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Chemoradiation researcher receives ASTRO honorary membership
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Edith Peterson Mitchell, MD, has been chosen as this year’s American Society for Radiation Oncology honorary member.
The award — which Mitchell will receive at the society’s annual meeting in September — is the highest honor ASTRO bestows to cancer researchers and leaders in disciplines outside radiation oncology, radiobiology or radiation physics.
Mitchell is clinical professor of medicine and medical oncology at Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University, as well as associate director for diversity programs and director of the Center to Eliminate Cancer Disparities for Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson. She also served as president of the National Medical Association.
“Dr. Edith Mitchell has been a longtime proponent of combined-modality treatment, using chemotherapy and radiation therapy together in order to provide [patients with cancer] with the best possible outcomes,” ASTRO Chair David C. Beyer, MD, FASTRO, said in a press release. “Our specialty is privileged to have a champion such as Dr. Mitchell, who is a widely respected clinician as well as decorated military veteran. Her service to both our country and our field is laudable.”
Through the NRG Oncology/Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG), she has provided medical oncology leadership for prospective chemoradiation trials that defined standards of care for gastrointestinal malignancies.
“The RTOG trials helped break new ground for radiation oncology,” Bruce D. Minsky, MD, FASTRO, the society’s immediate past chair, said in the release. “Edith is a strong advocate and friend of radiation oncology. I can think of no other medical oncologist who has made more significant positive contributions to our community.”
Mitchell received a commission through the Health Professions Scholarship Program to join the Air Force while in medical school. She entered active duty after completing her fellowship. She now is a retired brigadier general, having become the first female physician to attain this rank in the U.S. Air Force.