Cecilia Haddad

Graduated in Physics at Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie in São Paulo – SP – Brazil (1975) followed by residency in radiotherapy at Hospital ACCamargo- Fundação Antonio Prudente SP (1976 – 1977). Her career started in 1977 at the Hospital da Beneficência Portuguesa-SP where she worked for 8 years. During this period there was, an interval of 8 months abroad, a non-degree fellow at MDAnderson Hospital - The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. Back to Brazil she was approved and became a Specialist in Radiotherapy Medical Physics by the Brazilian Association of Physicists in Medicine (ABFM), where she was already a member as treasurer of this organization. She was also approved and obtained the license radiation protection supervisor by CNEN. (National Nuclear Energy Commission) From 1987 to 1998 she worked for the Hospital das Clínicas of the University of São Paulo, where she participated in the training of several residents in radiotherapy physics, and had her Complementary Training of High Dose Rate Brachytherapy in the United States and then treating the first patient in South America. She also participated in the first treatment of several hospitals in Brazil as well as in Venezuela and Argentina. At this time, she trained many physicists and doctors in Latin America. In 1991 she started to work at Hospital Sírio Libanês (HSL) SP as coordinator of the Radiotherapy Physics Department, where she is still today. At HSL she created the medical physics residency program, being the first non-medical residency program at the hospital. This program was very successful and today there are more than 32 physicists trained in radiotherapy who occupy prominent positions throughout the country as well as in the USA and Qatar. Last year they had 81 applicants for 2 vacancies. In 2000 at HSL, she was responsible for implementing the IMRT technique in South America and after that, they became the reference center for training in Latin America. In 1998, she participated in the initiation of the LDR Prostate Brachytherapy program, the second institution in the country to use this practice, and today approximately 1200 patients have already been treated there with this technique. The training course in LDR Prostate Brachytherapy, theoretical and practical, it has started in 1998 and continues to this day, including in addition to training physicists and doctors in Latin America, we also participated in the first treatment at the National Cancer Institute of Mexico and in many Centers in Brazil. One of the leaders in the creation of the “Last Generation Radiotherapy and Quality Assurance” Course in 2001 and we continue without interruption until this year 2022 (except for 2020 due to the pandemic), where international speakers present the latest generation of radiotherapy worldwide, including a visit to the department headed by her and her team From 2009 to 2011 she was the President of ABFM (Brazilian Association of Medical Physics) when she worked hard to formalize the residency of medical physics in Brazil with the Ministry of Health. In November 2011, he coordinated the Regional Training Course on Quality Assurance in Radiotherapy Physics of IMRT of the IAEA (International Agency of Atomic Energy) held at Hospital Sírio Libanês. She has been a member of AAPM for over 20 years, including being a member of the LAASC Latin America Affairs Subcommittee from 2015 to 2019. At the IMPCB (International Medical Physics Certification Board) she was the Chair of the Nomination and Election Committee from 2015 to 2020. She participated in some IAEA Projects, including a “clinical visit” at London Regional Cancer Center- Canada (2013). At HSL, together with her team, they train several physicists from South America with a project by ARCAL – IAEA. She has written some book chapters and several papers in scientific journals. She will be attending, as a teacher, the 24 to 28 October 2022 Regional Training Course on Structured and Supervised Clinical Training Programs in Medical Physics from the IAEA. Today in addition to Coordinating the radiotherapy physics department, she is the coordinator of the Radiological Protection Commission at HSL, a Counsellor of the ABFM Biennium 2022/2023 and she is a member of the PROFESSIONAL RELATIONS COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP (2022-2025) of IOMP (International Organization for Medical Physics) “I believe that I contributed significantly to the practice and science of Medical Physics in Brazil with pioneering technology and above all training so many physicists in radiotherapy.”