HACKENSACK, N.J., Sept. 29, 2008—Research conducted by medical physicists in the Radiation Oncology Department of the John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center was accepted for oral presentation at the international biennial radiotherapy meeting of the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine in September. The conference was held Sept. 2-4, 2008 in Bath, England, and featured presentations from facilities around the world.

The Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine is dedicated to bringing together physical science, engineering, and clinical professionals in academia, health care services, and industry to share knowledge, advance sciences and technology, and inform and educate the public with the purpose of improving the understanding, detection, and treatment of disease and the management of patients.

The John Theurer Cancer Center’s research, “Prostate High-Dose-Rate Treatment Plan Optimization Using Linear Programming,” was presented by medical physicist Joe Barbiere, M.S. Co-authors of the study are medical physicists John Napoli, M.S., and Alois Ndlovu, Ph.D., and Director of Medical Physics Joseph Hanley, Ph.D.

“Acceptance of this research at an international meeting once again illustrates the cutting-edge studies that Dr. Hanley and members of the Radiation Oncology’s Division of Medical Physics are conducting,” says Andrew L. Pecora, M.D., chairman and executive administrative director of the John Theurer Cancer Center. “Our patients here and patients all over the world benefit from the scientific advances developed in our Radiation Oncology Department.”

The Radiation Oncology Department at the John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center is one of New Jersey’s largest and busiest. The department offers every type of radiation therapy modality available today, including image-guided radiotherapy (including TomoTherapy), intensity modulated radiation therapy, brachytherapy (including low-dose-rate and high-dose-rate therapy and MammoSite breast brachytherapy), stereotactic radiosurgery and fractionated stereotactic radiosurgery, external beam radiation therapy, and pediatric radiation therapy.

The John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center is New Jersey’s largest and the one ranked the best cancer center in the state by New York magazine. The John Theurer Cancer Center provides extraordinary cancer care by offering multidisciplinary care, personalized treatment, innovative research, superior outcomes, and patient satisfaction within 14 disease-specific, treatment, or research divisions. For more information about The Cancer Center, call 201-996-5900 or visit www.humc.com.