Dr. David Palma is a Radiation Oncologist at the London Health Sciences Centre and a Clinician Scientist with the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research. He specializes in the treatment of thoracic cancers, head and neck cancers, and oligometastatic disease.
He holds a BSc from Queen’s University, an MD from the University of Western Ontario, a Master’s Degree in Epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health, and a PhD from the VU University Medical Center (Netherlands). He completed his residency training at the University of British Columbia.
Dr. Palma's research focuses on translational imaging science, including evaluating new imaging and radiotherapy technologies in the pre-clinical and clinical setting. He has led more than 30 clinical trials in radiation oncology, including the SABR-COMET and SABR-COMET-10 trials for oligometastic cancers, and the ORATOR and ORATOR2 trials for oropharyngeal cancer. Dr. Palma is the founder and chair of the Canadian Pulmonary Radiotherapy Investigators (CAPRI) Group, which runs pragmatic lung radiation oncology trials including the STOP, SUNSET and ASPIRE-ILD trials.
Dr. Palma co-led the development of the Anatomy and Radiology Bootcamp for Radiation Oncology residents, which has trained over 1,500 radiation oncology and medical physics residents worldwide. He is also author of the best-selling book Taking Charge of Cancer: What You Need to Know to Get the Best Treatment. All author royalties from the book have gone to support the LHSF.