Introduction: Young Corner, May 2020 - PDF Version

Dear Young Corner readers, 

In our last editors’ note, we were highlighting some changes: new committee members, new editors of the corner and a new format of the newsletter. We were also looking forward to the young track programme at the 2020 annual meeting of the European SocieTy for Radiotherapy and Oncology, ESTRO 2020, with our two chairs Jolien and Steven. However, a lot more change has happened in the last few weeks and months and everything is upside down. 

First and foremost, we hope that you are well, healthy, surrounded by friends and family who are also healthy, and able to find ways to cope with the very difficult situation. Our thoughts go particularly to the people who are active in hospitals, keeping treatments going despite the risks to themselves. As you probably already know, ESTRO has put together useful resources and links on this page. 

For people working from home, the young ESTRO group has collected data from researchers within our community by surveying how they are coping with isolation, their productivity, contact or lack thereof. A total of 335 people even agreed to take an anxiety and depression test. We are currently analysing this data and will submit this for publication shortly: keep an eye out for our ESTRO journals! We also refer people working from home to the tips and tricks from Jennifer Dhont. This fun and insightful article can keep you motivated; however, please remember that it is ok NOT to be motivated and NOT to be as productive as you normally are. We are all doing our best, it is going to be harder on some of us than on others and we have to accept that and support each other. 

On a more normal note, we have been able to publish some of our “interviews with a department head”. In this series, we are interviewing more or less young or recently promoted department heads, professors and team leaders. Have a look at the interview with Sophie Perryck (recently appointed head RTT), Andrea Filippi (department head and professor) and Matthew Blackledge (recently appointed team leader) to find out how they got there and what advice they can give you if you aspire to this type of position. If you would like to answer the interview questions yourself and share your experience with yESTRO members, please write to Sophie or Jenny and we will be pleased to publish your interview in the corner. 

Stay safe! We hope to see you very soon at ESTRO 2020. 

Sophie Perryck and Jenny Bertholet
Young ESTRO Corner Editors

Sophie Perry

Jenny Bertholet