Michelle Lis - I am and I will

I am Michelle Lis, a researcher at GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung where I am developing a 4D dose delivery system. I come from Chicago, Illinois, in the USA. Though I have had an interest in pursuing medicine since grade school, at times, I toyed with becoming an architect, an anthropologist, or a dancer; I have always been set on a medical career. During academia, I had always been intrigued by the forces of change, through nature, as in evolution, through the acts of man, as in archeology, and through the impacts of our surroundings, as in psychology and chronic diseases. The supreme goal of ‘curing cancer’ intrigued me most, and, even before I understood what that could possibly entail, I was sure that I wanted to be a major part of the effort. After choosing to attend Loyola University Chicago, I declared a major in Biology, intending to become an oncologist. During my second year, I became interested in bio-engineering and declared a second major, in physics. I discovered a summer research opportunity at Loyola Medical Center, in Maywood, and was accepted, and received a research scholarship. My research and experience in the clinic solidified my interest in medical physics and radiotherapy research.

I am an OMA Fellow and I will transform the future of cancer treatment

I went on to study medical physics at Louisiana State University, LSU. During my second year, I discovered the International Training Network (ITN) called Optimization of Medical Accelerators (OMA), which a collaboration of organizations focused on advancing cancer treatment. I was accepted at GSI to develop and test a dose delivery system for treating moving tumors. This can potentially be the solution to treating thousands of advanced stage lung and pancreatic cancer patients, who generally receive the grim prognosis of less than two years. After successful implementation and experimental validation at GSI, we will transfer our system to CNAO for transition into the clinic.

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#IAmAndIwill
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