Joint ESTRO-AAPM Session on Clinical Trial Design for Medical Physicists: Moving from QA into Oncologic Outcomes and Biomarker Applications
Description
ESTRO–AAPM Joint Program in Trial Design for Medical Physicists: Moving Past QA into Clinical Trials for Oncologic Outcomes and Biomarker Applications puts physicists at the center of evidence generation. This panel‑workshop reframes the physicist’s role from gatekeeper of delivery quality to co‑architect of protocols that measure what matters to patients: tumor control, toxicity, function, and validated biomarkers. Four concise talks build a practical pipeline from concept to multi‑site execution, charting the path from QA and technical studies to patient‑facing feasibility and phase II/III trials; identifying where physicists lead across the trial lifecycle—endpoints/estimands harmonization, credentialing, governance, authorship, and budgeting; introducing efficient designs for rare cancers and re‑irradiation, with templates for cumulative dose evaluation and risk‑based monitoring; and demystifing clinical and biomarker trial design, aligning endpoints, sample size, and analytical validity with reproducible imaging and dosimetric pipelines. A moderated case discussion then converts these principles into checklists, sample protocol text, and a take‑home technical appendix outline. Attendees leave with actionable steps to move innovations—imaging, planning, delivery, adaptive workflows, and data science—out of the lab and into rigorously designed trials capable of demonstrating clinically meaningful benefit and safely accelerating adoption.