Photo by Insung Yoon on Unsplash

Awards & Honors

Medical Student Receives American Society for Radiation Oncology Medical Student Fellowship Award

The fellowship is designed to develop a mentoring relationship that can help cultivate an interest in radiation oncology.

Afzalbek Fayzullaev, a second-year student at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, has been awarded the prestigious ASTRO (American Society for Radiation Oncology) Medical Student Fellowship Award for his project, “Readability of Patient Education Materials for Radiation Oncology and Treatment Adherence at an Urban Safety Net Hospital.” 

This award provides funding for an eight-week mentored research project this summer in radiation oncology, including exposure to clinical practice and research methodologies. It aims to cultivate interest in the field among medical students (particularly those early in their training) by supporting a hands-on research experience and clinical shadowing in areas like radiobiology, radiation physics or clinical radiation therapy trials.

As part of his project, Fayzullaev will examine whether the American Medical Association’s recommendation of keeping patient education materials at a sixth-grade reading level or below is being followed. He will review the patient educational materials given to patients who received radiation oncology service at a non-profit, academic medical center in Boston, as well as the resources available online to patients with breast, prostate or lung cancer. The readability of these resources will be calculated by validated online tools called the Flesch-Kincaid score and the Simple Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG). 

“Through this fellowship, I will investigate how the readability of after-visit summaries affects the health outcomes of those receiving radiation treatment for cancer. This patient population is especially important to me since I understand how difficult it can be for both patients and their families to process complex treatment plans during a vulnerable time,” explains Fayzullaev.

Fayzullaev was born in Uzbekistan and immigrated to the U.S. in 2010. Thanks to the tireless support of his family, he received his undergraduate degree at Boston University and built his interest in medicine and research by working at the school of medicine’s analytical instrumentation core and in the department of anatomy & neurobiology.