Bobby Koneru: Why Radiation Oncology Needs to Stop Playing Defense and Start Playing Offense
Bobby Koneru, Founder and President of POG and Medical Director at Wendt Regional Cancer Center, shared a post on X:
“Why Radiation Oncology Needs to Stop Playing Defense and Start Playing Offense
I recently wrote a post on entrepreneurship across medical specialties, and the findings were eye-opening.
While dermatology, radiology, and cardiology have robust entrepreneurial ecosystems driving innovation, radiation oncology remains surprisingly conservative despite being one of the most technologically sophisticated fields in medicine.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth:
We’ve been playing defense for too long.
While we’ve focused on protecting our traditional scope of practice, other specialties have been playing offense.
Dermatology has expanded into oncology with superficial treatments.
Urology has embraced advanced technologies and minimally invasive approaches that sometimes compete with our traditional treatments. Meanwhile, we’ve watched from the sidelines.
We have even cannibalized ourselves with competition between protons and photons.
Sometimes the best defense is offense.
It’s time for organizations like ASTRO and ACRO to actively champion entrepreneurship within our specialty.
We need:
- Business education integrated into residency training
- Innovation incubators within academic centers
- Regulatory guidance for bringing new technologies to market
- Mentorship programs connecting clinicians with entrepreneurs
- Support radiation oncologists that are bringing innovation to the field
- Risk-sharing models that make innovation accessible.
The opportunity is immense:
We sit at the intersection of AI, precision medicine, advanced imaging, and robotic systems.
Our field has the potential to lead healthcare innovation, not follow it.”
More posts featuring Bobby Koneru on OncoDaily.
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Challenging the Status Quo in Colorectal Cancer 2024
December 6-8, 2024
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ASCO Annual Meeting
May 30 - June 4, 2024
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Yvonne Award 2024
May 31, 2024
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OncoThon 2024, Online
Feb. 15, 2024
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Global Summit on War & Cancer 2023, Online
Dec. 14-16, 2023