Biography

Ruud P.M. Dings is an Associate Professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, Arkansas. He graduated from Maastricht University in The Netherlands with a M.Sc. degree in Biological Health Sciences and a Ph.D. degree specializing in tumor vascular immunology. His postdoctoral studies at the University of Minnesota centered on drug discovery and development targeting the tumor stroma, resulting in one of the lead compounds entering human clinical trials. His major research interest is overcoming the immune suppressive nature of the tumor microenvironment with treatment modalities such as radiotherapy, ¬hyperthermia and experimental therapeutics to improve immunotherapy.

He received the 2012 Informa-Yamamoto editorial award for Biology regarding his publication in the International Journal of Hyperthermia describing the involvement of vessel normalization during tumor thermotolerance, 2 awards from the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), and has been senior editorial board member for the journal Angiogenesis for over 10 years. He has been an active member of STM since 2014.

Overall, Dr. Dings is an inventor on several patents and has an H-index of 40 resulting from more than 70 publications. His research has been funded by the US National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), and the Department of Defense (DoD).

Background

I am an Assistant Professor and Group leader Hyperthermia Research at the Radiotherapy Department of the Erasmus MC (Rotterdam, The Netherlands). I am involved in patient treatment activities, which include treatment preparation and assessment, establishment of magnetic resonance (MR)-guided deep hyperthermia procedures and hyperthermia systems quality assurance. My research focuses on novel technology for improved cancer treatment using electromagnetic energy, which spans various research phases, from early innovations, development, validation to clinical implementation. My areas of research include magnetic resonance (MR)-guided hyperthermia, quality assurance, treatment planning and enhanced thermo-sensitive drug delivery.

Current affiliation

Radiotherapy Department of the Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

Publications

Pure Erasmus MC (https://pure.eur.nl/en/persons/sergio-curto-ramos)

Professional experience

Education

• • 2010 PhD: Antenna development for radio frequency hyperthermia applications, Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin), Dublin, Ireland
• • 2005 Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Engineering, TU Dublin, Dublin, Ireland, First class honours degree
• • 2005 Degree in Technical Telecommunications Engineering, University of Alcala, Alcala de Henares, Madrid, Spain

Other Positions

Chair of the Hyperthermia Focus Group within the European Society of Radiation Oncology (ESTRO)

Selected grants

• • (2024) Thermoradiotherapy for locally Advanced head and Neck Cancer patients- a phase I dose finding study (TANCA-I).
• • (2023) Development of personalized MR-guided thermo-chemotherapy for breast conserving surgery (CARES)
• • (2023) Electromagnetic sensing, video control and metamodelling in thermotherapy of advanced H&N cancers (SENS-THERM)
• • (2023) Postoperative Re-irradiation with or without Hyperthermia:Toxicity, quality of life and survival in patients with locoregional recurrent breast cancer (RT-HYPE)
• • (2023) Electromagnetic sensing, video control and metamodelling in thermotherapy of advanced H&N cancers (SENS-THERM)
• • (2022) Multi-coil magnetic resonance guided hyperthermia for precision treatment of advanced head and neck carcinoma
• • (2021) Hyperthermia boosting the effect of Radiotherapy (HYPERBOOST)
• • (2020) Learning-based Control in MR-guided Hyperthermia for 3D Adaptive Cancer Therapy (Learn-2-Act)