Engineering Patient Safety in Radiation Oncology (PDF)

Lawrence Marks was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He studied chemical engineering at Cooper Union and obtained his MD from the University of Rochester. He did his residency training in radiation oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital and then served on the faculty of Duke University for 19 years. There, he studied radiation-induced normal tissue injury and became interested in human factors engineering and patient safety. In 2008, he moved to the University of North Carolina to become the Dr. Sidney K. Simon Distinguished Professor of Oncology Research and the chairman of the Department of Radiation Oncology. Over the last six years, he and Dr. Mazur and others have been systematically applying engineering principles from high-reliability and value creation organizations to improve safety. In his clinical work, he has particular interest in the care of patients with cancers of the lung or breast. He has been active in ASTRO (American Society for Radiation Oncology) and currently serves on its Board of Directors as the chairman of the Clinical Affairs and Quality Council. He lives with his wife of 29 years, Caryn Hertz, in Chapel Hill. They have three sons, none of whom is planning a career in medicine.

Lukasz Mazur earned his BS, MS, and PhD in industrial and management engineering from Montana State University. As a student athlete at Montana State University, he earned a spot in the Bobcats Hall of Fame for his efforts on a tennis team. While working at North Carolina State University, he was awarded the Alumni Outstanding Extension Service Award for his outreach work, highlighting his passion for quality and safety work in the healthcare industry. Currently, he is an assistant professor in the Radiation Oncology Department at the UNC School of Medicine. His research interests focus on engineering management as it pertains to continuous quality and safety improvements and human factor engineering with a focus on worklo