Lisa Kachnic, M.D., chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), has been elected president of the American Board of Radiology (ABR). She assumed the role after being chosen president-elect of the organization in March 2014 and succeeds former ABR President Milton Guiberteau, M.D.
Kachnic officially began her role as president on Oct. 26 at the completion of the fall ABR meeting in California. Over the years, she has served in a volunteer role on many of the organization’s oversight committees and has been an elected member of their board since 2010.
“It is an enormous honor to be chosen by my fellow board members to serve as president of this wonderful organization,” Kachnic said. “The ABR serves a crucial function in ensuring that practitioners in the field of radiology continue to advance their skills and education and adhere to the highest standards of excellence in patient care. I am looking forward to working with the Board of Governors and the Board of Trustees to enhance the organization’s reputation for excellence.”
Founded in 1934, the ABR is a nonprofit organization and is one of 24 independent national boards that are members of the American Board of Medical Specialties. The mission of the organization is to serve the public by certifying that its diplomates have acquired and demonstrated the knowledge, skill and understanding necessary for the practice of diagnostic radiology, interventional radiology, radiation oncology and medical physics.
Kachnic heads the Radiation Oncology service at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC), with a personal research focus on optimizing sphincter-preserving chemoradiation therapy for locally advanced anal cancer. In a national trial, Kachnic demonstrated that intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), which focuses the radiation dose on the tumor and not the surrounding normal structures in the body, was effective in reducing the high rate of normal tissue toxicities associated with chemoradiation. Following that study, IMRT has become standard practice for anal cancer.
Prior to joining VUMC and VICC, Kachnic served as chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at Boston Medical Center and professor of Radiation Oncology at Boston University School of Medicine. She also served on the Radiation Oncology faculty at Massachusetts General Hospital.
She earned her undergraduate degree from Boston College and her medical degree from Tufts University. She completed her residency in radiation oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital where she served as chief resident in her final year.
Kachnic serves in several leadership positions among the National Cancer Institute’s adult research bases. She is involved in NRG Oncology’s gastrointestinal (GI) and outcome strategic committees, and is co-chair of their cancer prevention and control program. She is also an executive officer, GI Radiation Oncology chair, anal rectal cancer chair and discipline vice-chair of the Radiation Oncology committee for the Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG).
She has been principal or co-principal investigator on several national clinical trials and has received research funding from the National Cancer Institute and Department of Defense.
