Penn Medicine Experts to Address Value and Advances in Radiotherapy

Researchers and clinicians from the University of Pennsylvania’s Abramson Cancer Center and Perelman School of Medicine will present at the American Society for Radiation Oncology’s 68th Annual Meeting in Boston, with presentations spanning clinical trials, professional leadership, workforce development and the communication of radiotherapy’s value. The meeting is scheduled for Sept. 26–30, 2026, and will include dozens of Penn trainees and faculty members contributing research, moderating sessions and leading educational activities. A central theme is “Data to Dialogue: Communicating Radiotherapy’s Value to Advance Care,” which frames the meeting around how evidence can support better understanding of radiation therapy’s role in clinical care.

Penn’s participation includes a presidential address by Neha Vapiwala, MD, FACR, FASTRO, FASCO, the Eli J. Glatstein Professor in Radiation Oncology, who is serving as president of ASTRO. The release identifies Vapiwala as the first Penn faculty member to lead the professional society. In her presidential address, scheduled for Sept. 28 at 1 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom, she is expected to discuss priorities from ASTRO leadership concerning the value and perceptions of radiotherapy, as well as challenges and opportunities related to professional development and patient outcomes. These are planned areas of discussion rather than reported findings from a new study.

The meeting’s first keynote will be delivered by Ezekiel Emanuel, MD, PhD, Penn’s vice provost for global initiatives, on Sept. 28 at 9:15 a.m. in the Grand Ballroom. His session is centered on the 2026 meeting theme and will provide a perspective on communicating radiotherapy’s value to advance care. The agenda also places Penn Radiation Oncology chair James Metz, MD, as moderator of the second keynote address with former Food and Drug Administration commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, on Sept. 29. Penn representatives will additionally convene scientific, educational and workshop sessions, while the university’s radiation medicine and education programs will operate information booths at the meeting.

Among the announced scientific presentations, Michelle Alonso-Basanta, MD, PhD, professor of Radiation Oncology and chief of the Central Nervous System Service, will lead a session titled “Advances in Multimodal Therapy for Glioblastoma: From Phase I to Phase III Trials” on Sept. 29 at 12:30 p.m. in Room 153. Alonso-Basanta is also a co-moderator of the session and was recently named to the 2026 class of ASTRO Fellows. The announced scope traces the progression of multimodal glioblastoma research from early-phase through Phase III trials, but the supplied release does not report the methods, results or conclusions of those trials. Penn’s broader involvement includes participation by dozens of trainees and faculty members in research presentations and session leadership, highlighting the scale of the institution’s program without establishing comparative performance or treatment benefit.

The gathering is also a professional-development forum for radiation oncology, an area in which Vapiwala has planned to address both career-stage concerns and the work of strengthening professional perceptions of the specialty. Penn’s education programs and the Penn Radiation Medicine Institute will have booths where attendees can learn about training and related activities, while faculty experts are available to discuss topics in radiation oncology care and research through on-site, video, telephone or email interviews. The release does not provide efficacy results for any new treatment, clinical recommendation or comparative outcome; instead, it documents a forthcoming conference program in which Penn researchers and clinicians will present evidence, exchange perspectives and discuss how radiotherapy data can be communicated to advance care.

Subject of Research: Penn Medicine presentations on radiotherapy research, professional leadership and clinical communication at the 2026 ASTRO Annual Meeting

Article Title: Penn Medicine at the 2026 ASTRO Annual Meeting

Article References: Penn Medicine at the 2026 ASTRO Annual Meeting. Original publication (Bibliographic details unavailable.)

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Keywords: Penn Medicine, radiotherapy, ASTRO 2026, glioblastoma, clinical trials, radiation oncology, medical education, professional development, Penn, Medicine, ASTRO, Annual