Andrew Miller
I am an Australian trained radiation oncologist, a Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of Wollongong's Graduate School of Medicine, and an Adjunct Professor of Informatics at the SMART Facility heading the Clinical Informatics Lab and undertaking research in the the Centre for Oncology Informatics, and the Centre for Medical Radiation Physics.
Some of this requires explanation - a radiation oncologist is a medical specialist who deals (almost) exclusively with cancer patients and uses 'radiation' as his treatment modality. I say 'radiation' because the major amount of treatment uses x-rays (or "photons" as we like to call them!), but there is also a decent proportion treated with electrons. I won't labour the difference, you can look it up!
So you are wondering - what I had to do to be a radiation oncologist? I had to go to medical school (5 years), then be an intern (1 year), resident (2.5 years), registrar (5.5 years). So how long have I been at school? Primary (6 years), Secondary (6 years), science degree (3 years), education diploma (1 year), school teaching (7 years) ... then the medicine! Never really left school!
So the journey has been long and varied, starting with secondary science teacher training and 7 years in the country (teaching at Oaklands Central School and Leeton High School). Medical training followed at the then innovative problem-based learning course at Newcastle University, where I got married and started having children (n=6). After completing radiation oncology training at Newcastle and Sydney (RNSH and St George hospitals), in 1997, I uprooted the family and crossed the Tasman Sea and spent 6 years in the green & blue of regional New Zealand where I ended up in the position of Head of Department. Since then I have returned to Australia and settled into an academic practice in the city of Wollongong south of Sydney. Spectacular scenery, cosy living and very good amenities.
It is tempting to think that a lot of time was wasted before getting to the main game, but in fact, all those previous experiences are responsible for getting me here and involved in Informatics. All professionals have a 'flavour', and the education and late medical start are a very distinct 'flavour' in my medical career. Mainly my thinking was not socialised into a medical mould because much of that socialising had been done earlier. So if you are interested in medicine and you have already been through one career - it's not too late, and later on you will be special because of the experience!
My hobby is computing and I am a lover of Open Source software, it is unwise to discuss Windows near me. Linux! that's the go.
I am also a graduate student in the Faculty of Informatics (SISAT), UoW, a Clinical Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Medicine, UoW, and one of two Directors of the Centre for Oncology Informatics, UoW.
My domain expert areas are Medical Informatics and Technical & Conformal Radiotherapy, with sub-site clinical specialty in Prostate Cancer, Head & Neck Cancer.
In the Informatics domain, I am working in areas of
* Argumentation in Clinical Decision Support
* Radiation Oncology Vocabulary definition
* specification and development of a Oncology Ontology
* Business Process Modelling of Oncology Work and Knowledge flow in the setting of clinical trials and routine clinical work
* Clinical Knowledge Markup Language for the annotation of MEDLINE abstracts, clinical trial documents and EPR repositories.
In the past I have undertaken the implementation of IMPAC's MultiAccess (a.k.a. Siemens LANTIS) Oncology Information System, and also undertaken routine clinical reporting from the database in the form of QA checks and Discharge Summaries. This work was the genesis of my Informatics interest. I have also been involved in the integration of Varian's ARIA Oncology Information System in the clinic.
Phone: +61 (0)4 0965 4239
Some of this requires explanation - a radiation oncologist is a medical specialist who deals (almost) exclusively with cancer patients and uses 'radiation' as his treatment modality. I say 'radiation' because the major amount of treatment uses x-rays (or "photons" as we like to call them!), but there is also a decent proportion treated with electrons. I won't labour the difference, you can look it up!
So you are wondering - what I had to do to be a radiation oncologist? I had to go to medical school (5 years), then be an intern (1 year), resident (2.5 years), registrar (5.5 years). So how long have I been at school? Primary (6 years), Secondary (6 years), science degree (3 years), education diploma (1 year), school teaching (7 years) ... then the medicine! Never really left school!
So the journey has been long and varied, starting with secondary science teacher training and 7 years in the country (teaching at Oaklands Central School and Leeton High School). Medical training followed at the then innovative problem-based learning course at Newcastle University, where I got married and started having children (n=6). After completing radiation oncology training at Newcastle and Sydney (RNSH and St George hospitals), in 1997, I uprooted the family and crossed the Tasman Sea and spent 6 years in the green & blue of regional New Zealand where I ended up in the position of Head of Department. Since then I have returned to Australia and settled into an academic practice in the city of Wollongong south of Sydney. Spectacular scenery, cosy living and very good amenities.
It is tempting to think that a lot of time was wasted before getting to the main game, but in fact, all those previous experiences are responsible for getting me here and involved in Informatics. All professionals have a 'flavour', and the education and late medical start are a very distinct 'flavour' in my medical career. Mainly my thinking was not socialised into a medical mould because much of that socialising had been done earlier. So if you are interested in medicine and you have already been through one career - it's not too late, and later on you will be special because of the experience!
My hobby is computing and I am a lover of Open Source software, it is unwise to discuss Windows near me. Linux! that's the go.
I am also a graduate student in the Faculty of Informatics (SISAT), UoW, a Clinical Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Medicine, UoW, and one of two Directors of the Centre for Oncology Informatics, UoW.
My domain expert areas are Medical Informatics and Technical & Conformal Radiotherapy, with sub-site clinical specialty in Prostate Cancer, Head & Neck Cancer.
In the Informatics domain, I am working in areas of
* Argumentation in Clinical Decision Support
* Radiation Oncology Vocabulary definition
* specification and development of a Oncology Ontology
* Business Process Modelling of Oncology Work and Knowledge flow in the setting of clinical trials and routine clinical work
* Clinical Knowledge Markup Language for the annotation of MEDLINE abstracts, clinical trial documents and EPR repositories.
In the past I have undertaken the implementation of IMPAC's MultiAccess (a.k.a. Siemens LANTIS) Oncology Information System, and also undertaken routine clinical reporting from the database in the form of QA checks and Discharge Summaries. This work was the genesis of my Informatics interest. I have also been involved in the integration of Varian's ARIA Oncology Information System in the clinic.
Phone: +61 (0)4 0965 4239
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Papers by Andrew Miller
[written but never submitted for publication]
records integrates psychosocial information with other clinical information, enabling patient-centred care. In NSW, an ehealth system being developed and pilot tested, supports ePRO assessments which generate real-time feedback to the clinical team and access to self-management resources to assist survivors to better manage their own health and wellbeing.
The nomenclature is systematically constructed using the Foundational Model of Anatomy, ICRU Report 50 and ICRU report 62. The system foreshadows a XML metadata structure to detail the method of construction of volumes. Treatment Planning System vendors should build their software with the ability to use this systematic construction technique so that contours and volumes in a radiotherapy plan can be annotated. This metadata will allow the investigation of how a radiation plan’s construction can affect the therapy outcome. A Standardized Nomenclature is provided as an Appendix.
[written but never submitted for publication]
records integrates psychosocial information with other clinical information, enabling patient-centred care. In NSW, an ehealth system being developed and pilot tested, supports ePRO assessments which generate real-time feedback to the clinical team and access to self-management resources to assist survivors to better manage their own health and wellbeing.
The nomenclature is systematically constructed using the Foundational Model of Anatomy, ICRU Report 50 and ICRU report 62. The system foreshadows a XML metadata structure to detail the method of construction of volumes. Treatment Planning System vendors should build their software with the ability to use this systematic construction technique so that contours and volumes in a radiotherapy plan can be annotated. This metadata will allow the investigation of how a radiation plan’s construction can affect the therapy outcome. A Standardized Nomenclature is provided as an Appendix.
The natural language statements relating concepts are available on a website for verification, and readers are invited to complete the survey at http://coi-hs-survey.appspot.com/ to contribute.
The application in Oncology was to use a smart device to collct data from patients, and particularly to use the technology to collect a lot of data to demographically define the patient. This desire comes from the example provided by the Erlotinib (Iressa) Lung Cancer Trial which demonstarted that responders were identified accurately by the combination of 'female,'asian', non-smoker' and 'adenocarcinoma'. More recently, response to crizotinib is predicted by 'young', 'non-smoker' and 'adenocarcinoma', which is further defined by the mutated ALK gene. How much more demographic data is useful in selecting treatment? The reason for this usefulness is that some of the demographic data is phenotypic, that is, it is determined by the genetic makeup of the patient. It is theoretically possible that certain physical characteristics will reveal idiosyncracity in genetic make up.
The Tablet Project is being developed as part of the PROMPT Project funded by the Cancer Institute NSW in collaboration with Liverpool. The aim of that project is to use the Tablet Project's framework to address issues of survivorship (an area not originally detailed for use). The presentation of the Tablet Project data into the clincial environment is likely to revolutionise workflow for users of MOSAIQ.
The attached PPT file shows the portions of the project as is now applied to the PROMPT Project.
This is the currently used protocol for naming structures in the Illawarra Cancer Care Centre, and is provided as an assistance to other radiation oncology departments who want an easier learning curve to climb. Adapt as you wish.
The basis of the work is the correlation of name with FMAID (Foundational Model of Anatomy) which is an ontology developed with the assistance of a radiation physicist, Dr Ira Kalet, in Seattle. Feel free to adapt names to your preferred word, but make sure that you look up the definition in FMA first so that we are clearly identifying the same thing!