Dr. Jerry Battista describes what it was like to receive treatment for prostate cancer using techniques he helped develop.

I was a researcher in cancer on the side of medical physics, and for many years worked at trying to improve the precision of radiation therapy treatments. 

It was very strange when I was diagnosed with prostate cancer and I would be receiving radiation as treatment with techniques that I helped developed.

I was diagnosed through a PSA test. The PSA values were going up, and it was time to decide on a course of treatment. I opted for a very compressed schedule of radiation treatments.

This is a major advance resulting from cancer research. The previous protocol would have patients treated over a month or more, and here the radiation treatment is compressed into a week and a half.

It has gone very well. The PSA is under control, there were minor side effects about a year or so after treatment, but they’ve resolved.

In time, I had an opportunity to become a patient partner with the OICR. And it was very tantalizing for me because of my dual role as researcher and then as a patient

Cancer research certainly has changed my life. I am an almost full-time musician now still enjoying performing, and that’s a very nice outcome for me.

Dr. Jerry Battista is a retired medical physicist with expertise in radiation oncology and a survivor of prostate cancer. As an OICR patient partner, he assists researchers who are developing advanced 3D medical imaging.