Odette Cancer Program

Administrative Assistant: Toby Rodin
Phone: 416-480-4974
Email: Toby.Rodin@sunnybrook.ca

Administrative Assistant (Education): Sonya Boston
Phone: 416-480-4982
Email: sonya.boston@sunnybrook.ca

Education:

• MD, 1982, Medical University of Lodz, Poland
• FRCP(C), 1997, radiation oncology, University of Ottawa, Canada
• MEd, 2005, department of theory and policy studies in education, OISE/UT, University of Toronto, Canada
• Teacher trainer certificate, 2006, stepping stones program, U of T, Canada
• Interprofessional education faculty development: Advancing the future of health care through learning certification, 2006, U of T, Canada

Appointments and Affiliations:

• Affiliate scientist, Evaluative Clinical Sciences, Odette Cancer Research Program, Sunnybrook Research Institute
• Professor, department of radiation oncology, U of T
• Academic-coordinator, medical radiation sciences program, department of radiation oncology, U of T
• Co-director of continuing professional education, department of radiation oncology, U of T
• Vice-president, American Association for Cancer Education

Distinctions:

• Ivy Oandasan Leadership Award for Outstanding Contributions in Advancing Interprofessional Education, University of Toronto, 2016
  

Research Foci:

• Breast
• Genitourinary malignancies 
• Medical education
• Needs assessment of patients, health care providers and trainees in radiotherapy practice 
• Enhancing patients and health care providers' decisional preferences for radiotherapy treatment
• Developing an interprofessional learning environment and creating modalities for continuing professional education in radiation oncology

Research Summary:

The focus of Dr. Szumacher's research is to understand the needs and preferences of cancer patients in radiation oncology practice. This includes:

• understanding patient preferences in the treatment of bone metastases with palliative radiotherapy (RT)
• understanding needs of older patients with early breast cancer while undergoing adjuvant RT
• developing a patient decision aid for adjuvant RT for older women with early breast cancer
• understanding the needs of prostate cancer patients treated with radical prostatectomy who require adjuvant and salvage RT.

Dr. Szumacher aims to improve the care of cancer patients by working together as an interprofessional team in radiation oncology practice. This is achieved by:

• fostering an interprofessional practice in radiation oncology through continuing medical education (CME), scholarly work and research
• understanding the needs of health care providers in cancer care and enhancing RT services and treatment in underserviced areas
• developing and assessing the effectiveness of an educational intervention on the congruence of prostate and rectal contouring as compared to a gold standard in planning for three-dimensional RT for prostate cancer
• developing an interprofessional learning environment and creating modalities for continuing professional education in radiation therapy by organizing interprofessional CME events 
• investigating interprofessional needs of cancer care providers and trainees.

Selected Publications:

See current publications list at PubMed.

Related Links:

• U of T profile, department of radiation oncology