It is time to renew your membership (or join!) MPWB! With help from COMP and the AAPM you can now become a member easily when paying your annual dues! Thank you for your support!

We are extremely pleased to announce the following results from the election results for the upcoming vacant MPWB board positions. 

For President-Elect - Dr. Tomas Kron (2 year term). 

Starting on 2021, he will be replacing Dr. John Schreiner, who will assume his new position of President, and Dr. Yakov Pipman will assume his new position of Past-President in 2021. Dr. Jacob Van Dyk (current Past-President) will be transitioning off the MPWB Board.

For Director of Fundraising - Dr. Eduard Gershkevitsh, Ph.D. (3 year term)

Starting on 2021, he will be replacing Dr. Robert Jeraj (current Director of Fundraising) who will be also transitioning off the MPWB Board.

More news will follow on our transition strategy and the celebration of Drs Van Dyk and Jeraj immense contributions to our organization.

This year we have two open board positions for 2020 and will be holding an online election for full members in good standing (paid dues for 2020). Voting will open on September 2, 2020 and close on September 30, 2020. The nominations committee and board have approved the following two candidates to sit for election for these upcoming vacant positions. 

We are pleased to share information about these outstanding candidates. Members will receive notification for casting their votes.

For President-Elect:  

Tomas Kron, Ph.D.  

Professor and Director, Department of Physical Sciences, Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute, Melbourne, Australia.  

Tomas has had much international involvement with multiple activities especially with the International Organization for Medical Physics (IOMP) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) involving many expert missions, training events and several QUATRO audits. He has also been working in the International Medical Physics Certification Board (IMPCB) since 2013 and chairs the Science Committee for the Asia-Oceania Federation of Organizations for Medical Physics (AFOMP). 

In 2013, he was awarded the Distinguished Services Award of the Australasian College of Physical Scientists and Engineers in Medicine (ACPSEM) and nominated as one of 50 medical physicists by the IOMP who had a significant impact on medical physics in the last 50 years.  

In 2014, he was awarded an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) for services to medicine, research and education. 

His areas of interest include dosimetry of ionising radiation, image guided radiotherapy, clinical trials and education of medical physicists. He has published more than 280 papers in refereed journals and given more than 80 invited conference presentations. 

For Director of Fund Raising:  

Eduard Gershkevitsh, Ph.D.  

Chief Medical Physicist, North Estonia Regional Hospital, Tallinn, Estonia and visiting lecturer at Tallinn Technical University and Tartu HealthCare College.  

Eduard is a member of the European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology (ESTRO) and the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM). From 2011 to 2020 he served on the ESTRO Physics Committee. He has participated as faculty in ESTRO teaching courses and numerous expert missions for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in different continents related to treatment planning system and linac commissioning, QC/QA activities, and national and international audits. From 2015 to 2018, he served on the International Organization for Medical Physics (IOMP) Awards and Honours Committee. 

In 2019, Eduard was a Medical Physics Consultant at the IAEA Standard Dosimetry Laboratory in Seibersdorf, Austria. He has 18 peer-reviewed publications. 

For those able to attend the meeting, thank you! For those who were unable, please see a video recording of one of the meetings to catch up on our activities and hear from our board.

In the last few years, we held our annual membership and information meetings at the Annual Meeting of the AAPM. The original intent was to do the same this year at the joint AAPM/COMP meeting in Vancouver; however, this meeting has become a virtual meeting. As a result, we are following suit with a virtual membership and information meeting planned for 26 August 2020. In view of time zone considerations, we are hosting two meetings, one at 10 am EDT (2:00 pm GMT) and another at 6:00 pm EDT (10:00 pm GMT). You can use the following link to see what time this corresponds to in your time zone: https://greenwichmeantime.com/time- gadgets/time-zone-converter/. Content presented in both meetings will be the same.

See here to register for Session 1 (10:00 am EDT / 2:00 pm GMT) 

See here to register for Session 2 (6:00 pm EDT / 10:00 pm GMT) 

MPWB has been notified by the Riga Technical University in Latvia that a temporary full time Medical Physics position has opened in Riga. Details can be found at  https://www.euraxess.lv/jobs/540205/

The MPWB board expresses solidarity with all affected by systemic injustice and racism and supports the principles of the #BlackLivesMatter movement.

We recognize these recent weeks have been difficult, and we know that they have also been deeply painful for some friends and members of our community. Not all of us can know the depth of this pain, but MPWB can offer support and efforts to work towards change. We share in the outrage, we echo the calls for change, and we underscore our commitment to inclusion and anti-racism.

Our mission is to support activities which will yield effective and safe use of physics and technologies in medicine, especially in low to middle income countries. A core value of MPWB is Equal Access, where all citizens deserve access to effective and safe healthcare irrespective of their gender, religion, race or income. Yet we know that even in developed countries, access to healthcare and justice is not always equal.

Another core value of MPWB is Mutual Respect, where we aim to be sensitive to local circumstances, customs and cultural diversity. Yet we know that even in the communities of developed countries, there remain significant challenges in achieving mutual respect.

To accept the status quo of racism through silence and inaction is to be complicit in its perpetuation. To make changes in our communities, we must make changes in attitudes and be proactive. Each of us can educate ourselves on racism, systemic injustice and the effects they have in healthcare. Through our combined efforts we can make a change.

We recognize we do not have the answers to the challenges we face today. Together we can learn and work to create better paths for improving diversity, inclusion and belonging in our communities. MPWB is here to listen, learn, and affirm our value in mutual respect and equal access to safe healthcare in our communities.

MPWB is hosting a second webinar entitled “International Medical Physics Guidelines for COVID-19.” The Asia-Oceania Federation of Medical Physics (AFOMP) has developed guidelines on Radiation Oncology Operation during COVID-19. These can be found here: http://afomp.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/AFOMP-RT-guideline-COVID-April4.pdf .  The Australasians have also developed guidelines that can be found here: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13246-020-00869-0.

Two main contributors to these reports will present an overview of Medical Physics considerations for dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic: (1) Dr. Xiance Jin, PhD, Chief Physicist and Vice Director, Wenzhou Medical University First Hospital, Wenzhou, China, and (2) Tomas Kron, PhD, Director of Physical Sciences, Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute, Melbourne, Australia. The session will be moderated by Parminder Basran, Director of Communications for MPWB. The time for this webinar will be more friendly towards the eastern world but, of course, everyone is invited to attend:

Date: Wednesday 29 April 2020.

Time: 7:00 am Eastern Daylight time (11:00 am UTC; 1:00 pm Central European time; 2:00 pm Asia Standard time; 4:30 pm India Standard time; 7:00 pm China Standard time; 9:00 pm Australian Eastern Standard time; 4:00 am Pacific Daylight time)

The registration link for the webinar is here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/7910895308807531278

Once registered, an automatic e-mail will be sent from “AAPM Webinar” providing a direct connection to the webinar. Questions can be submitted in advance here: medphyswb@gmail.com or through our social media channels (@medphywb). There will also be an opportunity to post questions during the session.

After registering, you will receive an email with a secure link to the video conference. The session will allow up to 3000 attendees. This will be a live video conference and it will be recorded and accessible on our website. 

Medical Physics for World Benefit (MPWB) (www.mpwb.org) is hosting a webinar entitled “COVID-19-Related Issues: A Medical Physics Perspective from Italy”. The COVID-19 pandemic provides unique challenges for Medical Physicists. This webinar will enable participants to learn from the experience of the Medical Physics Department in Milan, Italy. Specific questions will be addressed and opportunities for further discussion will be provided. Questions can be submitted in advance or at the time of the webinar, which will be hosted with GoToWebinar.

The discussion will be led Antonella del Vecchio from the Department of Medical Physics,San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy and chaired by Parminder Basran, Director of Communications for MPWB.

Date: 15 April 2020

Time: 9:00 am Eastern Time (1:00 pm UTC; 6:00 am in Los Angeles, USA; 3:00 pm in Milan, Italy; 6:30 pm in Mumbai, India; 9:00 pm in Beijing, China; 11:00 pm Sydney, Australia)

The registration link for the webinar is here:https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/6807402349118601230. Once registered, an automatic e-mail will be sent from “AAPM Webinar” providing a direct connection to the webinar.

Questions can be submitted in advance here: medphyswb@gmail.com

As our community faces uncertain challenges with the COVID-19 pandemic, MPWB feels obliged to recognize this and share some important thoughts with our community.

First, it is of paramount importance that you follow directives of your local health authorities. Many jurisdictions are implementing strategies to mitigate the spread of the virus through social distancing and density reduction measures. The World Health Organization has helpful information on the public and health care workers. Please refer to your local and national health authorities for local directives and best practices. As healthcare workers, we have a collective responsibility to the patients and the public we serve.

Second, in a time of crisis it is always helpful to undertake some self-reflection. Many lives are being disrupted with these challenges: daycare closures, workplace changes, and many of you may be feeling the direct impacts of the virus yourselves. These events are occurring at a rapid rate and can be unsettling. We want to assure the MPWB community to ‘Keep Calm and Curie On!’. We encourage you to stay healthy physically and mentally! The US CDC has resources for the latter.

These challenges will certainly impact the medical physics community. Many centers are unable to operate to their capacity, and others have their resources stretched thin. There is evidence that these challenges will persist for several weeks, if not months. This can be particularly frustrating for Medical Physicists who are natural problem solvers. We are particularly concerned over how this pandemic will affect low and middle income countries and their ability to safely deliver patient care. If you have ideas or thoughts on how we might be able to help solve these problems, we encourage you to share them with your local leaders. Please also feel free to use our Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn social- media channels to share your thoughts. If you have thoughts or suggestions on how MPWB might be able to help with this pandemic, please share them through our social media channels or through medphyswb@gmail.com.