Research Grant awarded Dr. Joel Poder

Meet Dr. Joel Poder, Medical physicist, St George Hospital who was awarded a cancer research grant from the St George and Sutherland Medical Research Foundation sponsored by Southern Cancer Care. Dr. Poder is researching “quantifying robustness of prostate cancer radiomics features across imaging devices”. Specifically, this project will utilize 3D printing to fabricate a device that will mimic prostate cancer imaging on MRI and PET scans.

The motivation for this project arose from the fact that the current standard for measuring the success of prostate cancer treatment is a blood test. This blood test is limited in that is not sufficiently sensitive to detect potential recurrence of prostate cancer, often resulting in multiple blood tests being required over a period leaving the patient anxious and vulnerable to the development of metastases.

The use of imaging techniques is therefore necessary to overcome this. In collaboration with a team of researchers from the University of Sydney, Dr. Poder is exploring imaging methods to provide accurate early measures of treatment response. The approach involves the use of quantitative imaging techniques such as MRI and PET as methods of monitoring the response of RT treatment. The device that will be developed as part of this project will ensure that this imaging technique can be used reproducibly across any department wishing to utilise the technique.

Read how Dr Poder is bridging science and medicine to advance cancer care.