Outgoing Laurentian physicist says northern program to train radiation therapists will end

A four-year program to train radiation therapists in Sudbury will end because of cuts to Laurentian University's physics department, said the department's outgoing chair.

The move could have an impact on the future of cancer care in northern Ontario, said Eduardo Galiano-Riveros.

He said seven of eight physicists in the department, including himself, are losing their jobs under the university's restructuring plan.

Among them are medical physicists who offered training in radiation therapy.

The news is the latest in the ongoing efforts for Laurentian to keep operating under insolvency, under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA), in a process that began in early February.

Galiano-Riveros said the program, which has been offered for 19 years and graduated 15 therapists each year, trained much-needed health professionals, and was offered in conjunction with the University Health Network and funded by Ontario's Ministry of Health.

"They received a bachelor's degree in radiation therapy, and these are individuals who are then tasked with actually treating the patients with radiation," said Galiano-Riveros. "They operate the machines that produce the radiation used in radiation therapy for cancer patients."

He said many stayed in the North and Ontario to work, while some went on to practise in the United States, Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. 

The loss of the Laurentian program will affect the pool of professionals available to treat northerners, said Galiano-Riveros.

"There is only one other such program in the province and it is based at the University of Toronto, so basically now the North loses the ability to train future generations of radiation therapists that will be needed to continue the fight against cancer in the North. 

"One can argue that what will happen from this point on is you will have a deficit of radiation therapies and those that due to attrition, retirement, etcetera, begin to to leave the profession in the North, may not necessarily be replaced as readily. And so it could, conceivably in the coming years, lead to a shortage of these professionals which could impact cancer care in the North." 

Galiano-Riveros said it's possible the program might be picked up by another institution such as the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, but he doesn't know of any such plans.

The Ministry of Health referred questions about the training program to the Ministry of Colleges and Universities, but a spokesperson then  referred questions about health human resources in the North to the Ministry of Health.

Galliano-Riveros said the physics department at Laurentian has also trained medical physicists who went on to work in hospitals in medical imaging and nuclear medicine (whereby radioactive substances are used to image the body), and other imaging techniques such as computer tomography and magnetic resonance imaging. 

Five of the seven professors losing their jobs are astrophysicists who were part of the team that won the 2015 Nobel Prize with Dr. Art McDonald. They've been offered temporary positions at the underground science facility SNOLAB.

Galliano-Riveros said two lab technologists also lost their jobs

One physicist will remain at Laurentian to teach first-year courses.