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COLIN GEORGE ORTON Edward Lee Nickoloff


Profession: Radiation Oncology Physicist (retired)

Birth: Born in the UK, June 4th 1938.

Education:
B.Sc. Physics (Honours) Bristol University, 1959.
M.Sc. Radiation Physics, London University, 1961.
Ph.D. Radiation Physics, London University, 1965.

Certifications:
1983: American Board of Radiology (Therapeutic Radiological Physics)
1989: American Board of Medical Physics (Radiation Oncology Physics).

Career:
Upon graduation with a B.Sc. in physics Dr. Orton was referred to the graduate medical physics program at the St. Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical College, London University, by his atomic physics professor Cecil Powell (Nobel Laureate for discovering the p meson). There he worked on his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees under the guidance of Professor Joseph Rotblat (later Nobel Peace Prize awardee). In 1961 he was given the title Instructor and taught physics to pre-medical students and radiation oncologists studying for their Boards. His research required the use of the 1st high-energy radiotherapy linac in the UK, which was being commissioned at the medical school before being moved to the Radiotherapy Department at the hospital for patient treatments. It was during this period that he worked with many great medical physicists early in their careers, including Jack Fowler, Don Herbert, Chris Marshall, and Vernon Smith, to name a few.

In 1966 at a British Institute of Radiology meeting in London he met Dr. Milton Freedman who offered him a Chief Physicist/Assistant Professor position in his Radiation Oncology Department at NYU Medical Center, where he stayed until 1975. On his 1st day at work, the radiobiologist in the department came to his office and asked him if he’d be willing to teach radiobiology to the residents because he preferred to be in the lab and didn’t like to “waste time” teaching. This was a seminal moment in Dr. Orton’s career since he continued to teach radiobiology to residents, therapists and physicists every year from then on. This also led to his lifelong research interest in biological aspects of radiotherapy, especially time/dose relationships. It was during this period in New York that Dr. Orton became involved in AAPM activities, and was President of RAMPS and Edited the Quarterly Bulletin of the AAPM. It was as the Editor of the Quarterly Bulletin that he initiated a series of “Mind Benders” and one of these involved solving a relatively simple Nominal Standard Dose (NSD) problem, which he also sent to about 30 experts worldwide who had written papers using the NSD equation. Over 50% of the responders submitted the wrong answer, including the originator of the NSD concept himself, Dr. Frank Ellis (although he did send a telegram stating that he was very embarrassed and correcting his answer). This led Dr. Orton to simplify the NSD by introducing the Time Dose Factor (TDF). At this same time, Eric Hall was just completing the 1st edition of his famous radiobiology textbook, which was to include a chapter on NSD. By coincidence, Dr. Orton was visiting him at his Columbia University office when Dr. Hall received a telephone call from his publisher who did not want to publish the approximately 25 tables of NSD that he had prepared. Dr. Orton convinced him that it would be better, and less confusing, to publish just five pages of TDF tables instead. In return for producing these tables for the book, Dr. Hall introduced Dr. Orton to Frank Ellis in the lobby of the Palmer House in Chicago during the AAPM Annual meeting a few weeks later. Drs. Orton and Ellis then sat in the lobby for several hours and wrote the 1st draft of the first of several papers on the TDF concept.

In 1975 Dr. Orton was recruited by Arvin Glicksman to work as Chief Physicist and Associate Professor of Radiation Medicine at Rhode Island Hospital, Brown University, Providence, RI. He taught several courses at Brown University and directed the research of his 1st Ph.D. student, Tim Schultheiss.

In 1981, Bill Powers recruited Dr. Orton as his Chief Physicist/Professor at the Radiation Oncology Center/Wayne State University, Detroit, where he stayed until his retirement in 2003. It was during this period that he was elected President of the AAPM and, later, Chairman of the ACMP and, later still, President of the American Brachytherapy Society. At Wayne State he directed the CAMPEP-accredited medical physics graduate program for over 20 years, with close to 200 M.S. and Ph.D. graduates. It was during the mid-1980’s that Larry Lanzl, then President of the IOMP, involved him in IOMP activities, first as the Editor of the new Medical Physics World, and later as Secretary-General. This culminated in his being elected IOMP President and later President of the IUPESM.

In the late 1990’s Dr. Orton was appointed Editor of Medical Physics, a position he held for eight years, after which he continued his involvement with the journal as the Moderator of the Point/Counterpoint series, which he had initiated in 1998. Although Dr. Orton officially “retired” in 2003, he continued to remain “academically’ active running the Point/Counterpoints, teaching courses, etc. whenever he could find time between visiting family and friends, traveling, and playing golf.

Publications [Up to 15]:

  1. Orton, C.G. The Radiation Induced Changes in Optical Density in Plastics.  Ph.D. Thesis, London University, 1965.
  2. Orton, C.G., Ellis, F.  A Simplification in the Use of the NSD Concept in Practical Radiotherapy.  Brit. J. Radiol. 46:529‑537, 1973.
  3. Orton, C.G.  Time‑Dose Factors (TDFs) in Brachytherapy.  Brit. J. Radiology, 47:603‑607, 1974.
  4. Orton, C.G., Webber, B.M.  Time‑Dose Factor (TDF) Analysis of Dose Rate Effects in Permanent Implant Dosimetry.  Int. J. Radiation Oncology, 2:55‑60, 1977.
  5. Orton, C.G., Mondalek, P.M., Spicka, J.T., Herron, D.S., and Andres, L.I. "Lung Corrections in Photon Beam Treatment Planning:  Are We Ready?" Int. J. Radiat. Oncol. Biol. Phys. 10:2191‑2199, 1984.
  6. Orton, C.G. and Wolf‑Rosenblum, S.  "Dose Dependence of Complication Rates in Cervix Cancer Radiotherapy" Int. J. Radiat. Oncol. Biol. Phys. 12,37‑44,1986.
  7. Orton, C.G. and Cohen L.  "A Unified Approach to Dose‑Effect Relationships in Radiotherapy I:  Modified TDF and Linear Quadratic Equations." Int. J.Radiat. Oncol. Biol. Phys. 14, 549‑556, 1988.
  8. Orton, C.G.  "A Unified Approach to Dose‑Effect Relationships in Radiotherapy II:  Inhomogeneous Dose Distributions." Int. J. Radiat. Oncol. Biol. Phys. 4, 557‑560, 1988.
  9. Orton, C.G. Seyedsadr, M., and Somnay, A. "Comparison of High and Low Dose Rate Remote Afterloading for Cervix Cancer and the Importance of Fractionation."  Int. J. Radiat. Oncol. Biol. Phys. 21, 1425-1434, 1991.
  10. Orton, C.G. "High Dose Rate Versus Low Dose Rate Brachytherapy for Gynecological Cancer."  Seminars in Radiation Oncology 3, 232-239, 1993.
  11. Orton, C.G. "Uses of Therapeutic X-Rays in Medicine."  Health Physics, 69(5):662-676, 1995.
  12. Orton, C.G., Chungbin, S., Klein, E.E., Gillin, M.T., Schultheiss, T.E., Sause, W.T. Study of Lung Corrections in a Clinical Trial (RTOG 88-08).  Int. J. Radiat. Oncol. Biol. Phys. 41, 787-794, 1998.
  13. Orton, C.G.  “High and Low Dose Rate Brachytherapy for Cervical Carcinoma.”  Acta Oncologica 37, 117-125, 1998.
  14. Orton, C.G.  “High-Dose-Rate Brachytherapy may be Radiobiologically Superior to Low-Dose-Rate due to Slow Repair of Late-Responding Normal Tissue Cells.”  Int. J. Radiat. Oncol. Biol. Phys. 49, 183-189, 2001.
  15. Orton, C.G. and Hendee, W.R. “Controversies in Medical Physics”. AAPM College Park MD, 2008.

Awards:
1993        Oettlé Memorial Lecturer, The Cancer Association of South Africa
1993        William D. Coolidge Award, American Association of Physicists in Medicine
1995        Hartman Orator, American College of Medical Physics
1995        Ulrich Henschke Lecturer, American Brachytherapy Society
1997         Marvin M.D. Williams Professional Achievement Award, American College of Medical Physics
1998          Giaoacchino Failla Memorial Lecturer, Radiological and Medical Physics Society
1998       Ramaiah Naidu Orator, Association of Medical Physicists of India, New Delhi
2003        Award of Merit, Int’l. Union of Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine

American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) Activities:
1971‑1973: Editor, AAPM Quarterly Bulletin
1974‑1976 and 1997-    : Associate Editor, Medical Physics
1970‑1973 and 1980‑1982: Member, Board of Directors
1974‑1977: Chairman, Computer Applications Committee
1981: President
1984‑1986: Chairman, Educational Council
1984‑1986: Chairman, Task Group on Lung Corrections in Radiotherapy
1986‑1987: Chairman, Annual Meeting Technical Exhibits Committee
1987-1990: Chairman, International Affairs Committee
1997-2004: Editor, Medical Physics

Other Professional Organization Activities:

Civic Activities:
1977‑1981: Rhode Island State Radiation Advisory Commission (Vice‑Chairman, 1979‑1981)

Avocations and Special Interests:
Badminton, golf

Family:
Wife Barbara (M.S., medical physicist, retired)
Son Nigel (Ph.D., medical physicist)
Daughter Susanne (M.S., accountant)
Son Philip (M.S., ocean physicist)