Increasing Global AMPERE (Access for Medical Physicists to Education and Research Excellence)

Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide, with over 19 million new cases and about 10 million deaths per year. If the current trend continues, the burden of cancer is expected to increase to 22 million new cases annually by 2030, with 81% of new cases and almost 88% of mortality occurring in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Recently the U.S. launched the reignited Cancer Moonshot, with goals to reduce the death rate from cancer by at least 50% over the next 25 years and improve the experience of people and families living with and surviving cancer, ultimately ending cancer as we know it today. While the immediate goals are domestic, the ambitions of the cancer moonshot extend beyond the borders of the USA, especially as the burden of cancer falls heavily to LMICs. International work as part of the Cancer Moonshot is focused on fairness and collaboration, with one major area being research collaborations that could benefit both the USA and LMIC. A critical group that is needed for global health collaborations is that of Medical Physicists. Medical physicists are health care professionals who have received advanced and specialized training in using the principles and procedures of physics in medicine. They play a vital role in ensuring the quality and safety of radiation therapy (used in the treatment of over 50 % of cancer patients), diagnostic imaging, nuclear medicine, and other medical applications that involve ionizing or non-ionizing radiation. Medical physicists also contribute to the development of new technologies, techniques, and protocols that can improve the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of cancer. Recent needs assessment work by the International Council (IC) of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) has identified areas including in research and education that could avail win-win collaborations between the USA and LMIC in consonance with the goals of the Cancer Moonshot. To maximize the impact of such collaborations, there is major need to build research capacity of medical physicists in global health to address the growing global burden of cancer and disparities and build sustainable collaborations. To address this unmet need, the primary goal of this project is to increase AMPERE (Access for Medical Physicists to Education and Research Excellence) in global health. The program is designed to train the next generation of AAPM members and their LMIC compeers for win-win global health collaborations with resulting innovations and capacity building that will advance the goals of the Cancer Moonshot in the USA and globally.