Proton Therapy medical director featured at county chamber lunch

A radiation oncologist and medical director for the Provision Center for Proton Therapy will be the featured speaker at a quarterly networking luncheon for the Anderson County Chamber of Commerce next week.

The speaker will be Dr. Marcio Fagundes.

The chamber is having the luncheon in partnership with Junior Achievement of East Tennessee. It’s scheduled from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Friday, Sept. 20, at the Hollingsworth Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership, (Junior Achievement BizTown), at 2135 N. Charles Seivers Blvd. in Clinton.

Fagundes will give a presentation on proton therapy, a press release said. He is a frequent speaker on proton therapy and has published dozens of articles in peer-reviewed journals.

Fagundes first became interested in proton therapy during his internship and residency at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital, where he had the opportunity to guest intern at Harvard University. Upon completion of his residency, he went back to Harvard Medical School for his fellowship, where he began treating patients with proton therapy in 1993, the release said.

Fagundes was an assistant professor at Tufts University in Boston, where he developed protocols for treatment and retreatment using a new modality, IMRT, which at the time was not yet FDA-approved, the release said. He earned his medical degree at Universidade Federal do RGS in Porto Alegre, Brazil, where he is originally from.

Opening in early 2014, the Provision Center for Proton Therapy will begin treating patients with the most innovative cancer treatment in the world and will become one of two centers in the Southeast, one of 14 in the United States, and one of 30 in the world.

“The precision of proton therapy minimizes damage to healthy tissue and does not compromise quality of life,” the release said. “Because a patient’s quality of life is preserved, the patient is able to resume normal activities.”

The release said the Proton Center will treat 900 patients a year when fully operational, with an estimated $1.5 million economic impact from medical tourism.

The public is invited to the luncheon. Tickets are $25 for Chamber members and $30 for guests, and they are available at the Chamber office or by visiting the Chamber’s website at www.andersoncountychamber.org.