The Accelerators Podcast

Send us Fan Mail The Accelerators (Drs. Matt Spraker and Simul Parikh ) host radiation oncology resident physician and writer, Dr. Matt Farrell , to discuss narrative medicine. We review his recent JCO publication "First Cousin Once Removed" . In this piece, Matt describes his experience with a family meeting at the end of life for his cousin John, an actor and patient living with HIV an...

Send us Fan Mail Accelerator Dr. Matt Spraker hosts the first ever live #RadOnc podcast! Drs. Todd Scarborough , Emma Fields , and Alexis Schutz join for this very special episode, recorded from the #ACRO2023 Afterparty in Orlando, Florida. We first discussed our love of ACRO, informal and collegial poster sessions, and our favorite parts of day 1 of the conference. Then, we explored the elephant...

Send us Fan Mail Accelerator Dr. Simul Parikh and Dr. Jason Beckta of the out.of.the.basement / radiation.medicine podcast team up to "simul-cast" their reaction to the radiation oncology workforce study commissioned by ASTRO and completed by Health Management Associates. Simul and Jason are joined by friend of the show and #RadOnc workforce guru Dr. Todd Scarborough . They discuss the &...

Send us Fan Mail School is in session! The Accelerators (Drs. Anna Brown , Matt Spraker , and Simul Parikh ) sit down for a radiation oncologist and colorectal specialist Dr. Nina Sanford for an informal lesson on the state of radiotherapy for rectal cancer in 2023.    We work our way through an informal discussion of total neoadjuvant therapy, sequencing of therapies, radiotherapy techniques, and...

Send us Fan Mail The Accelerators (Drs. Anna Brown , Matt Spraker , and Simul Parikh ) are back with Drs. Alison Tree (The Royal Marsden NHS, UK), Vedang Murthy (Tata Memorial Centre Mumbai, India), and Himanshu Nagar (New York Presbyterian Weill Cornell and Brooklyn Methodist, NYC). We pick up our international discussion of prostate cancer by further discussing Radiation Oncology training and re...

Send us Fan Mail The Accelerators (Drs. Anna Brown , Matt Spraker , and Simul Parikh ) have gone global! We host Drs. Alison Tree (The Royal Marsden NHS, UK), Vedang Murthy (Tata Memorial Centre Mumbai, India), and Himanshu Nagar (New York Presbyterian Weill Cornell and Brooklyn Methodist, NYC) for a two-part exploration of prostate cancer care around the world! In part 1, we discuss PSA screening...

Send us Fan Mail Accelerators co-host Dr. Simul Parikh takes a very special trip to India and visits Tata Memorial Hospital !  In this episode, he shares his experiences in their radiation oncology clinics as well as thoughts on patient care, clinical trials, education, and more.   Here are some papers from Tata Memorial that were mentioned during the show: The POP-RT Trial  Phase III trial of doc...

Send us Fan Mail The Accelerators (Dr. Anna Brown , Matt Spraker , and Simul Parikh ) host radiation oncologist Dr. Amar Kishan and Brett Sloman , Product Sales Director at Viewray, Inc. On this episode, we discussed the newly resulted MIRAGE trial, a single-center phase III study of prostate target reduction using MR-guided stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) versus standard CT-guided SBRT. Ama...

Send us Fan Mail Accelerators co-host Dr. Simul Parikh invites Dr. Todd Scarbrough for a #MedEd special on the once controversial topic of adjuvant radiotherapy for resected N2 non-small lung cancer. Should we listen to the science or is  it an... ART? Here are some papers that were discussed during the show: Lally et al. SEER study PORT Meta-analysis  ANITA PORT sub-study The LungART trial  The P...

Send us Fan Mail Accelerators co-host Simul Parikh records a solo podcast about clinical dogma, gate keeping, and other... things. Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham . Intro and Outro music generously donated by Emmy-award winning artist Lucas Cantor Santiago . The Accelerators Podcast is a Photon Media production. 

Send us Fan Mail On this episode, Matt is again joined by guest co-host patient advocates Julie Johnson ( @solongsarcoma ) and Katie Coleman ( @kaydaustin ) to discuss some mental health issues experienced by patients with cancer. We are joined by Sara Ariaudo, MHA , a former radiation therapist turned mindfulness coach and founder of Mindful Based Healing, LLC .  We start with a discussion about...

Send us Fan Mail The Accelerators (Dr. Anna Laucis , Matt Spraker , and Simul Parikh ) are closing out 2022 with a focus on mental health! In this episode, we are joined by friends-of-the-show Drs. Neil Newman and Christina Henson as well as Melody Wilding , LCSW. Melody is an executive coach and author of #RadOnc book club favorite " Trust Yourself: Stop Overthinking and Channel Your Emotion...

Send us Fan Mail This week, The Accelerators (Dr. Anna Laucis , Matt Spraker , and Simul Parikh ) host Dr. Natalie Ridge ( @nataliezumab ), a DO radiation oncologist who is finishing training and searching for a job. We again discuss the hot - or not - #RadOnc job market. It depends on who you ask. We start by discussing the fact that residents across the country face a heterogeneous job search ex...

Send us Fan Mail On this episode, Matt is again joined by patient advocates Julie Johnson ( @solongsarcoma ) and Katie Coleman ( @kaydaustin ) for a conversation on patient education for clinical trials and beyond. We host one of our favorite experts, Radiation Oncologist and founder of PRIMR , Dr. David Grew .    We start by discussing how information is presented to trial-eligible patients in cl...

Send us Fan Mail The Accelerators (Dr. Anna Laucis , Matt Spraker , and Simul Parikh ) use a "small viral" tweet as a seed for discussion about technology, inequity, and community practice.  This week, we host Dr. Anna Paulsson , a community Radiation Oncologist practicing in Sonoma County, California. Recently, she wondered whether the celebration of technology in #RadOnc is furthering...

Send us Fan Mail The Accelerators host (Dr. Anna Laucis , Matt Spraker , and Simul Parikh ) another resident-attending duo to discuss the #RadOnc workforce and job market!  Drs. Mudit Chowdhary and  John Shumway (a graduating PGY-5 resident at University of North Carolina) review their recent publication evaluating trends in numbers of yearly society job board postings versus graduating residents....

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, the Accelerators (Dr. Anna Laucis , Matt Spraker , and Simul Parikh ) discuss current events and topics: conflicts of interest, the definition of SBRT, medical marijuana, and ultrasound image guidance for skin cancers.  Here is a book mentioned during the show:  How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollen Podcast art generously donated by Dr. Danielle Cunningham . I...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Matt hosts patient advocates Julie Johnson ( @solongsarcoma ) and Katie Coleman ( @kaydaustin ) to share their experiences and opinions about clinical trials.  We start by discussing how patients find clinical trials and how they might be offered in oncology clinics. Is there a difference when one's oncologist says "There are no trials available" ve...

Send us Fan Mail Accelerators hosts Drs. Simul "Neil" Parikh and Anna Laucis hosts The Neils! Drs. Neil Newman , Neil Parikh , Avinash Chaurasia join Anna in sharing their thoughts after completing their first year of independent practice. Of course they discuss the 3 A's, but there is so much more. The doctors discuss how to gel with your team, protect your health, and other strate...

Send us Fan Mail The Accelerators host (Dr. Anna Laucis , Matt Spraker , and Simul Parikh ) the Suneja Lab , leaders in health equity research! Radiation Oncologist Dr. Gita Suneja and PGY-5 resident Dr. Ryan Hutten to discuss their recent publication examining disparities in initiation of advanced radiotherapy between White patients and patients of minoritized groups.  We summarize and analyze th...

Send us Fan Mail We're back! The Season 2 premier of Rad Onc's favorite podcast was inspired by Simul's Twitter poll on neoadjuvant radiotherapy dosing for esophageal cancer! Are you team 4140 or 5040... or something else? In this episode, the Accelerators (Dr. Anna Laucis , Matt Spraker , and Simul Parikh ) host Mayo Clinic Radiation Oncology GI specialist Dr. Krishan Jethwa and PG...

Send us Fan Mail Dr. Matt Spraker is joined by Dr. Jason Beckta for a petite episode packed with announcements and teasers for The Accelerators Podcast Season 2.  The Accelerators will return from Summer break with renewed focus on "news and views", shorter episodes, and a new theme song generously donated by award winning musician Lucas Cantor Santiago ! Check out his piece (and our the...

Send us Fan Mail In part 2 of our series on paternal leave,  Accelerator Dr. Simul Parikh hosts 3 of our favorite #RadOnc and #MedPhys experts who are also moms: Dr. Laura Dover , Dr. Kaleigh Doke , and Dr. Kelly Paradis .  The episode begins with Kelly, Laura, and Kaleigh sharing their experiences with paternal leave, which can vary between institutions and clinics. They then discuss how practice...

Send us Fan Mail Fill your cup with this inspiring episode of The Accelerators Podcast! Dr. Matt Spraker is joined by Dr. Julianne Pollard-Larkin , medical physicist, service chief of the thoracic physics group at MD Anderson Cancer Center, and chair of the EDI Committee of the AAPM. We discuss topics and strategies for creating an inclusive workplace for all of #RadOnc, especially now when we nee...

Send us Fan Mail Happy Father's Day! Dr. Simul Parikh , host of The Accelerators Podcast, rounds up an all-star team of #RadOnc dads for part 1 of our 2 part series on parental leave and achieving work-life balance as a parent. Drs. Mudit Chowdhary , Sean McBride , and Ben Willen share their experiences with leave and how zoom video calls and evolving supervision policies may (or may not) hel...