"Radiation oncology is one of those specialties that mixes strongly with many other areas—surgery, medical oncology, imaging, pathology, genomics, immunology, biology, mathematics—but none of us can cure cancer by ourselves," said Dr. Harrison.
From 1999–2014, he served as the Physician-in-Chief of Continuum Cancer Centers of New York and was instrumental in developing multidisciplinary programs across all cancer sites in the Continuum health care system. Under his leadership, the cancer program received Gold Level Accreditation for the Continuum Network from the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer, one of the few health systems to earn this level of accreditation.
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Dr. Harrison's desire to treat cancer while preserving function led him to specialize in head and neck and skin cancers. "In head and neck and skin cancer, radiation therapy is used as a primary modality. The aspiration to achieve excellent functional and cosmetic outcomes is very important to patients."
Dr. Harrison is an authority in the field of head and neck and skin cancer: he literally wrote the book on it. Dr. Harrison is the lead editor of the major textbook, "Head and Neck Cancer: A Multidisciplinary Approach," currently in its fourth edition. According to one of Dr. Harrison's nominating letters, "his contributions in brachytherapy and intraoperative radiation therapy (IORT) have shaped the field."
Developing novel therapies and new ways to deliver treatment has always been a motivator for Dr. Harrison. He was one of the first investigators to combine concomitant chemotherapy with radiation therapy for head and neck cancer, now a standard of care. Along with Lowell Anderson, DSc, and Felix Mick, Dr. Harrison created the Harrison Anderson Mick (HAM) Applicator, a medical device used to deliver HDR brachytherapy or HDR IORT treatments.
Never one to rest on his laurels, Dr. Harrison brought his entrepreneurial spirit to the Board of Directors of ASTRO from 2005–2009. As President and Chair, he advocated for a name change for the Society to stress the importance of cancer care to its members. At ASTRO's 50th Annual Meeting in Boston in September 2008, the membership voted to change its name from the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology to its current name, the American Society for Radiation Oncology.
After spending most of his career in New York, Dr. Harrison joined the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute in Tampa, Florida, in 2014. He serves Moffitt as the Chair of Radiation Oncology, as well as Deputy Physician-in-Chief.
