Targeted focus on excellence for radiation therapist
Alison Brown has been nominated as Professional of the Year, at the 2026 NSW Health Excellence in Allied Health Awards.
Alison is a radiation therapist who began her work at Westmead Hospital with a part-time internship to complete her Honours.
Her targeted focus on patient outcomes was a driving force behind her Honours thesis, researching what could be done to reduce wait time for patients.
“My focus has always been about trying to improve the experience for patients,”
Alison said.
Radiation therapy (or radiotherapy) is the use of high energy X-rays used to target and treat cancers but is not always front of mind when people are diagnosed with cancer.
“It is really underutilised. Radiation therapy is very effective for cancer treatment, for both the curative stage and also for pain relief in palliation,”
Alison said.
“I think if you're going to work in oncology, then it's really important that you’re always looking at ways of making things better for people with cancer”
Alison said.
Following a cancer diagnosis, the radiation oncologist may recommend radiation therapy.
Radiation therapy treatments range from a single treatment through to six weeks of daily treatment depending on what is being treated and why.
Once the patient is happy to proceed with radiation therapy, that’s when they meet the radiation therapists, like Alison.
“We work out doses and the radiation beam arrangements, and so that we can target their treatment specifically to the area we’re treating and to avoid all the healthy tissues,” Alison said.
Professor Sandra Turner has worked with Alison for the past 20 years at Westmead Hospital in the prostate cancer team.
Sandra was Alison’s supervisor as she pioneered the way to become Australia’s first Advanced Practitioner.
“She is totally dedicated and amazing, Alison always goes above and beyond and is very skilled at what she does,” Sandra said.
“She is a real team player and cares a lot about the people she treats with radiation therapy,” Sandra said.
Sandra says Alison’s dedication goes beyond the role as a radiation therapist, sitting on several professional committees nationally and globally to represent her profession and highlight the importance of the role of radiation therapists in cancer care.
Having worked at Westmead Hospital for just over 20 years, she says the changes in technology have been rapid meaning patient outcomes have improved markedly over this period.
“Radiation therapy has come such a long way. It's now really sophisticated, very highly technologically driven. It's very advanced, it's very safe,” Alison said.
“We are really pushing to get more awareness out there to the community so that people don't miss out. This is a global issue, not just an Australian one” Alison said.