ARLINGTON, Va., June 16, 2016 – Three leaders in radiation oncology, including clinicians and researchers from Duke University, Massachusetts General Hospital and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, have been named recipients of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Gold Medal, the highest honor bestowed upon members of the world's largest radiation oncology society. Benedick A. Fraass, PhD, FASTRO, Christopher G. Willett, MD, FASTRO, and Anthony L. Zietman, MD, FASTRO, will be recognized at an awards ceremony during ASTRO's 58th Annual Meeting, to be held September 25-28, 2016, in Boston.

ASTRO awards its annual Gold Medal to individuals who have made outstanding lifetime contributions in the field of radiation oncology, including achievements in clinical patient care, research, teaching and service to the profession. This year marks the 30th consecutive year that ASTRO has presented this accolade, and the new awardees join an exclusive class of only 78 gold medalists selected over the decades from the Society's more than 10,000 members.

"Drs. Fraass, Willett and Zietman, both as a cohort and as individual trailblazers in the field, represent the highest echelon of cutting-edge oncology research, of success training future generations of radiation oncologists and medical physicists, and of devoted and impactful service to their colleagues and patients," said ASTRO Chair Bruce D. Minsky, MD, FASTRO.
Benedick A. Fraass, PhD, FASTRO, has dedicated his career to advancing the science of radiation treatment planning and delivery, with accomplishments that include developing three-dimensional treatment planning for routine clinical use, validating advanced uses of computer-controlled radiotherapy, and optimizing planning and delivery systems that allow more conformal and dose-escalated radiation doses while reducing the impact on nearby healthy tissue.

Fraass currently serves as Vice Chair for Research as well as professor and director of medical physics in the department of radiation oncology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He also holds an appointment as health sciences professor in the department of radiation oncology at the University of California Los Angeles. Before moving to the West Coast, Fraass spent 27 years at the University of Michigan, where he led the radiation oncology department's physics group and helped to create and then elevate the program to national prominence. Fraass was named the inaugural Allen S. Lichter Professor of Radiation Oncology at Michigan and remains an emeritus professor with the program.

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