Empowering Regional Collaboration Among Radiotherapy Professionals Through Online Clinical Networks

Monday Lunch Livestream

With Dr Iain Ward, Dr Mei Ling Yap and Dr Nikki Shelton

6 September 2021

Radiation oncologists in low to middle income Asia-Pacific countries have minimal local or international peer support. To address this, the International Atomic Energy Agency - Project RAS6096 - supported by the United Nations, started a monthly virtual tumour board to educate and support oncologists in this area.

Join radiation oncologists, Dr Nikki Shelton, Dr Mei Ling Yap and Dr Iain Ward, who together will summarise the evidence behind the need to expand radiotherapy services in low-and middle-income Asia-Pacific countries, while outlining the current challenges. They will also review their experience of the first 10 months of Project RAS6096.

Presenters

Dr Iain Ward

Dr Iain Ward trained in medical oncology and radiation oncology in Christchurch and Melbourne. He has a particular interest in Global Oncology and is Co-chair of the Asia Pacific Radiation Oncology Special Interest Group (APROSIG-RANZCR), which supports low-and middle-income radiotherapy departments in the Asia-Pacific through bilateral exchange, training and education.

Dr Mei Ling Yap

Dr Mei Ling Yap is a staff specialist radiation oncologist at Liverpool and Macarthur Cancer Therapy Centres. Dr Yap is also co-chair of (APROSIG-RANZCR). She was a member of the Global Task Force in Radiotherapy for Cancer Control (GTFRCC) and co-author of the Lancet Oncology Commission. She sits on the steering committee of the Global Impact of Radiotherapy on Oncology (GIRO). She holds a conjoint senior lecturer appointment with UNSW and Western Sydney University and an adjunct senior lecturer appointment with the University of Sydney. She is currently completing a PhD in health services research with UNSW, CCORE and Cancer Council NSW.

Dr Nikki Shelton

Dr Nikki Shelton is an experienced radiation oncology medical physicist at the Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Centre. She has a demonstrated history of working in senior roles dedicated to contributing to developments in the field of medical physics. In 2018 Nikki and her family spent 12 months in Cambodia, where Nikki volunteered as a medical physics trainer; teaching the local team how to commission and safely implement their treatment planning system, linear accelerator and brachytherapy unit. Since returning to Melbourne she has taken a lead role in the implementation of magnetic resonance imagining in radiotherapy at the ONJ Radiation Oncology Centre.