AAPM Newsletter November/December 2000 Vol. 25 No. 6

Newsletter AMERICAN ASSOCIATION

OF

PHYSICISTS

IN

VOLUME 25 NO.6

MEDICINE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2000

AAPM President’s Column A Meaningful Year for the AAPM

by Kenneth Hogstrom Houston, TX As we approach the conclusion of 2000, I am pleased to report that the AAPM continues to function effectively and to remain financially strong. This has been a busy year, and we have concentrated on a number of issues and initiatives that have been enumerated in my columns throughout the year.

Through these, the AAPM continues to support the scientific, educational, and professional needs of its constituents, the medical physicist, in an outstanding manner. As in previous columns, this one will highlight a number of recently completed and ongoing actions of interest. This will be my final column as President, so before that portion, I will take time to acknowledge many individuals and groups.

Acknowledgements First, I thank AAPM members for entrusting me with leadership of our association for 2000. It has been an honor and pleasure to have served such a fine organization. Over two years ago, when asked to be a candidate, I was told by members of the Nominating

Committee and one of my mentors, Peter Almond, that if elected the experience would be rewarding and open new doors. I have not been disappointed. I have met a number of new people, have become acquainted with many organizations, and have gotten to know AAPM leadership significantly better. As a result, I feel the door has been opened to continue to serve medical physics in an even more effective manner in the future, and that is the door most meaningful.

Next, I thank my local colleagues for their support during my tour through Executive Committee (EXCOM), particularly this past year as President.

I acknowledge The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center for its providing me with my time and the necessary support to perform this

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job effectively. I am particularly grateful to my executive assistant, Gwen Lewis, and other members of the departmental office staff that worked hard to ensure my fulfilling my obligations. Also, I thank the medical physics faculty and support staff of the Department of Radiation Physics for picking up the slack that serving as President created. Also, I owe particular thanks to Ed Jackson for his administering our graduate medical physics program during my term. I am deeply appreciative of my family, wife Janet, daughter Eliza-

INSIDE TABLE OF CONTENTS President’s Column........p.1 Employment Guielines..p.5 Executive Dir. Col..........p.6 ACR Appointee...............p.7 Media Initiative-AIP.......p.8 History Committee.........p.9 ABR Oral Exam Change..p.10 So. Cal. Chapter News..p.10 Letters to Editor.............p.11 Announcements...........p.15 Swan Song....................p.16

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beth, and son Michael, who have provided me support and perspective.

Janet is a Methodist minister, and I treasured those Sundays spent with her when I was between my travels.

I am also indebted to my professional colleagues for their wise counsel and support during my term. Council, committee, subcommittee, and task group chairs and their members have been responsive to the needs of the association when asked. I thank those who have served as liaisons to societies and agencies of importance to medical physics. I also recognize the individuals of our association, who by being members, by contributing to the Medical Physics journal, by contacting their congressmen, by attending and participating in AAPM events, by nominating members for awards, by completing salary and other surveys, and by numerous other activities participate in and contribute to our fine association.

Lastly, I want to thank those with whom I have worked the closest during the past year, EXCOM and Headquarters staff. Your honesty, enthusiasm, dependability, and wisdom have made my job more efficient and effective. As a golfer, I can say this past year has been like being on the Ryder Cup team with you as teammates. Again, I express my deepest gratitude, and in 2001, I look forward to serving as your Chairman of the Board of Directors. I also look forward to supporting our incoming President, Charles Coffey, II, and President-elect, Bob Gould.

Committees Finish Strong Many medical physicists have just attended the ASTRO Annual Meeting, and many are preparing to attend the RSNA Annual Meeting. These are important times as we interact with our physician colleagues.

Also, these meetings host the final committee meetings of the year, and it is important to make the most of them as possible. Communications of each committee’s progress is important; therefore, I ask each committee chair to take time to prepare a detailed report of activities to your parent committees, and when appropriate, to our Board of Directors and Newsletter. I want to thank 2000 committee chairs and members for their service this year. For those committee chairs who will be rotating at the end of the year, I ask you to provide your successor with key information such as your committee’s charge, status of ongoing projects, 2001 budget request, and minutes of your meetings for the past two years.

Headquarters Staff On behalf of the membership, I thank headquarters staff for their outstanding support of our association for the past year, which is key to the quality operations of the AAPM. I ask all members to join me in welcoming our newest staff member, Government Affairs Liaison, Angela Furcron.

Also, I would like to share with you that M. D. Anderson hosted the Fall meeting of the Budget Subcommittee, which plans the 2001 budget. Execu-

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tive Director, Sal Trofi, and Deputy Executive Director, Angela Keyser, came a day early to tour our therapy and imaging medical physics operations, giving them a chance for continuing education on the daily responsibilities and working environment of the medical physicist.

CAMPEP The Commission on Accreditation of Medical Physics Education Program (CAMPEP) continues to serve our profession well. AAPM is one of four sponsoring societies of CAMPEP, and our representatives are Bhudatt Paliwal and Chuck Kelsey. Bhudatt has s e rv e d a s p re s id e n t o f CAMPEP and chair of its board of directors since its inception in 1995, and has been instrumental in its success. His second term ends this year, and President-elect Charles Coffey, II, will be appointing his replacement. I want to express the AAPM’s appreciation to Bhudatt for his outstanding service to medical physics through this appointment. Also, I am pleased to see our number of accredited medical physics residency education programs growing; there are now four accredited programs in radiation oncology physics, with others under review.

National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Engineering The AAPM continues to actively support legislation for the formation of a National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Engineering (NIBIE) at the National Institutes of

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Health (NIH). Special thanks to members, who assisted by contacting their congressional representatives. Your participation assisted the passage of H.R. 1795 on September 14.

The bill then went to the Senate, where at the time of my writing, it awaits action. Upon the request of Phil Judy, AAPM representative to the Academy for Radiological Research (ARR), I sent letters of AAPM support to Senators Frist and Kennedy. Also, one of our AIP Governing Board representatives, Chris Marshall, garnered the support of the American Institute of Physics (AIP) Gover ning Board, which I understand resulted in letters in support of NIBIE being sent to Senators.

Trilateral Committee The Trilateral Committee consists of representatives of the AAPM, ACMP, and ACR CMP. The Committee meets three times each year, and its purpose is to coordinate efforts in support of medical physics by the three societies.

As many of the matters are professional in nature, our representatives are the President, President-elect, and Chair of Professional Council.

As an example of ongoing efforts, the AAPM (Mike Mills and Ned Sternick) and ACMP (Rene Smith) are working together to update the Abt study for radiation oncology physics. Rapid data is needed to educate HCFA on HOPPS related actions. It was decided that in lieu of including nonradiation therapy medical physics clinical tasks and activities into the Abt study, that the ACR CMP would conduct

that survey. Chuck Kelsey has circulated a draft survey to AAPM and ACMP for comment. As another example, concern over NRC ACMUI representation has resulted in a coordinated response for medical physicist nominees (see below). There are other opportunities currently in need of trilateral coordination. For example, there remain the ongoing efforts to support state licensure. Also, there remain opportunities for achieving board certification requirements for medical physics residency training and for establishing roles of our organizations in setting standards for accreditation of medical physics practices. These and a variety of other issues emphasize the need for coordinated efforts amongst our medical physics organizations.

The AAPM will continue to utilize the Trilateral Committee as a vehicle to coordinate its medical physics activities with the ACMP and ACR.

National Regulatory Commission An important appointment for medical physics is appointment to the Advisory Committee on the Medical Uses of Isotopes (ACMUI) of the U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Louis Wagner will be rotating off the ACMUI after two three-year terms of service, and qualified medical physicists with expertise in nuclear byproduct material were sought as nominees for his replacement. Upon the recommendation of our Legislation and Regulation Committee, we have nominated two candidates, James Carey and

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Ralph Lieto. These two were also nominated by the ACR CMP and the ACMP in a coordinated Trilateral Committee effort.

Licensure of Medical Physicists Licensure remains an active goal of medical physicists.

Presently, Texas, Florida, and Hawaii require licensure of medical physicists. Our most important short term goal is to achieve licensure for medical physicists in New York. Following approval by our Board of Directors, the AAPM provided $10,000 to further assist licensure efforts in New York, where a bill establishing licensure for medical physicists awaits the Governor’s signature. Also, I wrote a letter of support to Governor Pataki on behalf of the AAPM shortly after this summer’s Annual Meeting.

American College of Radiology I recently attended the 77th Annual Meeting of the American College of Radiology (ACR), held in New York.

New ACR appointments were announced at this meeting. As you recall, the AAPM Board of Directors recommended three candidates for replacing Don Tolbert as Chair, ACR Commission of Physics (CMP). The ACR CMP recommended a fourth candidate, Rick Morin, which was supported by the AAPM Executive Committee.

Rick was announced as the new Chair. Geof f Ibbott replaces Rick as Chair of the Committee on Government and Public Relations. Other new appointments included

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Nick Detorie, Chair of the Committee on Standards and Accreditation, Russell Ritenour, Chair of Committee on Education, and C h u c k Kelsey, Chair of Committee on Human Resources. Congratulations to Michael Gillin, Shirish Jani, Melissa Martin, David Vassy, Jr., and Jeff Williamson for becoming ACR Fellows. The ACR Council discussed and approved multiple action items, many involving medical physicists, and I leave the reporting of those to our ACR Councilor, Gary Barnes.

American Board of Radiology The process of selecting nominees for replacement of Guy Simmons as American Board of Radiology (ABR) Trustee for Radiological Physics (Nuclear Medicine) was recently completed. The AAPM Board of Directors selected two nominees, and the ACMP selected one nominee at the request of the AAPM Board of Directors. The three individuals nominated are Don Frey, Ed Nickoloff, and Steve Thomas. We expect one the ABR to select one of these to replace Guy effective July, 2001.

Medical Dosimetry Certification Board The Medical Dosimetry Certification Board (MDCB) has recently completed a draft document entitled, “Statement on the Scope and Standards of Medical Dosimetry Practice.”

The document is “designed to provide a statement of basic competence in medical dosimetry practice; define the practice of medical dosimetry in clear, measurable terms; and provide a useful guide for medical dosimetrists and others in evaluating the quality, effectiveness, and appropriateness of health care services provided.” The close working relationship between medical physicists and medical dosimetrists necessitates that the AAPM carefully review the document and provide its feedback to the MDCB. Medical physicists have expressed concern over parts of the document that are inconsistent with the duties of the medical physicist. Our feedback is being coordinated by the Board of Directors with input from the Training of Technologists Committee.

Orientation Process EXCOM is in the process of developing orientation programs for AAPM leadership.

The aim of the first program will be to educate incoming elected officers on headquarters operations, budgets, strategic plans, related societies, methods of communications, etc. The aim of the second program will be to educate incoming committee and subcommittee chairs on their responsibilities, budgets, strategic plans, methods of communications, etc. We hope that this coupled with new on-line capabilities will strengthen our committee

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operations and both inter- and intra-committee communications. We are working to release these programs in 2001.

Ad-hoc Committees As mentioned in my previous two columns, three ad-hoc committees remain active.

The “AAPM Annual Meeting Organization Committee,” chaired by Melissa Martin, had its first meeting on September 9. There was constructive discussion of organization (concept of an Annual Meeting Council was presented), program composition, and meeting logistics. The “AAPM Participation in the RSNA Annual Meeting Committee,” co-chaired by Steve Thomas and Robert Gould, had its first meeting on July 23. It discussed a number of issues regarding physics presence, attendance, meeting logistics, e t c ., a nd m e m be r s we r e charged with gathering additional information prior to their next meeting. The “Formation of Professional Society for Radiotherapy Accelerator Maintenance Personnel Comm it t e e ,” c ha ire d b y J i m Galvin continues to follow-up on actions specified at its meeting just before the World Congress. I expect each of these ad hoc committees to report considerable progress at our Board meeting during the RSNA annual meeting in Chicago.

Happy Holidays! !

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AAPM Endorses Guidelines for Professional Employment for Professional Engineers and Scientists

by Arnold Feldman Peoria, IL The AAPM, by Board action, has agreed to be one of at least 27 Endorsing Societies for “Guidelines to Professional Employment for Engineers and Scientists”, Fourth Edition.

This document is sponsored by the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE).

The Fourth edition is in basically final draft form. It is not significantly different from the Third edition, which was published in 1989. The Fourth edition is not yet available, but the Third edition can be obtained at www.nspe.org (Click on “Employment”).

By following the NSPE Guidelines it should be possible to avoid employment problems. Medical physicists should be employed on the basis of a Working Agreement or an Employment Contract which adheres to as many of the NSPE Guidelines as possible. To accept employment with no such agreement or only a vague statement is to expose oneself to serious risks.

Some of the highlights and subjects covered are as follows: The Foreward reads as follows:

“The following Guidelines were originally developed, and recently modified, for use by employers in evaluating their own practices, by professional employees in evaluating their own resposibilities and those of their employers, and by new graduates and other employment seekers in evaluating their prospective employment posture. They are intended to promote a satisfactory employer-employee working relationship....”

(There is more, but this expresses the purpose of the Guidelines).

Under OBJECTIVES the reference is to Engineering as a profession, but it is clear that there was no intention to exclude professionally employed scientists.

There is a section of RECRUITMENT, dealing with the obligations of both the prospective employee and the employer.

There is a section on EMPLOYMENT, setting out the desirable terms of employment, both from the standpoint of employee and employer.

A section on PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT set out guidelines for both employeeand employer.

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A section on TERMINATION sets out guidelines for both employee and employer.

There is some overlap between the AAPM “Guidelines for Ethical Practice for Medical Physicists” (See AAPM Membership Directory) and this document (the NSPE Guidelines), but the NSPE Guidelines emphasizes issues of employment and cover many things that are not in the AAPM Guidelines. !

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Executive Director’s Column

By Sal Trofi College Park, MD Fellowships and Residencies The mailing accompanying this newsletter contains applications for a sponsored Fellowship, Imaging Residency, and two Radiation Oncology Clinical Residencies. Applications must be received at AAPM Headquarters by February 1, 2001.

The AAPM/RSNA Fellowship is offered to individuals and is a 2-Year Pre-Doctoral Study in Medical Physics that will begin on July 1, 2001. Graduate study must be undertaken in a Medical Physics Doctoral Degree program accredited by CAMPEP. The amount of the award will be $18,000 per year for two years. This fellowship is funded through the AAPM Education Endowment Fund.

The AAPM Imaging Residency is offered to institutions to sponsor a clinical residency.

This is a two-year grant to support a Clinical Residency in Imaging. The residency program must be accredited by CAMPEP, or have applied for CAMPEP accreditation by the end of the second year of funding. The amount of the award will be $18,000 per year for two years. This residency is funded through the AAPM Education Endowment Fund.

The Varian Oncology Systems Clinical Residencies are offered to institutions to sponsor two, Two-Year Clinical Residencies in Radiation Oncology. The residency pro-

grams must be accredited by CAMPEP, or have applied for CAMPEP accreditation by the end of the second year of funding. Varian Associates fund these residencies and have been doing so since 1993.

AAPM Website An Organizational Tree Structure has been added to the AAPM website. For every council, committee, subcommittee, and task group, a dynamically built web page now exists that provides: the committee charge (if one is known), the membership of the group with their appointment dates, links to committee member contact information in the membership database, and where that group exists in the AAPM organizational tree.

Future enhancements will have: links to other information that the committee will provide and maintain, and the ability for a committee member to reach all other committee members via email with one click.

Headquarters staff has completed its conversion of AAPM Reports and they are now available for FREE download for members. Log onto http://www.aapm.org/pubs/re ports/ to browse the list of all available reports, or search for keywords using the search tool.

Headquarters Office Space On September 5, Headquarters office staff moved into

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temporary space provided by the American Institute of Physics (AIP) and the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT). The staff was able to get up and running again with only one day of downtime. Completion of the permanent space is scheduled for the end of December 2000.

The lease on the new space will have a initial term of ten years and allow for two five year renewal options. There are currently 16 staff members, and the new space will accommodate 22 or 24 if we give up a small conference room.

There is an escape clause in the lease if the space becomes inadequate to accommodate future staff.

Other News The financial results for this year will once again be positive. This is good news when one considers that the budget was prepared with a deficit due to the World Congress being held this year. The extent of the surplus depends on expenditures through the end of the year. More Dues, Placement Bulletin, and Medical Physics Journal revenue,

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combined with less expense for Committees and Headquarters Operations account for most of the improvement over budget.

Staff News I am glad to announce that we have hired a government relations specialist. Her name is Angela Furcron. Mike Gillin, Professional Council Chair, and Jim Deye, former Professional Council Chair, participated in the interview process.

Angela has a Bachelor of Psychology degree from Edinboro University of PA, with a minor in Speech Communica-

tions. From there she went to West Virginia University where she earned a Masters of Public Administration degree, with certificates in Health Care Administration and Gerontology.

For the last six years, Angela worked for the American Dental Association (ADA) in Washington DC. Her position with ADA was Manager of Legislative and Regulatory Research.

Angela’s work background fit very well with our needs.

Closing Remarks The office will be open all regularly scheduled workdays

Richard Morin Appointed Chair of ACR Commission on Physics Richard Morin, of the Mayo Clinic Jacksonville, has been appointed the new chairman of the ACR Commission on Physics. He succeeds Don Tolbert of Hawaii.

Morin was also recently appointed to the BrooksHollern Professorship at the Mayo Clinic. He has been a full professor at Mayo since 1993, and was lauded in particular for the development of the automated radiology practice on the Jacksonville campus. !

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during the holiday season, but will be closed on Monday and Tuesday, December 25-26, 2000 and Monday, January 1, 2001. Some staff will take vacation days during the holiday season, but sufficient help will be available to service your needs.

This is my last column for the 2000 year. I want to take this opportunity, speaking for all the staff, to wish you and your loved ones a happy and healthy holiday season. !

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Media Initiatives of the American Institute of Physics

by Chris Marshall AIP Representative New York, NY As a Member Society of the AIP, the AAPM has an interest in the many services and programs of the Institute. Many of these directly and indirectly benefit the AAPM at little or no cost to the AAPM. Under the leadership of Marc Brodsky, Executive Director and CEO of the AIP, and Jim Stith, Director of its Physics Resources Center (formerly Physics Programs Division), and with the encouragement of its Governing Board, and the members of member societies who serve on AIP advisory committees, the AIP has been reexamining its programs in order to better serve its member societies and the broader physics community.

I solicited the following article to bring AAPM members up to date on some of the recent activities of the Media & Government Relations Division of the Physics Resources Center which are of particular interest to the AAPM. In July 1999, the American Institute of Physics instituted “Inside Science News Service,” a news service intended to publicize the scientific research and science policy issues related to AIP and its Member Societies.

Under the leadership of Alicia Torres, director of AIP’s Media & Government Relations Division, “Inside Science News Service” issues press releases on various research

and policy topics, with the goal of getting more science coverage into the mix of mainstream media. In early 2000, AIP began issuing a syndicated TV program called “Discoveries and Breakthroughs: Inside Science Television,” consisting of a dozen 90-second pieces each month illustrating the contributions of science and scientists to the general public.

With these two initiatives, the AIP Media Team happily finds itself covering an increasing number of medical physics topics. Many of the Discoveries and Breakthoughs TV pieces issued each month deal with applications of physics to medicine.

For example, an October 2000 piece deals with a “HARP MRI” method to track the movement of heart muscle. Another recent piece described a xenon computed tomography method for assessing damage to the brain after a stroke.

Another piece, for July 2000, describes the development of a laser for liquefying blood clots while minimizing damage to surrounding tissue.

In connection with the World Congress on Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, the Media Team wrote a news release on a big subject at the meeting, namely, intensity modification radiation therapy (IMRT), the technique for delivering higher radiation levels to targeted areas while

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issuing lower doses to surrounding areas. The release is posted at http://www.aip.org/releases/2000/release05.html The release received interest from ABCnews.com, as well as being posted on Cancerpage.com http://www.cancerpage.com/cancernews/cancer news1355.htm.

A reporter with Medical Imaging magazine also contacted us for further information on the topic.

In addition, AIP produced a 100-second news piece on IMRT for the Discoveries and Breakthroughs program. The piece was sent to the stations at the 40+ national markets that subscribe to the Discoveries and Breakthroughs program. Apparently the program was popular, as the Washington University School of Medicine (featured in the piece) received numerous calls out of state after the piece aired!

AAPM members Mary Fox and Eric Klein (one of the researchers featured in the piece) helped provide the initial tip about IMRT. Through the efforts of Mary and others who supplied information to her, the Media Team learned a lot about the meeting, and they hope to continue their coverage of AAPM meetings in the future.

In response to news stories about the possible danger of a radiation leak from the “Kursk” Russian submarine, the AIP media team issued an “Inside Science News Service” release

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describing how nuclear subs are designed to prevent radiation leakage, even if the hull is breached (as it was on the Kursk). The story received coverage by United Press International, was the top story at UniSci.com, was covered in the local Rochester, NY paper as well. AAPM member Andrew Karam was the expert

whom AIP consulted in that release, which can be found at http://www.aip.org/releases/2000/release11.htm The AIP Media Team welcomes additional tips about upcoming medical physics papers in journals and at meetings. The Media Team seek topics that contain new results or developments of

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broad interest to the general public; please feel free to send recommendations to Rory McGee of AIP (rmcgee@aip.org). !

Recommendation to Members to Save Radiation Instruments

By John Laughlin Apparatus Museum Subcommittee Chair New York, NY The History Committee has designated an Apparatus Museum Subcommittee to find a way to show and use formerly important radiation physics instruments. These items of apparatus have been designed and constructed by many different physicists in former years to carry out measurements with different radiations, as well as enabling specific treatment and diagnostic procedures. These instruments are part of our scientific history and their operation demonstrates specific physical principles.

Presentation of some of these instruments, preferably in operational format and exhibited for close observation, as in a “hands-on� laboratory or museum, can aid the instruction of student physicists in aspects of our field.

Through recommendations in this announcement, the History Committee hopes to gain the cooperation of our colleagues in the AAPM for the following endeavors: 1. That we should take note in our different institutions of the existence of instruments which are no longer used, but whose design and operation have been valuable and instructive.

2. Descriptions of such apparatus, including specifics of their design, function and quantitative performance, should be formulated and a copy provided to our Subcommittee. This information would be collected and compiled in a list generally available and could be useful in considering possible additions for a local institutional museum.

3. Local institutions should be encouraged to consider mounting an exhibit of pertinent apparatis in an available room, or on the wall of a room for this purpose, with preparation of a list with specific technical information.

An example of an institutional museum is the one established by Larry Lanzl in the Medical Physics Department at the Rush-Presbyterian Hospiial in Chicago. Larry has produced a pamphlet that identifies each item and its function.

Members of the Apparatus Museum Subcommittee will be pleased to respond to any questions.

Committee members are John Laughlin, Subcommittee Chair, Arnold Feldman, Priscilla Butler, Paul Goodwin and Frances Harshaw. Jerome Dare is History Committee Chair. !

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ABR Oral Exam Changes The ABR oral examination for physicists is migrating to a completely computer workstation-based format. To accomplish this migration, new oral examination questions are needed that take advantage of the benefits of computer presentation. An immediate need is many new questions for the ABR oral physics exam to be held next May. Physicists can help meet this need by suggesting new questions for consideration for the May exam. Each suggested new question should be accompanied by one or more images or

illustrations to take full advantage of the workstation format of the oral exam.

Representative computerbased questions (without images) asked on last May’s physics oral exam are available on the ABR website (theabr.org/physics.htm). You might look at these questions as a guide to composing your own. Questions should be succinct and unambivalent, and all accompanying visuals should be clear and relevant.

Please submit your questions and visuals to the following individuals electronically or by

mail: Diagnostic Radiologic Physics / Bill Hendee: whendee@mcw.edu Medical Nuclear Physics / Guy Simmons: ghsimmons@earthlink.net Therapeutic Radiologic Physics / Bhudatt Paliwal: paliwal@humonc.wisc.edu We appreciate your help very much, and your willingness to contribute to further improvements in the ABR examination for medical physicists. !

Southern California Chapter News The following people have won the Norman Baily Award for outstanding Medical Physics Graduate Student Research: Christopher Cagnon, UCLA Department of Radiological Sciences, Department of Biomedical Physics for “Simulation of the Physics and Geometry of X-Ray CT Using Monte Carlo Methods: Application to Electron Beam CT Modeling” Advisors: John DeMarco, M McNitt-Gray Nzhde Agazaryan, UCLA, Dept. of Radiological Sciences, Dept of Radiation Oncology for “Dynamic Multileaf Collimation and Three Dimensional Verification in IMRT” Advisor: Timothy Solberg

Holdsworth UCLA Dept. of Radiological Sciences, Dept of Biomedical Physics for “Per formance Analysis of an Improved Accelerated Monte Carlo PET Simulation and Portable 3-D PET Scatter Correction” Advisors: Magnus E.J. Hoffman

Pictured from left to right: Christopher Cagnon, Marianne Plunkett, AAPM-SCC Education Committee Chair, Nzhde Agazaryan, Clay Holdsworth Dahlbom,

The May 11, 2000 Chapter meeting was held at the Olympic Resort in Carlsbad, CA. The UCLA graduate students presented summaries of their work to the captivated

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SoCal chapter members.

Chapter Elect President John Belotti congratulated outgoing President Steve Goetsch for all of his hard work during his tenure. Marianne Plunkett presented the awards and checks to the students. !

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Letters to the Editor Dixon Strikes Again

by Howard Amols New York, NY The most recent issue of the Newsletter printed a full page cartoon penned by a John Dixon which depicts an evil ACMP wolf pulling the strings of a Pinocchio styled AAPM puppet. While the stylistic merits of the artist were clearly obvious (indeed, I wish I could draw that well), publication of such material is most inappropriate for the following reasons: 1. John Dixon is not a member of the AAPM, and his opinions on the relationship between the AAPM and the ACMP are irrelevant.

2. A full page in the Newsletter costs bucks, and this was not a justifiable expenditure of AAPM funds.

3. The cartoon was clearly editorial in nature rather than factual, but was not labeled as such.

4. The cartoon is insulting to the many AAPM members who have also worked hard on ACMP affairs.

This is not the first time, or even the second time that Bob Dixon has used his privileged position as editor of the Newsletter to express his personal, usually negative opinions about the ACMP and the ABMP. Bob has also, either intentionally, or perhaps unknowingly not made clear whether these negative comments (such as this months’

cartoon) represent official AAPM policy, or merely his own opinions. I do not object to an editor publishing an editorial from time to time, even a sarcastic one. Lord knows, I have also used sarcasm on more then one occasion in this Newsletter. But editorials and opinions, sarcastic or otherwise should be clearly labeled as such, so as not to give the false impression that they are official AAPM policy (for the record, and this months’ cartoon not withstanding, AAPM and ACMP officially have a positive and mutually beneficial working relationship).

Many of us remember previous ‘Dixonisms’ such as the ‘wrath of Khan’ and the ‘Chinese fortune cookie’ which in the first instance belittled one of our organizations most esteemed members, and in the second insulted at least 20% of our membership who have Chinese heritage, plus anyone else with good taste. Indeed, after these previous transgressions the AAPM Board and PubCom created an editorial review board for this Newsletter which is supposed to prevent occurrences such as this.

Hey guys— were you out to lunch on this one, or are you just not doing your job?

To make matters even worse, this editorial cartoon was supposedly intended to reinforce the contents of an accompanying letter from Don

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Tolbert entitled ‘Medical Physics: A Question of Leadership’, wherein Don also presented some debatable comments about the relationship between the AAPM and the ACMP. While I also disagree with many of the opinions e xp re s s e d i n D o n Tolberts letter, he (and all other MEMBERS of the AAPM) have the right to express such opinions, and I actually applaud Don for doing so. I’m sure his letter will generate much debate on an important topic, and I will leave it to the proper ACMP officials to rebut the statements that he made.

Bob Dixons’ biased editorializing and publication of his family’s artwork, however, is another matter. I realize that Bob is stepping down this year as editor and there may be little point in chastising him at this time. But I would strongly urge the AAPM Board and the PubCom to take his impending ‘retirement’ as an opportunity to set new rules and new safeguards to insure the future integrity of our Newsletter, so that it is used exclusively for the publication of facts, and MEMBERS opinions. If future editors wish to express their personal opinions they should also be free to do so, but their opinions should be clearly labeled as such, and he/she should not be allowed to abuse their privileges as editor, nor should they be allowed to imply that their opinions represent official AAPM policy; as Bob has done on too many occasions.

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As for Bob Dixon— I think it is most unfortunate that his otherwise much appreciated hard work on the Newsletter

has been marred by a number of ‘cheap shots’ and editorial transgressions. But in any case, please enjoy your ‘retire-

ment’ and feel free to post your family’s artwork on the door of your refrigerator where it belongs! !

Cartoon

by Robert Zamenhof Boston, MA I, for one, found Don Tolbert’s piece in the Newsletter a totally reasonable expression of a point of view and Bob Dixon’s son’s cartoon (he’s really talented) not in the least inappropriate. As the editor of the Newsletter, Bob just expressed in cartoon form what Don seemed to be com-

plaining about in narrative form (although adding “Professional Council” to the title on Pinocchio’s book might have been a little safer). I don’t see how anyone could be miffed at either of these two “expressions of opinion” since neither was in the least bit insulting on a personal level, pornographic, violent, or irrelevant to the issue at

Editorial Board Disavows Cartoon

by Benjamin Archer Bruce Curran Donald Frey John Kent Richard Morin Alfred Smith The most recent issue of the AAPM Newsletter contained a cartoon that was inserted by the editor without consulting the editorial board. Newsletter policy requires that the editor-

ial board review controversial material and does not allow the publication of unattributed material.

The newsletter editorial board wishes to state that we would not have recommended the publication of the cartoon because we believe that it was not appropriate for the newsletter. !

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hand—and the cartoon was just a humorous and friendly “jab” at the AAPM. On the other hand, I do think it was inappropriate for the AAPM to attempt to suggest otherwise and to get all huffed-up and waste the time of its members with expressions of outrage and disavowal of responsibility. Sometimes “PC” can go overboard! !

AAPM NEWSLETTER

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2000

Shoot the Messenger

by Bob Dixon, Editor Winston-Salem, NC It is interesting to note that Howard Amols’ letter and EXCOM’S e-mail cannonade were directed at the messenger (me), but do not attempt to refute the message in my cartoon. In fact they add credence to the message, since some strings were clearly pulled to elicit such a response. Perhaps the AAPM Newsletter is not quite ready for the time-honored medium of the political cartoon (always provocative and somewhat exaggerated), but then again I don’t think we want our newsletter to be like the old Soviet newspaper Pravda in which the content was tightly controlled by the Politburo. This analogy is really not too far from reality, since certain topics have apparently been declared off limits and people are actually afraid to speak out about them. A typical reprisal to those who do so is to label their material offensive, inflammatory, or divisive; or, that they will adversely affect some secret negotiations that may be going on. I believe that it is time to put things out on the table and let the membership in on what is happening.

Please join me for one more flight over the no-fly zone, while I ask some questions and explain my perspective.

It is pretty clear to me (and I am not alone in this opinion) that the ACMP has achieved by design, and is exercising, what I believe to be an inappr opriate amount of political influ-

ence over the AAPM. The original reason stated for the formation of the ACMP was to have a separate organization to advance the professional interests of the medical physicist. The ACMP has, however, never been able to attract sufficient membership or gather sufficient resources to accomplish much for medical physics in the professional arena that I can recollect.

Now I am willing to be proved wrong in this premise but, being an experimentalist, I respect only hard data. I therefore challenge the three members of the tri-lateral committee (AAPM Professional Council, ACR Commission on Physics, and the ACMP) to each state their five most important achievements for medical physicists in the professional arena in the past 10 years: publish them in the newsletter; and let the membership decide who has accomplished the most for them. The record of the ACMP would, of course, be of no concern, if the ACMP had just continued to independently do its own thing; however, the ACMP has tried to undermine AAPM’s relationship with the ABR to the benefit of its own certifying board, and has attempted to do so by increasing its political influence within the AAPM. This has been evident since 1991 when I was AAPM president and blatant attempts to stack the board meeting with proxy votes for AAPM sponsorship of the ABMP (at the expense of our

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ABR sponsorship) were made.

I will list some recent events which have reinforced my concerns and which prompted my cartoon message.

1. It was recently announced that the ACMP would be allowed to nominate one of the three AAPM Trustee candidates to the ABR. There was no explanation of why this was being done. Did we get any concession from the ACMP concerning combining the two boards? I wonder how the ABR feels about this?

Why didn’t the third arm of the Tri-lateral Committee, the ACR Commission on Physics, get a similar opportunity to nominate one of the trustees? It seems to be a bi-lateral arrangement. It was interesting to me as well that the last set of AAPM nominees to the ABR presented by our board of directors (save one who withdrew) had strong affiliation with, and were big supporters of, the ABMP; yet they w e re s udde nly e a g e r to become an ABR trustee. As you see, I have lots of questions.

2. Recent announcement that: AAPM should continue to coordinate professional activities with the ACMP through having “staff cooperation” and overlapping membership at the committee level. In a similar vein, it was also announced that there was the need for drafting a policy to allow AAPM headquarters resources to be used by “other organizations” so long as the action is revenue neutral and

AAPM NEWSLETTER

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2000

for the benefit of medical physics. How can outside use of our staff be “revenue-neutral” I wonder? Perhaps the ACMP has realized that it needs to utilize the resources of the AAPM to make any significant progress in the professional arena. But why do they need to do it as a separate organization with cooperation on the committee level? They are all AAPM members, so why not just work within AAPM as AAPM members?

3. AAPM will purchase CD’s

from the ACMP to distribute to every AAPM member which will contain all issues of the ACMP on-line journal JACMP. This appears to be directed at subsidizing and promoting the journal of another society.

How much did this cost AAPM? Do we get the CD’s at the cost of production? Did you want one?

This may all sound like conspiracy theory, but believe me, you can take it to the bank!

Perhaps we will get some answers to the above ques-

tions, and maybe the rank and file membership will wake up and retake control of the AAPM. (Then again, maybe not, and it will be off to the Gulag with me.) As members you should hold your board representative accountable, question their votes, and let them know how you feel about the issues. If you don’t, then someone else will be glad to influence their vote. !

End of an Era Fellow AAPM members,

by Peter Biggs Publishing Committee Chair Boston This is the last issue of the Newsletter with Bob Dixon as Editor. As of January 1, Allan deGuzman, from the Radiation Oncology Department of Wake Forest University Medical Center in North Carolina will become the new Editor.

This has been a momentous six years for the Newsletter during which many changes have taken place. Certainly all AAPM members are well aware of the controversies that have accompanied Bob’s tenure, even as recently as the last issue; but all would certainly agree that over the past six years the quality of the Newsletter has improved

tremendously, both in style and content. At the very least, one can say that Bob has stimulated discussion on topics that are important for the future of the medical physics profession in these difficult fiscal times. I suspect even that AAPM members are more likely to read the Newsletter now compared with six years ago because of these controversial issues, at least judging by the amount of e-mail I receive!

When I first became chairman of PUBCOM, the Newsletter failed to appear for many months, had less content and was not as attractive in appearance. Since then we have come to expect a Newsletter that is published on time, contains more material and is very well produced, indeed, one in which the society can take great pride. Credit for this transformation of the Newslet-

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ter belongs equally to Marsha and Bob Dixon and I should like to take this opportunity to thank them both publicly for their dedicated service to the Newsletter.

At the same time, let us not forget the ef forts of the Newsletter editorial board (Ben Archer, Bruce Curran, Don Frey, John Kent, Richard Morin and Al Smith). Thanks are due to them for weighing in, when necessary, to help produce a balanced publication. !

AAPM NEWSLETTER

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2000

ANNOUNCEMENTS June 19-23, 2000

June 2- 7, 2001

Concepts of Magnetic Resonance Kiawah Island, SC

18th Annual ACMP Meeting Hershey, PA This year the Annual Meeting and Workshops will be combined into a single venue, with a single registration fee, emphasizing material for the practicing clinical medical physicist.

The therapy program June 45, Practical Considerations for Establishing and Maintaining a Clinical IMR T Program, chaired by Stan Benedict and Tim Solberg, will emphasize: IMRT Planning and Delivery systems; Acceptance testing and commissioning of IMRT systems; Machine and patientspecific quality assurance procedures; Patient localization and positioning considerations; IMRT record and verify; Billing; and Manpower and resource planning.

The parallel imaging program, Digital and Direct-toDigital Radiography Systems, chaired by Walter Huda and Ed Nickoloff, will be devoted to practical aspects of state of

the art digital imaging, emphasizing: Computed radiography; Flat panel detectors; Digital mammography; Hard copy and soft copy image displays; Image processing; Acceptance testing and quality control tests of digital equipment; and Integration of DR/CR into PACS. The Mammography Symposium, satisfying MQSA requirements for continuing education for medical physicists, will be held June 6th.

The Professional Symposium June 6-7, chaired by Mike Herman, will include sessions on Credentialling for Medical Physicists, Accreditation of Medical Physics Education Programs and Billing and Associated Costs of Providing Medical Physics services.

For more details see the ACMP Web Site: www.acmp.org !

Errata

Look Up this Link

In my NCRP Annual Meeting Report in the July/August 2000 Newsletter, there is an error on page 6, column 2, line 35 as follows: The figure 0.4% should be changed to 100%. – E. W. Webster

The AIP has just launched an excellent historical piece on Marie Curie at http://www.aip.org/history/cu rie/ .

Chris Marshall New York, NY

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This course, presented by the Departments of Radiology at Duke University and Stanford University Medical Centers, is designed to give the physician, physicist, engineer and technologist a fundamental understanding of the technology of medical resonance imaging. It will review basic principles of MR, and will update the latest techniques in clinical application, including high-speed imaging, cardiac imaging, and angiography.

The physics and technology of each topic are explored and then illustrated with applications from the clinical arena.

Fee: $600 ($500 early registration by April 1) 22.5 category 1 CME credit hours applied for Course Director: Allan Johnson, Ph.D. Professor of Radiology and Physics Duke University Medical Center Website: http://wwwcivm.mc.duke.edu /Kiawahcourse.html F o r m o r e i n f or m a t i o n contact: Elaine Fitzsimons Box 3302 Duke University Medical Center Durham, NC 27710 (919) 684-7758 (919) 681-7071 (fax) email:egf@orion.mc.duke.edu

AAPM NEWSLETTER

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2000

It’s Been Grand

By Marsha Dixon Managing Editor Winston-Salem, NC

profession of medical physics.

I have watched the organization evolve into an extremely well run association, thanks to

As this is the last issue of the newsletter Bob and I produce, and I would like to thank you for the pleasure of working with the AAPM. It was six years ago, the March/April 1994 issue, that we began the job with a new format and regular deadlines, and continued the open forum for news and ideas.

In case you ever wondered, yes it is a challenge living with Bob Dixon and much of the time it’s a delightful one. (He paid me to say that.) Our partnership on this newsletter has allowed me a closer look into the admirable

bility of medical physicists.

The new editors, Susan and Al deGuzman, also happen to be from Winston-Salem. Al is also at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and it was a surprise to us to learn of their interest. As in our relationship, one person does the cultivating, editing and layout, and the other (who speaks better physics) makes sure the information is appropriate and correct. We will all work toward a smooth transition and I trust the quality will only improve.

Thank you all for your participation and support. Bob, John and I look forward to seeing you at future meetings. !

Sal Trofi, Angela Keyser and great staff members, and it’s a delight to see the financial picture improve every year. Each president has tackled new issues and increased the visi-

AAPM NEWSLETTER MANAGING EDITOR

EDITOR-IN-RESIDENCE

2000

2000

Marsha Dixon brdcst@aol.com

Robert Dixon rdixon@wfubmc.edu

2001- Susan deGuzman 2001 Allan deGuzman new e-mail: deguzman@wfubmc.edu NEXT ISSUE

DEADLINE

MAIL DATE

January/February 2001

December 15, 2000

January 15, 2001

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF PHYSICISTS IN MEDICINE One Physics Ellipse College Park, Maryland 20740-3846 (301) 209-3350 Phone (301) 209-0862 Fax e-mail: aapm@aapm.org

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