Marianne Aznar, PhD
I am an Associate Professor in radiotherapy physics at the University of Manchester and at the Christie NHS Foundation Trust, the largest radiotherapy clinic in Europe. I am also a fully accredited clinical Medical Physics Expert, having practiced for 7 years in Canada (McGill graduate!!) and in Denmark before moving to the UK and full-time academia. My research focuses on the late effects of cancer treatment, especially for patient groups who can expect a long life after their original cancer treatments (diagnoses include, e.g., Hodgkin Lymphoma, breast cancer and childhood cancer). I am actively involved in European Society of Radiotherapy and Oncology (ESTRO), as a teacher and a member of the Physics Committee. I am also a physics editor for Radiotherapy and Oncology (the “Green Journal”)
Week 7 Presentation: Data mining in radiotherapy: understanding the link between dose and long-term side effects
As survival rates for cancer patients improve, late effects, such as second cancers or heart disease, are an increasing area of concern. In order to continuously improve radiation oncology treatments, it is crucial to understand the drivers of late toxicity, and the interaction between radiotherapy, other cancer treatments and co-morbidities. In this talk, we will review the limitations of current late effect research and explore the role of advanced methods such as data mining. We will also discuss uncertainties in outcome evaluation, and how machine learning approaches can help us evaluate, analyse and predict treatment-related toxicity.