Visiting Graduate Student

Radiation therapy requires thoughtful evaluation of multidisciplinary treatment options to predict treatment effectiveness and potential acute and long-term toxicities. Advances in tumor profiling and molecular biomarkers increasingly allow clinical outcomes and treatment-related effects to be evaluated alongside patient- and disease-specific factors.

As patterns of care continue to evolve, robust clinical data is essential for assessing current treatment approaches, refining clinical management strategies, developing meaningful quality metrics, and improving the delivery of radiation therapy.

The department is developing a comprehensive research database that includes patient demographics and characteristics, baseline health and medical history, tumor characteristics and staging, treatment details, diagnostic and treatment imaging, clinical outcomes, and treatment-related toxicity data. This repository will support future studies examining survival outcomes, toxicities, late effects, treatment combinations, and the effectiveness of radiation therapy planning and delivery techniques.

Internship Overview

This internship provides an introduction to clinical research in radiation oncology and medical physics. The intern will learn about human-subject protections, HIPAA requirements, research compliance, clinical data management, and the role of informatics in radiation oncology. They will also have opportunities to observe clinical medical physics practices.

The intern will support an approved Institutional Review Board research study by collecting and organizing clinical data, refining anonymization and de-identification processes, assisting with data sharing, and contributing to the implementation of an informatics data-management system.

Key Responsibilities

• Participate in departmental orientation, onboarding, and clinical tours.
• Collaborate with the project team to establish internship milestones and objectives.
• Expand and refine an existing clinical data repository.
• Collect, review, organize, and maintain detailed research data.
• Support data-quality checks and documentation.
• Refine methods for anonymizing and de-identifying clinical data.
• Assist with preparing approved data sets for sharing with research collaborators.
• Contribute to the implementation and evaluation of an informatics data-management system.
• Support clinical evaluation activities involving the research system and data repository.
• Develop recommendations and a roadmap for future data-collection efforts and research projects.
• Follow all applicable requirements related to HIPAA, human-subject protections, research compliance, and institutional data-security standards.

Anticipated Internship Timeline

• Week 1: Complete onboarding and clinical orientation; discuss internship milestones and objectives.
• Weeks 2–4: Further develop the existing data repository and prepare it for data collection.
• Weeks 5–6: Refine anonymization and de-identification methods.
• Weeks 7–12: Perform data collection and make necessary process and repository refinements.
• Week 13: Develop a roadmap for future data-collection activities and research projects.
• Week 14: Prepare approved data for sharing under an established data-sharing agreement and assist with clinical evaluation activities involving the research system.

Learning Objectives

By the end of the internship, the intern will be able to:

• Explain the importance of human-subject protections, HIPAA, research compliance, and responsible clinical data management.
• Identify common challenges associated with clinical research data collection.
• Collect, organize, anonymize, and prepare research data for approved sharing.
• Describe the technical and informatics systems used in radiation oncology.
• Discuss the roles of medical physicists and information technology professionals in radiation oncology.
• Explain how structured clinical data can support quality improvement and future research.

Systems Access

Based on assigned responsibilities and institutional approval, the intern may receive access to:

• Institutional email
• Electronic health record systems
• Research and compliance platforms

• Approved clinical data-management systems

   

All access will be limited to the minimum necessary for the intern’s responsibilities and will require completion of applicable training and compliance requirements.