Varian Symposium

Expanding Access to Proton Therapy

Please join Varian, a Siemens Healthineers company, for a symposium on Expanding Access to Proton Therapy. Hear from Dr. J.W. Snider from the University of Alabama at Birmingham about the successful ramp-up of a proton therapy program utilizing the ProBeam Compact single room solution.

Speakers / Bios:

Jan Timmer

is the Marketing Director for Varian Proton Solutions with twenty years of experience in the field of proton therapy. In this role he is responsible for portfolio management, commercialization and promotion of proton therapy products and services. Mr. Timmer was responsible for the launches of the ProBeam and ProBeam 360° platforms. Prior to joining Varian, he was with Accel Instruments GmbH in engineering and product management and part of the team that developed the first commercially available IMPT delivery system. Mr. Timmer holds a MS in applied physics from the University of Groningen and a MS in Financial Economics from the Erasmus University in Rotterdam. He and his family are living in California.

Dr. J.W. Snider

is an Associate Professor radiation oncologist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the Associate Medical Director of Proton Therapy at Proton International at UAB Proton Center. He specializes in the management of patients with Head/Neck Cancer and Sarcomas. Dr. Snider also focuses on cutting edge technologies including Proton Therapy and Hyperthermia. Dr. Snider completed two bachelors degrees at the University of Alabama before attending the Georgetown University School of Medicine. Following graduation, he performed his transitional year internship also at Georgetown/INOVA Fairfax Hospital. Dr. Snider completed his residency training in Radiation Oncology at the University of Maryland Medical Center, serving as Chief Resident. Dr. Snider was also selected for and completed a Clinical/Research Proton Fellowship at the world-renowned Paul Scherrer Institute Center for Proton Therapy in Villigen, Switzerland - the birthplace of the pencil beam scanning technology utilized at the UAB Proton Center. He subsequently was on faculty at the University of Maryland before joining UAB.

Dr. Snider's research focus at UAB centers on Head/Neck tumors, Sarcomas, Concurrent Thermoradiotherapy, Spine Tumors, Pencil Beam Scanning Proton Therapy, Stereotactic Radiotherapy, GRID/LATTICE/ProtonGRID Therapy, and unique treatment/device-development for increasing therapy efficacy with reduced side-effect profiles. Dr. Snider has numerous peer-reviewed publications in these arenas, and he has given many national/international presentations of this work. He has also received several awards for the presentations and content of his research including those from The Radiosurgery Society, International Congress for Hyperthermic Oncology, and the Radiological Society of North America Roentgen Resident/Fellow Research Award. Dr. Snider has received research grant funding in the form of The Radiosurgery Society BEST Medical Fellowship Grant and funding for device development through the UM Ventures group. On a national level, Dr. Snider is an active member of the American Society for Radiation Oncology, the Particle Therapy Co-Operative Group, and the Society for Thermal Medicine.