Radiation Therapy in Older Women with Breast Cancer
Speaker
Ewa Szumacher MD, FRCP(C), MEd, CPC(HC), FAACE
Professor and Co-Director of Continuous Education and Professional Development, Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Toronto
Affiliate Scientist, Sunnybrook Research Institute
Dr. Ewa Szumacher is a Professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology University of Toronto and a Radiation Oncologist at the Odette Cancer Centre, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.
Her scholarly and clinical practice includes patients with breast cancer and genitourinary malignancies. Her research focuses on understanding the needs of cancer patients in radiotherapy and how the inter professional teams in radiation oncology impact on patients care.
She completed her Masters in higher education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), University of Toronto, with sub-specialization in health profession education. She is an affiliate scientist at the Sunnybrook Research Institute, member of the Wilson Centre.
In 2016 Dr Szumacher was appointed Co-Director, Continuous Education and Professional Development UTDRO and in 2018 appointed as a President of American Association for Cancer Education.
Learning Objectives
- To discuss:
- Indications for radiotherapy (RT) for older women with breast cancer (BC)
- Modern radiation technologies and approaches that can be used in the treatment of BC in older women post-breast conservation surgery (BCS) or unsuitable for surgical resection
- De-escalation of treatment in older patients
- Role of geriatric assessment (GA) and shared decision making (SDM) in deciding on and planning RT in older patients with BC