The Accelerators Podcast

Send us Fan Mail The Accelerators (Drs. Matt Spraker and Simul Parikh ) discuss critique versus negativity, why Simul quit social media, Student Doctor Network, and engaging in discourse about Radiation Oncology. This episode is a companion to an episode we recorded in December, but Matt initially decided to hold it back. The episode is a strong, journal club style critique of payer policy article...

Send us Fan Mail For the first time ever, a lost episode has been found! The Accelerators (Drs. Matt Spraker and Simul Parikh ) recorded a "reaction" episode to a brief report published in December 2023 in the IJROBP shortly after it published. The article demonstrates that freestanding departments have been slightly slower to implement hypofractionation for treatment of breast and prost...

Send us Fan Mail The Accelerators (Drs. Matt Spraker and Simul Parikh ) host new Associate Executive Director for Radiation Oncology at The American Board of Radiology (ABR), Dr. Michael Yunes!  Mike is a community radiation oncologist in Springfield, MA and long time volunteer for the ABR. The transition to his leadership comes after a turbulent period for the Rad Onc board. Communication around...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to MattPAC*, a new Accelerators pilot concept! Radiation Oncologist Dr. Matt Spraker aims to introduce important healthcare policy concepts rooted in current events. Each show is designed to be efficient with your time and inspire you to get engaged with advocacy in around 30 minutes.  In MattPAC #1, Matt covers quality payment programs (QPP). QPPs aim to incentivize &quot...

Send us Fan Mail The Accelerators (Drs. Matt Spraker and Simul Parikh ) host the lung cancer legend, Brendon Stiles, MD . He is a Professor of Oncology, Medicine, and Thoracic Surgery at Montfiore and Albert Einstein College of Medicine. We discuss all things lung cancer: early stage, locally advanced, staging, quality, and more. The episode is capped with Simul's Lighting Round. Good luck Br...

Send us Fan Mail The Accelerators (Drs. Matt Spraker and Simul Parikh ) host Radiation Oncologist and prolific X'er Dr. Dave Chang for a discussion of Small Market Radiation Oncology. We wax philosophical about the work and life of docs formerly known as #LittleRadOnc: radiation oncologists often under resourced and practicing solo, working miles away from large US cities.  Dave's person...

Send us Fan Mail The Accelerators (Drs. Matt Spraker and Simul Parikh ) host radiation oncologists Dr. Jona Hattangadi-Gluth and PGY-5 resident Dr. Austin Hopper. Jona is a central nervous system malignancies expert, co-lead of the Central Nervous System Disease Team and Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology at UC San Diego. In this episode, we discuss Jona's lab's work in understand...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to MattPAC*, a new Accelerators pilot concept! Radiation Oncologist Dr. Matt Spraker aims to introduce important healthcare policy concepts rooted in current events. Each show is designed to be efficient with your time and inspire you to get engaged with #RadOnc advocacy in 30 minutes or less.   In MattPAC #1, Matt covers two current congressional bills that are currently...

Send us Fan Mail Friend of the show and GI super friend Dr. Nina Sanford joins The Accelerators (Drs. Matt Spraker and Simul Parikh ) to host #RadOnc luminary Dr. Robert Timmerman , MD. Our discussion concludes with a discussion of proton and adaptive radiotherapy, Wagyu beef, life advice, and Simul's Hot Seat. Here are a couple of book recommendations from the show:  Why We Sleep by Matthew...

Send us Fan Mail Friend of the show and GI super friend Dr. Nina Sanford joins The Accelerators (Drs. Matt Spraker and Simul Parikh ) to host #RadOnc luminary Dr. Robert Timmerman , MD. No notes. It's Bob Timmerman, just listen. The Accelerators Podcast is a production of Photon Media , a division of Cold Light Legacy .

Send us Fan Mail Accelerators co-host Dr. Matt Spraker is joined by Out Of The Basement co-host and Dr. Jason Beckta . We're talking #ASTRO23 and jobs, the theme of the conference for Matt. This episode is, in part, a reaction to Jason's most recent OOTB episode: Chicken Little Strikes Back . Jason weaves 2023's "hot" job market and the workforce data into a master narrati...

Send us Fan Mail It's a Photon Media crossover episode! Accelerators co-hosts Drs. Matt Spraker and Simul Parikh team up with Dr. Jason Beckta , host of the Out Of The Basement podcast, to talk about billing. We are joined by Shawna Stacey , ROCC, MBA, Coding and Billing Specialist at Radformation. The episode kicks off with a discussion about why you should care about billing and coding. Mat...

Send us Fan Mail This week, Dr. Matt Spraker hosts medical student and Rad Onc applicant Dr.  Laura Flores , PhD to discuss The Rad Onc Match!  With all these links there's no room for a summary, so just listen! Rank Order List: Buyers and Sellers Edition and accompanying video The Accelerators Podcast, Composite QoL Measure for #RadOnc Happiness That WaPo article about physician salaries and...

Send us Fan Mail On this week's episode, Accelerator Dr. Simul Parikh hosts Radiation Oncologist Dr. Daniel Koffler to discuss psychedelics in oncology! They kick off the conversation by discussing ketamine. They review it's use in head and neck and gynecologic cancers, and discuss two trials by Daniel and colleagues (see below). Later, they discuss the systemic use of psychedelics, some...

Send us Fan Mail This week The Accelerators (Drs. Anna Brown , Matt Spraker , and Simul Parikh ) host radiation oncologist and legend Dr. Join Luh . This show is all about Join! We discuss his path through internal and emergency medicine to radiation oncology, and his experience working as a rural, community radiation oncologist. What are the joys and challenges of serving a small community? We th...

Send us Fan Mail Accelerators co-hosts Drs. Matt Spraker and Simul Parikh host Drs. Chris Booth and Aaron Goodman to discuss their new organization, Common Sense Oncology (CSO). Listen as Chris and Aaron describe the inspirational origin story of CSO, from an idea to a symposium to a groundbreaking movement. We discuss discomfort in speaking up against powerful voices in medicine, and how the inte...

Send us Fan Mail The Accelerators co-hosts Drs. Matt Spraker and Simul Parikh hang out over lunch and discuss a potpourri of #RadOnc current events! We cover ASTRO’s ROCR policy proposal, Dr. Sameer Keole 's ASTRO presidential campaign and engagement on Student Doctor Network, and the recent dysphagia optimized IMRT trial. Then, Simul hypothesizes about the future of radiation oncology under...

Send us Fan Mail Dear Radiation Oncology, Here are some thoughts about ASTRO's methods, and some reflections on ROCR and the updated Proton Model Policy. It is my plea for a more open and inclusive society. Love, Matt   Here are some things that were discussed in this episode: RTanswers.org sarcoma section Radiation for Sarcoma Ask Me Anything ASTRO Sarcoma PPT slides (and others) TAP episode...

Send us Fan Mail It's an ACROPOLIS Live! welcome party with the Accelerators (Drs. Anna Brown , Matt Spraker , and Simul Parikh ). In this episode, newly matched #RadOnc residents-to-be Jazmyne Tabb , Tony Menghini , and Ashlynn Clark join the show to talk about the field.  We discuss the radiation oncology learning curve, our excitement about the future of the field, the new doctors' fu...

Send us Fan Mail In anticipation of our #RadOnc Welcome Party, Accelerators co-host Dr. Simul Parikh records solo! In this episode, he shares how he thinks #RadOnc has changed since he trained many, many... many years ago. Most things are better, but a few things are worse. Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham . Intro and Outro music by Emmy-award winning artist Lucas Cantor S...

Send us Fan Mail The Accelerators (Drs. Anna Brown , Matt Spraker , and Simul Parikh ) are joined by the hosts of the popular #RadOnc #MedEd podcast, At The Beam ! Drs. Trudy Wu and Hyunsoo Joshua No are PGY-4 radiation oncology residents at UCLA and Stanford and innovators in medical education. They started their podcast to help learners in all stages of their training master work up and treatmen...

Send us Fan Mail Accelerators co-host Dr. Matt Spraker hosts Radiation Oncologists Drs. Krish Jethwa , Neil Newman , and Jeff Ryckman for part 2 of our discussion on radiotherapy for liver tumors. We kick off with Neil reviewing his Twitter thread comparing TACE and SBRT for liver tumors. We discuss the data supporting SBRT as superior therapy, especially in patients who have recurrence after TACE...

Send us Fan Mail Accelerators co-host Dr. Matt Spraker hosts Radiation Oncologists Drs. Krish Jethwa , Neil Newman , and Jeff Ryckman for romp through the exciting world of radiotherapy for liver tumors!  In the first of this two part episode, we Krish, Neil, and Jeff explore how liver tumors are treated in practice. We learn that Jeff can tell your Child-Pugh score by looking at your finger nails...

Send us Fan Mail The Accelerators (Drs. Anna Brown , Matt Spraker , and Simul Parikh ) host Clinical Geneticist Dr. Elizabeth Chao , Director of Medical Genetics at UC Irvine and Vice President and Clinical Diagnostics Laboratory Director at Ambry Genetics for a discussion about medical genetics in the oncology clinic and beyond!    We start by discussing practice models for clinical geneticists a...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, The Accelerators (Drs. Matt Spraker and Simul Parikh ) discuss Matt's proposed composite quality of life measure for happiness of radiation oncologists.  A lot is written on how to job search and evaluate the quality of a radiation oncology practice, but how to be happy practicing independently is less frequently discussed.  Matt's lays out his theory fo...