Frank A. Vicini, MD, FACR

Dr. Frank A. Vicini, MD, FACR, is the Chief Academic Officer for Michigan Healthcare Professionals and 21st Century Oncology as well as Professor of Radiation Oncology.  He received his medical degree from Wayne State University School of Medicine and is board-certified in therapeutic radiology.  He is a former breast cancer fellow at Harvard Medical School where he was also on staff before returning to Michigan in 1990. He has done extensive research primarily for targeting radiation with greater precision for women with early-stage breast cancer and on reducing short and long-term morbidities associated with these treatments.

Dr. Vicini has been involved in numerous national clinical studies involving breast and prostate cancer and has designed and developed numerous phase I/II trials to evaluate low-dose rate and high-dose rate brachytherapy as the sole method of radiation therapy for selected patients with Stage I & II breast carcinoma as well as 3D conformal external beam RT APBI. He was the Principle Investigator for RTOG 0319 which was a phase II study exploring the use of 3D conformal external beam irradiation to the lumpectomy cavity alone for selected patients with early stage breast cancer.  He is currently the Principal Investigator for the national NSABP B39/RTOG 0413 phase III study comparing partial breast irradiation (PBI) versus whole breast irradiation. He is also the PI for a second phase III trial from the NCI to investigate accelerated whole breast irradiation with a concurrent boost versus standard therapy for women with early stage breast cancer. His research continues to focus on improving therapeutic outcomes for all stages of breast cancer and to reduce treatment times and minimize damage to healthy tissue and vital organs. Innovations have included the development of breath holding techniques to reduce or minimize long-term cardiac toxicity in women treated with left-sided breast cancer and the use of IMRT to reduce acute radiation toxicities to the skin and late toxicities to prevent breast and arm edema, lung and heart related morbidity in women treated for breast cancer.

Dr. Vicini has authored over 200 articles on breast and prostate cancer which have been published in numerous different scientific, peer-reviewed journals and has presented his research at national and international meetings as well as a Visiting Professor in the United States and Europe.  He has also authored multiple chapters in textbooks and is on the editorial board of several oncology journals including Cancer, the Journal of Clinical Oncology and the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.  Dr. Vicini has also been a frequent author of notable Lymphedema publications.  These have included a comprehensive, peer-reviewed publication that summarizes the key relevant supporting documentation on Breast Cancer Related Lymphedema, as well as a systematic review of his eight years of experience as the Medical Director for the Lymphedma Program at William Beaumont Hospital.  Recently, at the 2012 Annual Breast Cancer Coordinated Care Conference (BC3), sponsored by Georgetown University Hospital, Dr. Vicini presented critical new data on key clinical findings from a multi-site registry study for which he served as Principal Investigator, titled “Multi-Institutional Analysis of Bioimpedance Spectroscopy (BIS) in the Early Detection of Breast Cancer Related Lymphedema.”