Global Health in Radiation Oncology: The Emergence of a New Career Pathway.
The massive global shortfall in radiotherapy equipment and human resources in developing countries is an enormous challenge for international efforts in cancer control. This lack of access to treatment has been long-standing, but there is now a growing consensus about the urgent need to prioritize solutions to this problem and that a global strategy is required for them to be successful. An essential element of making radiotherapy universally accessible is a coordinated approach to clinical training and practice. This has been recently recognized by many university departments and clinical training programs. However, formalized training and career promotion tracks in global health within radiation oncology have been slow to emerge, thereby limiting the sustained involvement of students and faculty, and restricting opportunities for leadership in this space. We examine here potential structures and benefits of formalized global health training in radiation oncology. We explore how defining specific competencies in this area can help trainees and practitioners integrate their activities in global health within their existing roles as clinicians, educators, or scientists. This would also help create a new global health track for academic advancement, which could focus on such domains as implementation science, health service, and advocacy. We discuss how effective mentorship models, international partnerships, and institutional twinning arrangements support this work and explore how new resources and funding models might be used to further develop and expand radiation oncology services globally.
Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Electronic address: danielle.rodin@rmp.uhn.on.ca.
Danielle
D
Rodin
Liverpool & Macarthur Cancer Therapy Centres, Western Sydney University and Ingham Institute, University of NSW, Sydney, Australia.
Mei Ling
ML
Yap
Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Surbhi
S
Grover
Department of Radiation Oncology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA.
John M
JM
Longo
Department of Radiation Oncology, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, USA.
Onyinye
O
Balogun
Department of Oncology, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark.
Sandra
S
Turner
Department of Radiation Oncology, Crown Princess Mary Cancer Centre, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Jesper G
JG
Eriksen
Radiation Oncology Branch, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA.
C Norman
CN
Coleman
Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Radiation Medicine Program, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Meredith
M
Giuliani
D002321:Career Choice; D003906:Developing Countries; D014943:Global Health; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D018787:Radiation Oncology / Q000193:education* / Q000295:instrumentation