Jefferson Radiation Oncologist Meets Vice President Joe Biden

Joe Biden and Mark Hurwitz

Joe Biden, Vice President of the United States, Neal Kassel, Chairman of the Focused Ultrasound Foundation, and Mark Hurwitz of Thomas Jefferson University.

Researchers at the 4th International Focused Ultrasound Surgery Symposium, held last week in North Bethesda, were surprised when United States Vice President Joe Biden joined the poster presentation unannounced, mingling with researchers and learning about the latest work in the area of focused ultrasound.

Jefferson’s Mark Hurwitz, MD, Vice-Chair for Quality, Safety and Performance Excellence and Director of Thermal Oncology in the Department of Radiation Oncology was on hand to meet the Vice President. “Given his busy schedule, I was impressed at the amount of time the VicePresident spent meeting with both senior and junior investigators to learn about this innovative approach to thermal therapy,” said Dr. Hurwitz.

Focused ultrasound is a non-invasive approach to thermal ablation and mechanical manipulation of tissues with many emerging applications across medicine including oncology, neurology, gynecology, cardiology, vascular medicine, and others.

Hurwitz is a leader in the field of focused ultrasound and was the principle investigator of the pivotal multinational phase III trial assessing magnetic resonance guided focused ultrasound for treatment of painful bone metastases which led to FDA approval. The study was published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute in April of this year and showed that the treatment could reduce the immense pain that patients experience when cancer spreads and grows in the bone.

At the current meeting Hurwitz served as a panelist on three panels:   “Enhanced Immunotherapy,” “Controversies in Prostate Cancer Treatment,” and “Beyond Ablation.” He also participated in a press briefing on the latest focused ultrasound research in oncology moderated by Andrew Von Eschenbach, MD, former Commissioner of the FDA and Director of the National Cancer Institute.

You can learn more about Jefferson’s Thermal Oncology Program here.

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