densebreast-info.org. Her commitment is to reduce the mortality and morbidity of breast cancer and provide high quality breast imaging nationally and internationally.
Nathan Smela
Nathan Smela
Nathan Smela
Nathan Smela works as a Radiation Therapy Service Technologist with BC Cancer – Centre for the North in Prince George for over ten years. He joined after his time in the Canadian Forces as a Biomedical Electronics Technologist, having graduated from Northern Alberta Institute of Technology. His interests in 3D printing, programming, and CAD design support his centre’s research interests in implementing cost-effective 3D printing for Radiotherapy clinical needs. He has researched, built, and maintain many 3D printers for clinical use in Radiation Therapy for over eight years, was deeply involved with developing their 3D printed bolus process, and is currently leading a research project in evaluating a liquid MSLA 3D printer for clinical use.
Ian Sun, RTT
Ian Sun, RTT
Ian Sun, RTT
A practicing radiation therapist since 2012 at BC Cancer Kelowna, Victoria, and Vancouver, and a treatment resource therapist since 2019 at BC Cancer Vancouver. As the treatment lead for the breast site group I have led changes to improve breast patient positioning, imaging, and introduction of new treatment modalities such as hypofractionated treatment and partial breast irradiation.
Eric Vandervoort, PhD, FCCPM
Eric Vandervoort, PhD, FCCPM
Eric Vandervoort, PhD, FCCPM
I am a medical physicist at The Ottawa Hospital Cancer Centre with academic affiliations with the Department of Physics at Carleton University and the Department of Radiology at the University of Ottawa. I am physics lead for stereotactic ablative techniques at our center. My research interests focus on characterizing uncertainty and modelling radiation delivery accuracy for stereotactic ablative radiosurgery treatments including accelerated partial breast irradiation. My contributions on these topics include sixteen peer-reviewed articles and over thirty conference abstracts.
David Voduc, MD, FRCPC
David Voduc, MD, FRCPC
David Voduc, MD, FRCPC
Dr. David Voduc is the current medical director of BC Cancer, Vancouver, he is also the current head of the breast radiation oncology group at BC Cancer, Vancouver.
Martin J. Yaffe, PhD, CM, FRSC, DSc (Hon), FAAPM
Martin J. Yaffe, PhD, CM, FRSC, DSc (Hon), FAAPM
Martin J. Yaffe, PhD, CM, FRSC, DSc (Hon), FAAPM
Martin Yaffe is a medical physicist and imaging scientist at Sunnybrook Research Institute and Professor of Medical Biophysics at The University of Toronto. His research over the past 40 years has focused on the earlier detection, diagnosis and characterization of cancer. His lab pioneered the development of digital mammography and contrast-enhanced mammography, now used worldwide, and in collaboration with epidemiologist, Dr. Norman Boyd and multiple other collaborators, contributed to the understanding of breast density in its dual roles as a risk factor for breast cancer and in masking its detection in mammograms. He has a strong interest in breast cancer screening and has refined and used microsimulation models to study its optimizations, the phenomenon of overdetection and the effect of COVID disruptions on breast cancer outcomes. He is a member of the leadership team of the TMIST breast tomosynthesis trial (MAC-22/ ECOG-ACRIN 1151) and serves as its Canadian Study Chair. Over his career, he has been committed to improvement of image quality in mammography. He has chaired working groups of ICRU and IAEA, focussing on mammography quality and his group has developed custom phantoms and test procedures for that purpose, and created specialized QC programs for both the DMIST and TMIST trials. He created the Biomarker Imaging Research Laboratory (BIRL) to apply imaging science to the quantitative analysis of pathologic and radiomic cancer biomarkers to improve their value for use in prognosis and prediction. He is Co-Director of the Imaging Research Program of The Ontario Institute for Cancer Research. He was inducted as a Member of The Order of Canada in 2015 and as Fellow of The Royal Society of Canada in 2021.
Charlotte Yong-Hing MD, FRCPC
Charlotte Yong-Hing MD, FRCPC
Charlotte Yong-Hing MD, FRCPC
Dr. Yong-Hing is Co-Vice Chair Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) and Clinical Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia Department of Radiology, and Medical Director of Breast Imaging at BC Cancer Vancouver. She is the BC Radiological Society President and a reviewer for the BC Cancer Breast Screening Program. In addition to tertiary oncologic and breast imaging at BC Cancer Vancouver, she performs breast imaging at two busy Vancouver community imaging clinics. She is passionate about health equity and quality improvement and serves as a Medical Practice Lead for Lower Mainland Medical Imaging and is a member of the Provincial Health Services Authority Physician Quality Improvement faculty. She founded Canadian Radiology Women in 2018 to advocate for improved diversity in Canadian Radiology practices and has led some of the first Canadian Radiology EDI initiatives.