Proton Therapy and Radiation Oncology with Isabelle Choi, MD

In this episode, host Shikha Jain, MD, speaks with Isabelle Choi, MD, about the use of proton therapy in radiation oncology, improving accessibility to radiation technology and more. • Welcome to another exciting episode of Oncology Overdrive :14 • About Choi :27 • The interview 2:00 • Can you tell us about your journey to become a radiation oncologist? 2:18 • What is proton therapy, and how does it work? 4:57 • What types of cancer can receive proton therapy? 7:35 • What do you look for to decide if somebody should or should not get proton therapy? 10:41 • What are ways to improve the overall outcomes in toxicity during cancer care that you have found in your research in proton therapy? 13:49 • Do you feel like there is a challenge in the equity space? How do we address that in this field that is needed in many populations, but is often not able to be delivered due to lack of resources? 17:51 • Have you had challenges with patients not understanding what radiation oncology is? … How do you address that concern or mistrust that patients may bring? 23:46 • Jain and Choi on multidisciplinary communication when it comes to supporting patients 27:33 • Jain and Choi on the challenges of making extra time for patient communication in the setup of the current health care system and physician burnout 31:22 • If someone could only listen to the last minute of this episode, what would you want them to take away? 36:15 • How to contact Choi 37:27 • Thanks for listening 38:00 Isabelle Choi, MD, is the director of research and clinical director at the New York Proton Center. She is a radiation oncology attending in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. We'd love to hear from you! Send your comments/questions to Dr. Jain at oncologyoverdrive@healio.com. Follow us on Twitter @HemOncToday and @ShikhaJainMD. Dr. Choi can be reached at www.nyproton.com or on the Memorial Sloan Kettering website. Disclosures: Choi and Jain report no relevant financial disclosures.