40 years. 40 memories. 40 weeks

As an Iranian medical physicist, I experienced restrictions in interacting with the rest of the world due to US sanction against my country. In 2012, a radiotherapy department in Germany helped me go through the visa application to go to Europe. I met a colleague whom helped me go through the process once I explained him how much I was interested in joining ESTRO and described the difficulties I encountered in joining the Society due to the ongoing embargo. I still recall how glad I was when I finally became an ESTRO member. Since then, I participated at around 10 ESTRO school courses, workshops and congresses. Thanks to the continuous and helpful dialogue with ESTRO faculty members, I got enough knowledge and experience to improve radiotherapy practice in my country, which is on average 10 years behind developed countries. I commissioned the first adaptive IMRT treatment, the first successful Deep Inspiration Breath Hold radiotherapy and 3D-Image based brachytherapy in Iran which resulted in having many of my cancer patients being able to receive precise treatment and high quality of life. To sum up, I see the collaboration between ESTRO and scientists a key point for us specialists to improve our treatment quality and to support cancer patients more than ever before. 

  • Name: Sara
  • Last name: Abdollahi 
  • Institution: Reza Radiotherapy & Oncology Center, Mashhad-Iran 
  • ESTRO member since 2014