From the December 2014 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine

In the 1970s, Gunderson published a definitive study, “Areas of failure found at reoperation (second of symptomatic look) following ‘curative surgery’ for adenocarcinoma of the rectum. Clinicopathologic correlation and implications for adjuvant therapy,” in Cancer on the relapse patterns found by second-look surgery in patients treated for rectal cancer. The analysis of this study led to radiation oncologists tailoring radiation fields to the particular sites where disease did recur, rather than estimating where the risk existed. This study, along with his similar study on gastric cancer, still holds influence today — radiation oncology textbooks today still use many of the diagrams from Gunderson’s study to help define radiation therapy field arrangements and protocols for GI cancers.

His additional research has focused on defining the indications for and results of external beam irradiation as a component of multi-modality treatment alone or in conjunction with systemic therapy, with or without surgical resection, for GI cancers and soft tissue sarcomas. Gunderson has also teamed with his surgical colleagues to evaluate the role of intraoperative irradiation plus maximal surgical resection for patients with locally advanced primary and locally recurrent gastrointestinal and other cancers. He is the senior editor/co-editor of three leading oncology textbooks: Cancer of the Colon, Rectum and Anus (first edition), Intraoperative Irradiation: Techniques and Results (first and second editions) and Clinical Radiation Oncology (first, second and third editions, with a fourth edition pending publication).


In addition to his clinical and research work, Gunderson has held many positions within ASTRO including service on the Annual Meeting Scientific Committee, Bylaws Committee, Annual Meeting Steering Committee, and Finance and Audit Committee. He was a member of ASTRO’s Board of Directors, first as secretary/treasurer, and then as president-elect, president, chair and immediate past chair.

Gunderson is an emeritus professor and consultant in the department of radiation oncology at the Mayo Clinic.


Nancy J. Tarbell, MD, FASTRO
Tarbell, a radiation oncologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and 29-year ASTRO member, has had a major influence on pediatric oncology and radiation therapy, and has worked to expand the role of women faculty in radiation oncology and beyond.

December 2014 Magazine

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