Extras · 1 of 4

A typical day

Morning clinic: new patients who have just been told they have cancer, and follow-ups weeks or years into treatment. You explain what radiation does, how many sessions it takes, and what it will feel like. Midday is treatment planning at a screen, drawing the tumor and the organs around it on CT (computed tomography) images with a dosimetrist. Afternoon is the weekly cancer conference where surgeons, medical oncologists and pathologists argue about a single patient, plus checks on people partway through a course of treatment.