Gopal Bajaj, President of Radiation Oncology Associates, PC, and Radiation Oncologist at Inova Schar Cancer Institute, shared on LinkedIn:
“I’m pleased to share our new editorial in Advances in Radiation Oncology, ‘Beyond Cancer: Functional Radiation Medicine at an Inflection Point,’ which I had the privilege of leading as first author alongside an exceptional group of colleagues and thought leaders in the Functional Radiation Medicine (FRM) community.
I’m particularly grateful to my co-authors, Jarad Martin, Clifford Robinson, Markus Bredel, Kenneth Merrell, Evan Thomas, John Plastaras, Jessica Schuster, and Emily Wilson, for their collaboration, perspective, and commitment to advancing this emerging field.
I believe we are at a true inflection point for Functional Radiation Medicine. Advances in radiation delivery, imaging, radiobiology, and our understanding of how radiation can modulate, not simply ablate, biologic function are opening opportunities well beyond our traditional oncologic boundaries.
The question is increasingly not whether radiation can modulate disease biology and restore function, but how we can develop the evidence, infrastructure, and multidisciplinary partnerships necessary to translate that potential responsibly into clinical practice.
The next phase will require us to coalesce our efforts across institutions, professional societies, disciplines, and international borders. We need coordinated prospective trials, harmonized registries, translational research networks, common endpoints, and rigorous evaluation of safety, efficacy, durability, and value.
International collaboration will be particularly important if we are going to generate meaningful data efficiently rather than continuing as isolated centers of excellence.
There is tremendous work ahead, but also tremendous opportunity. If we organize thoughtfully and scientifically, FRM has the potential to become not a peripheral application of radiation therapy, but a defining domain of radiation medicine, expanding the ways our specialty can improve function, alleviate disease burden, and contribute to multidisciplinary care.
I’m excited about where this field is going and deeply appreciative of the colleagues in the United States and around the world who are helping move it forward.”
Title: Beyond Cancer: Functional Radiation Medicine at an Inflection Point
Authors: Gopal K. Bajaj, Jarad Martin, Clifford G. Robinson, Markus Bredel, Kenneth Merrell, Evan Thomas, John P. Plastaras, Jessica Schuster, Emily Wilson