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Buyyounouski ’95 recognized for prostate research
This spring, Mark Buyyounouski ’95 received the Roentgen Resident/Fellow Research Award for his research on prostate cancer. The award, sponsored by the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), recognizes outstanding residents and fellows in radiologic research.
Buyyounouski is a principal investigator testing a radiation therapy technique that preserves erectile function. One study, conducted at FoxChaseCancerCenter in Philadelphia, showed that radiation delivered to erectile tissues can be reduced by as much as 60 percent without compromising treatment when using a highly sophisticated
technology called intensity-modulated radiation therapy.
“Erectile tissues commonly receive significant doses of radiation during treatment for prostate cancer because they lie very close to the prostate,” said Buyyounouski, a third-year Fox Chase resident. “Our study shows that it is possible to continue to deliver the high doses of radiation necessary to treat prostate cancer while reducing the doses to
erectile tissues.”
Buyyounouski graduated from Lafayette with a bachelors degree in physics. His first research experience was as an EXCEL scholar working with now-professor emeritus David Hogenboom on a NASA-funded study of the density of ammonia-water solutions under conditions they might experience aboard satellites.
“Studying physics at Lafayette provided me . . . an excellent understanding of problem solving which is paramount to the study of medicine,” said Buyyounouski. “The skills I learned in Dr. Hogenboom’s laboratory have proven invaluable in collecting, documenting, organizing, and analyzing data in clinical research.”
Buyyounouski later earned a masters degree from the Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Science and a medical degree from the Univeristy of Medicine and Dentisty of New Jersey—New Jersey Medical School.