News Release

ASTRO announces 2006 Gold Medal winners

Grant and Award Announcement

American Society for Radiation Oncology

The American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology is pleased to announce its 2006 Gold Medal winners. Richard Hoppe, M.D., and C. Clifton Ling, Ph.D., will receive their awards on Tuesday, November 7, during ASTRO's 48th Annual Meeting, being held in Philadelphia November 5-9, 2006.

"The Gold Medal designation, the highest honor ASTRO awards, recognizes distinguished accomplishments and contributions in the field of radiation oncology," said Prabhakar Tripuraneni, M.D., ASTRO Chair. "I'm very proud of our two Gold Medalists; they represent the best in teaching, research and clinical care in radiation oncology. Their selection is a testament to the high caliber of physicians, scientists and researchers who are members of our Society."

Dr. Hoppe is the chairman of the Department of Radiation Oncology and the Henry S. Kaplan –Harry Lebeson Professor of Cancer Biology at Stanford University. Since graduating from Cornell University Medical College in New York, he has dedicated much of his professional career to training the next generation of physician-scientists in radiation oncology. Dr. Hoppe has been a strong supporter of translational research in physics and radiobiology and he has been instrumental in his department receiving one of the highest levels of NIH funding of any radiation oncology department in the United States. Under Dr. Hoppe's leadership, Stanford was one of the first institutions in the country to implement intensity modulated radiation therapy techniques into clinical protocols and clinical use. Dr. Hoppe has also played a major role in the development of the successful Stanford programs for the treatment of Hodgkin's disease and other lymphomas as well as trials of total lymphoid irradiation to establish transplantation tolerance. At the national level, Dr. Hoppe has played a prominent role in education and training through his positions on the American Board of Radiology, the Residency Review Committee and within ASTRO, where he served as both president and chair of the Board of Directors. The impact of these policies ensures that the field of radiation oncology is continuously renewed and advanced by each successive generation. He has also served in leadership roles with the American College of Radiology, the American Radium Society and the Society of Chairs of Academic Radiation Oncology Programs. Dr. Hoppe is also a member of the National Cancer Institute Board of Scientific Counselors and the Board of Directors of Stanford Hospital and Clinics.

Hailed as the leading medical physicist in the United States, Dr. Ling is world renown as a top authority in developing and implementing advanced treatment planning and delivery systems and has made significant contributions to the establishment of conformal radiotherapy as a state-of-the-art curative treatment for human cancer. He and his colleagues have spear-headed the technological developments of intensity modulated radiation therapy in the treatment of prostate and other cancers, thus cementing Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center as a cutting-edge leader in the field. Dr. Ling is also recognized as a pioneer in the development of image-based radiotherapy. His numerous papers and presentations on this topic have led to the widespread interest in this field. Dr. Ling has been an active researcher for thirty years, with numerous grant awards from NCI, ACS, DOE, DOD and others. He has been an important leader in medical physics in some of the premier institutions in the world, including the George Washington University, the University of California in San Francisco and Memorial Sloan-Kettering and has been influential in the development of many professional and research careers. At Memorial Sloan Kettering, he succeeded the late Gioacchino Failla and John Laughlin as Chair of the Medical Physics Department. Dr. Ling has been active in numerous scientific and medical associations including ASTRO, the American Association of Physicists in Medicine, the American College of Radiology, the National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute, the Radiation Research Society, the Radiologic Society of North America and the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group. He also sits on the editorial boards of many journals including the International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics, ASTRO's official journal.

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Photos of these individuals are available by contacting Beth Bukata at bethb@astro.org or 703-839-7332. For more information on ASTRO or its Annual Meeting, please visit www.astro.org. For more information about radiation therapy please visit www.rtanswers.org.

ASTRO is the largest radiation oncology society in the world, with more than 8,500 members who specialize in treating patients with radiation therapies. As the leading organization in radiation oncology, biology and physics, the Society is dedicated to the advancement of the practice of radiation oncology by promoting excellence in patient care, providing opportunities for educational and professional development, promoting research and disseminating research results and representing radiation oncology in a rapidly evolving socioeconomic healthcare environment.


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