CANCER CAMPAIGN

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 36, 6 November 1933, Page 8

CANCER CAMPAIGN

Appointment of Specialist AN IMPORTANT ADVANCE The appointment of Mr. J. A. Strong, M.Sc., as Travis radiological physicist, was announced on Saturday by the central executive of the New Zealand branch of the British Empire Cancer Campaign. Mr. Strong is a graduate of Victoria University College, and for the past year has been in charge of the radium emanation plant at Wellington Hospital. The appointment has been made possible by the generosity of the trustees of the Travis Estate, Christchurch, who have made funds available to finance this post for three years.. The appointment represents an important step, and places New Zealand in line with other countries iu the scientific control of cancer. Two important weapons in the treatment of this disease are radium and deep X-rays, and the proper use of both of these agents demauds the supervision of a skilled physicist. Both are agents of great potential danger, and every care must be taken to safeguard the health of patient and operator. All that relates to the measurement and control of the radiations from radium and deep X-ray machines will come within the scope of Mr. .Strong’s duties. Work of this nature has already been done in Australia in the large cancer centres, and Mr. Strong will visit Australia later in the year to confer with physicists engaged on similar work.