María Cecilia Atencio Rosselot is a radiologist in Mendoza, Argentina. This year she is participating in a Master’s course in Advanced Radiotherapy in Chile offered by the Arturo López Pérez Foundation with the support of the IAEA. María Cecilia is sharing her experience of the course through a series of blog posts.
Santiago, Chile, March 2018: Three quarters of the way through the Master’s in Advanced Radiotherapy at the Arturo López Pérez Foundation (FALP), and we have already completed the most difficult stages: adapting to living and studying away from our loved ones, building intercultural relationships with our Chilean hosts and with fellows from all corners of Latin America, and recognizing that, even though we were all trained and responsible professionals, we had room to learn and grow.
Our tutors’ personal effort, knowledge and guidance, and the unwavering support of Dr. Marsiglia [Medical Director of FALP’s Oncology Institute], have ensured the advancement of this first Master’s programme at an academic and organizational level.
For the students, the past six months have been important for two reasons: we have participated actively in high-tech, theoretical and practical workshops and in the Latin American Congress of Radiation Therapy, and our way of thinking has changed. Progressively, with each clinical case, we experienced a paradigm shift, justifying our decisions on a strong scientific basis while also accounting for resource availability and individual scenarios.
Intensive workshops in Robotic Radiotherapy, High Dose Rate Brachytherapy, Tomotherapy and Modulated Volumetric Arcotherapy were delivered by the FALP team of physicists and medical technologists, and supported by internationally-recognized doctors. We offer our admiration and gratitude to them all, especially Enrique Chajon, Nikita Sallabanda and Alfredo Polo, for their attentiveness to our learning and training needs.
The experience up until now hasn’t been without difficulty, but that has made it more worthwhile. Everyone – students and teachers – has grown and learned along the way, both at a professional and a personal level. I have no doubt that this first year will lay the foundation for the expected future editions so necessary to radiotherapy in Latin America, a practice that is determined to keep improving. I repeat my thanks to the IAEA for always being at our disposal, and for being the true drivers behind this project.
