Dear Fellow Radiosurgery Society Members and Colleagues,
We want to take a moment to thank you, the Radiosurgery Society® (RSS) staff and the Board of Directors for your continued support in a time of unprecedented and unimagined challenges. Together we demonstrated strength and resilience, adapted to an almost exclusive virtual environment, navigated health and political issues, challenged societal injustices, all the while being more compassionate, understanding and caring towards our patients, colleagues, and even adversaries. It is with these values that we look forward into a brighter future.
In times when SRS and SBRT became more relevant than ever, the RSS continues to lead efforts to advance emerging therapies through our membership, educational resources, research programs, and partnerships. Our Membership continues to grow, expanding across multiple disciplines and around the globe. In 2020 we welcomed 4 new Academic Partners while strengthening our existing Academic and Corporate Sponsor relationships. Our Academic Programs were propelled by groundbreaking partnerships with National Institute of Health/National Cancer Institute (NCI) Radiation Oncology Branch, American College of Radiation Oncology (ACRO), the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC), Radiation Research Society (RRS) and other partner organizations.
Despite the challenges of 2020, our Society continues to provide new educational materials and resources to our members; we launched our new website with streamlined navigation features, expanded educational resources for clinicians, physicists and residents, and mobile friendly elements. The RSS Webinar series has been more popular than ever, with an unprecedented number of live attendees, resulting in over 100 On-Demand Webinars. The Virtual 2020 RSS Scientific Meeting was a success with over 100 recorded presentations on SRS/SBRT for intracranial and extracranial applications, safety and quality assurance, combination immunotherapy and hypofractionated radiotherapy regimens and innovative radiation treatment modalities. The Resident’s Committee is flourishing and the resident leadership team has designed programs to support early career development, training, mentorship and networking.
The RSSearch® Patient Registry continues to grow and includes over 29,000 SRS/SBRT patient cases from 40+ participating centers, generated 15 peer-reviewed publications on SRS/SBRT outcomes; this year, the Registry partnered with the MRI-Linac Consortium to support their ongoing research efforts for patients treated with MRI-guided radiotherapy.
Our vision deems essential for the Society to support research efforts, the development of novel technologies and advancing therapies, SRS/SBRT quality assurance and to enhance career development of the future leaders of the oncology community. In conjunction with the NCI Radiation Oncology Branch, we are committed to supporting the RSS GRID, Lattice, FLASH and Microbeam Working Groups and its resultant clinical trials. The Society is launching a novel initiative, the Consensus Guidelines for Clinical Trial Design Program, in order to promote and streamline the development of clinical trials, and simultaneously expanding the RSSearch Registry to support prospective multi-center clinical studies in SRS/SBRT and advancing therapies. In collaboration with ACRO, the RSS has developed a Distinction in Stereotactic Radiotherapy Accreditation program to be launched in 2021, and the Resident’s Committee is expanding and will launch a new Mentorship & Career Pathways Program.
Looking further ahead next year, the Scientific Planning Committee is organizing a combination in-person and virtual Workshop “SRS/SBRT Practical Essentials and Emergent Challenges” to be held in the summer of 2021. This 2-day program is designed by internationally recognized SRS/SBRT experts will provide attendees with practical and updated information, feature innovative workshops, case-based discussions, debate-style presentations and interactive sessions. This will be followed by the 2022 RSS Scientific Meeting to be held March 4-6, 2022, at the Omni La Costa, Carlsbad, CA. We look forward to seeing you in person at both these events.
As we look forward to an extremely promising future, we welcome our new President, Najeeb Mohideen, MD, FRCR, FASTRO, FACR, and new Secretary, Michael Schulder, MD, FAANS. We look forward to their leadership in the coming year.
Thank you for all your support and participation as we jointly endeavor to improve the lives of cancer patients. Our hopes and best wishes are with you and your loved ones during the Holiday season and into the New Year.
Sincerely,
Joanne N. Davis, PhD, Executive Director
Kristine Gagliardi, RSS Founding Partner, Strategic Programs
Shalom Kalnicki, MD, FASTRO, FACRO, Chairman of the Board of Directors
Iris C. Gibbs, MD, FACR, FASTRO, President of the Board of Directors