As an independent, non-governmental, non-profit cancer research organisation established under the laws of Belgium, EORTC’s mission is to coordinate and conduct international translational and clinical research to improve the standard of cancer treatment for patients. Ultimately, the aim is to increase survival rates and enhance quality of life by testing new therapeutic strategies based on existing drugs, surgery, and radiotherapy. Additionally, the EORTC collaborates with the pharmaceutical industry to develop new drugs and approaches in the best interests of patients.
In collaboration with the Emmanuel van der Schueren (EvdS) fellowship programme, supported by Kom Op Tegen Kanker, EORTC offers a Clinician Scientist in training the opportunity to be involved in the methodology and conduct of clinical trials, with a focus on quality assurance (QA) and improvement in radiation oncology for a fellowship period of one year. The fellow will work under the mentorship of a senior member of the EORTC RTQA Team, with local supervision by EORTC HQ staff, and will have access to training courses in clinical trial methodology, statistics, and radiation therapy physics.
Main responsibilities / Major Activities
Working as a fellow will provide an enhanced understanding of the methodology of modern clinical research, an optimal knowledge of the requirements for modern radiotherapy in the context of prospective studies and daily practice, and the skills necessary to perform quality assurance in clinical trials. As part of supervised research projects, the fellow will analyse, interpret, present, and publish results related to the implementation of quality assurance measures. The knowledge and skills acquired will be valuable to the EvdS Fellow in their future professional activities. Specifically, the fellow will work on general RTQA tasks in EORTC clinical trials and on specific personal RTQA projects, including:
- Analysing quality assurance data from a recent glioblastoma trial to generate personalised reports for each participating hospital.
- Examining the correlation between plan quality and patient outcomes and radiotherapy-related adverse events in recent trials on glioblastoma and extracranial SBRT.
- Implementing a rigorous risk-scoring method to inform the choice of RTQA procedures in EORTC clinical trials.
- Conducting preliminary analysis and data cleaning on the treatment plans of patients recruited in the ReCare cohort of E2RADIatE, the ESTRO-EORTC platform for prospective studies in radiotherapy.
Profile
- Recently specialised radiation or medical oncologist (alternatively, clinical oncologist).
- Focused or interested in clinical cancer research, particularly in radiotherapy and quality assurance in radiotherapy.
- Interested in developing new trials and projects in the field of radiotherapy.
- Preferably with a background in clinical trials research.
- Fluent in English.
- Computer literate with some basic knowledge of medical statistics.
- Capable of working in an international environment.
- Possessing excellent communication skills and team spirit.
- Encouraged and welcomed to take initiative and propose new ideas.
Benefits
