by
Sean Ruck, Contributing Editor | March 09, 2015
From the March 2015 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
At NAPT, we are providing the therapy centers with an opportunity to work together, to learn best practices from each other, and to connect on a whole range of issues so that together, we can advance the needs of the proton community and the patients being served by the therapy. A lot of that will happen at the annual NPC meeting. Longer term, the association will continue to have a growing role in getting the various centers to work together.
HCBN: Other than your recent appointment, what’s the big news from the association?
TW: I think the big news is our annual proton conference. The conference is the largest domestic gathering of the broad proton community coming together to discuss issues of mutual concern.
Another big news item is that the Proton Therapy Consortium and NAPT are being brought together to operate as one structure under one name. They will both continue to exist; but going forward, the advocacy-oriented structure of the Consortium will exist behind the brand of NAPT.
There also are many clinical studies that are establishing and strengthening the evidence that proton therapy is the way to go to treat many cancers. For instance, in the case of women with left-side breast cancer, proton therapy can treat the cancer effectively without increasing the likelihood of heart disease or a secondary, radiation-induced tumor.
HCBN: Are there any new member benefits you’re working on?
TW: I think the best news with respect to membership is that I’m putting together a program to attract and bring technology partners and other vendors into the organization, which will give them an opportunity to get more involved in a formal way with the activities of NAPT.
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