Camila Salata, PhD, who is on staff at Brazil’s nuclear energy authority, is visiting the WK Proton Therapy Center this week to learn about equipment, techniques and challenges of the Proteus®ONE proton therapy system. She is traveling as part of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The IAEA is the world’s central intergovernmental forum for scientific and technical co-operation in the nuclear field. It works for the safe, secure and peaceful uses of nuclear science and technology, contributing to international peace and security and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

“We are proud to host Dr. Salata on an official visit from Brazil,” says Lane R. Rosen, MD, medical director of the department of radiation oncology at the Willis-Knighton Cancer Center. “Dr. Salata is challenged to establish proton therapy guidelines for Brazil. She will learn about equipment, techniques and challenges of a proton therapy delivery system.”

Willis-Knighton’s proton therapy unit was the first compact pencil beam unit installed anywhere in the world, so the staff at the center can offer expert training on this unique equipment. They routinely welcome national and international visitors who want to learn more about this innovative technology and its use in the treatment of cancer patients. Awareness of the WK Proton Therapy Center was enhanced this year when the medical physics group at the cancer center were named as winners of the American Association of Physics in Medicine George Starkschall award for excellence. They won the award for a publication in a medical physics journal that described the commissioning of a proton therapy unit.

Camila Salata, PhD, (left) a radiation oncologist from Brazil, looks over the Proteus®ONE proton therapy system at Willis-Knighton Cancer Center with medical physicist Gwen Chen.