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Advanced & Individualized Care
Therapy for childhood cancers A strong collaboration with the Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington enables pediatric cancer patients to have radiation therapy at Christiana Care. Radiation Oncologist Jon Strasser, M.D., participates in the weekly pediatric tumor board and on duPont Hospital’s Cancer Committee. Joint participation in the NCI Children’s Oncology Group brings access to the latest and most promising therapies for childhood cancers closer to home and family through national pediatric clinical trials.
Training tomorrow’s specialists “We believe that our efforts to provide the highest quality care for patients also prepare us to be teachers and mentors to the next generations of those who practice in our specialty,” said Dr. Strasser, chief of Education for Radiation Oncology. “All of us in the department have a keen interest in education as part of a teaching health system and our life-long learning experience.” Dr. Mourtada and Dayee Jacob, MS, D.ABR., senior medical physicist.
Medical students rotate through the department each year from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, and residents and interns from Christiana Care’s own residency programs may choose to spend elective time learning about the role of radiation oncology in multidisciplinary cancer care.
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We believe that our efforts to provide the highest quality care for patients also prepare us to be teachers and mentors to the next generations of those who practice in our specialty. J ON ST R ASSE R , M.D.
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HELEN F. GRAHAM CANCER CENTER & RESEARCH INSTITUTE
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Two or three Jefferson residents rotate in Radiation Oncology, focusing on advanced technologies, such as high dose rate brachytherapy or stereotactic radiosurgery with Cyberknife, that complement Jefferson’s capabilities. Every year, a dosimetry student from Jefferson trains in the department, as do radiation therapy and nursing students from other area universities. The Christiana Care residency program in radiation oncology physics, one of only a few accredited programs in the country, will have two residents in training this year, under the direction of Christiana Care’s Chief of Clinical Physics Firas Mourtada, MSE, Ph.D., D.ABR, FAAPM. In addition, the department is one of only six sites in North America to offer one-week fellowship training in high dose rate brachytherapy for physicians and physicists from around the world. ¤ Radiation Oncology offices are located in the East Pavilion of the Graham Cancer Center and just over the Delaware state line in Elkton, Md., and Chadds Ford, Pa. For information or referrals, call 302-623-4800.