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14 Inside News
Dr Jonathan Ramsay
Associate Professor, University of Queensland; Senior
Radiation Oncologist, Princess Alexandra and Mater
Hospitals; Director, Radiation Oncology Centres and Icon
Group; Director, Oncology Research Australia
Member of the Faculty of Radiation Oncology Media and
Profile Committee
Background
I have spent most of my career
as a radiation oncologist working
in Brisbane. Prior to moving to
Queensland I worked in Cambridge,
UK, for four years and for two years in
Boston, USA. I have experienced three
different health systems and despite
the limitations, I think the Australian
system is the best with a high standard
of public and private health care.
Throughout my career I have been
fortunate to see major technological and
clinical improvements in our specialty.
Outside of clinical work, my interests
have been in radiobiology research
and more recently in the development
of new radiation oncology centres.
Having founded Radiation Oncology
Queensland (ROQ) with Michael Poulsen
and Kumar Gogna, ROQ commenced
operations in Toowoomba and has since
been rebranded to Radiation Oncology
Centres. ROC has 10 treatment centres
in Queensland and New South Wales
with several others in development.
The majority of the centres are located
in regional areas and it is pleasing to
see that utilisation rates for radiation
oncology have increased in these areas,
which hopefully will translate into better
outcomes for patients.
Why I Am Involved
While geography and access to
treatment is a major factor for our
specialty, it is clear that we also need
to be more proactive in promoting
radiation therapy as a treatment option
for our patients. Whether we like it or
not, it is a competitive market among
specialists actively promoting other
treatments as an alternative to radiation
therapy. Radiation oncologists with a
few notable exceptions tend to be the
more quiet types sitting at the back of
the multidisciplinary meetings allowing
others to do the talking. Thus despite
my family’s amusement (due to my
allergy to Facebook, Twitter and other
forms of social media) I was pleased to
be invited to join the Media and Profile
Committee under the leadership of the
able and not so reticent A/Prof Sandra
Turner.
The Targeting Cancer campaign has
gone from strength to strength in
promoting our specialty to patients and
also crucially to general practitioners
(GPs). As most of us will remember,
exposure to radiation oncology as a
medical student was often one visit
to the department in the hospital
basement. The Targeting Cancer
website is expanding in the scope of
information provided and is seeing
an increasing number of visits. The
GP education evenings have been a
great initiative to demonstrate to other
medical staff the care and technology
available in a modern radiotherapy
department. The feedback received
has been excellent and in Toowoomba
there was a 13 per cent increase in
referrals in the six weeks after the GP
oncology event , and the increase has
been maintained ever since.
Another initiative is to promote radiation
oncology in the media. We have a lot
of good stories to tell and they don’t all
have to relate to proton therapy. All of
these initiatives cost money, so as well
as generous support from the College
we have obtained additional funding
from Abbvie, Genesis, ROC, Elekta and
Varian.
Encouragement to Others
I would encourage all radiation
oncologists to support the Targeting
Cancer campaign. We will also need
to look at innovative ways for funding
the campaign in the future. The GP
education evenings are a great way
to promote your centre to the local
medical community and the College
provides assistance with organising
the event. I understand our trainees’
number one concern relates to the lack
of job opportunities and while some of
this is due to the reluctance of us older
radiation oncologists to retire in a timely
manner, I hope it will not be due to a
decline in patient referrals. We have a
very effective and safe treatment for
cancer and not everyone with prostate
cancer needs robotic surgery!
Dr Jonathan
Ramsay
Want to get involved in Targeting
Cancer?
If you would like to know how you
can contribute to the Targeting
Cancer campaign, please email