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ARROgram #34
ASTRO/ARRO Task Force Update
July 15, 2005

Dear Residents,

ARRO and ASTRO write to thank all of you who took time to fill out the survey conducted last month. ARRO is always trying to improve its representation of residents, and ASTRO has been looking for ways to make sure that its leadership understands resident issues and areas of concern. In addition, ARRO and ASTRO are looking for ways to increase opportunities for residents within ASTRO. We were able to gather a great deal of information from the responses to the survey. The ASTRO Board of Directors reviewed both the survey results and the suggested programmatic and structural modifications at its recent meeting.

After proposals from the ARRO Board, ASTRO’s Board voted to significantly expand the number of travel grants available to residents beginning in 2006. At least 10 additional travel grants will be made available to residents to attend the Annual Meeting and up to three awards per meeting will be available for all other ASTRO sponsored meetings. These meetings include both the GI and Prostate meetings that are held annually, as well as a number of other meetings such as the StaRT and Translational Research meetings. Criteria will be developed in the coming months for these awards and the Research Evaluation Committee will review applicants. Details on these additional travel grants will be forwarded to you as soon as they are available.

Both ARRO and ASTRO were pleased to see that over 80 residents noted on their surveys that they would be interested in serving on ASTRO committees such as the education, government relations, research, and health policy and economics committees. ARRO Executive Board members currently represent residents on some of these Committees. ASTRO’s Board generously voted to ensure that there is expanded resident representation on ASTRO Committees. We believe that residents can provide valuable insights to the ASTRO Committees and residents will benefit in turn by participating in the discussions on various issues facing Committees. ASTRO and ARRO will work in the coming months to include additional residents on ASTRO committees.

In addition, to ensure a voice for residents within the ASTRO governance structure, ARRO interests will be represented on the ASTRO Board of Directors by the Chair and Vice Chair of the Education Council. Currently, Bruce Minsky, M.D., of Memorial Sloan-Kettering, and Anthony Zietman, M.D., of Massachusetts General Hospital serve as Chair and Vice-chair, respectively. This will provide ARRO with a direct channel to the ASTRO Board of Directors via the ASTRO Education Council. ARRO will continue to present new and exciting initiatives and programs to ASTRO in this restructured, effective manner.

Importantly, ARRO and ASTRO also discussed additional ways to ensure wider representation of residency programs both within ARRO and within ASTRO. We agree that enhancing representation from smaller-size programs would benefit both ASTRO and ARRO. In the ensuing months, ARRO will develop modifications of its elections processes in order to accomplish wider representation among programs.

In conclusion, the ASTRO-ARRO Task Force is pleased to communicate these exciting new changes. As always, ARRO and ASTRO seek to improve resident education and involvement in our specialty. Please feel free to contact the ARRO Executive Committee with any additional ideas or comments. Leaders from both ARRO and ASTRO will be speaking with residents directly during the ARRO program held at the Annual Meeting in Denver.

Sincerely,

ASTRO/ARRO Task Force