Purpose/Objective(s)The purpose of this study was to characterize the relative effectiveness of different methods of advertising virtual radiation oncology (RO) educational content to US medical students, to inform future efforts to expand access to RO education.Materials/MethodsA four-part “Oncology Virtual Series for Medical Students” was developed to emulate an oncology interest group (OIG). The topics were intended to have broad appeal, but were presented exclusively by RO faculty and residents. The selection of topics, speakers, and approach to advertising were intended to attract a geographically, racially and ethnically diverse audience. All academic RO department chairs and residency program directors at allopathic US medical schools were asked to engage their respective Dean's office or OIG to promote the event to all students, particularly emphasizing student groups with primarily female (e.g., American Medical Women's Association chapter) or under-represented in medicine (e.g., institutional Student National Medical Association (SNMA) or Latino Medical Student Association (LMSA) chapter) membership. A similar email was sent to the Dean(s) of all US allopathic medical schools’ Diversity (or equivalent) Office, all SNMA and LMSA regional directors, and the SNMA newsletter. The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) also promoted via ASTROgram, social media, and student members’ ROhub. During preregistration, students’ full name, email address, medical school, and how they heard about the series were requested. Attendees’ name and email address was automatically recorded upon login. Descriptive statistics are reported.Results660 unique students preregistered, and 140 attended at least one of the four sessions. Attendees represented 53 allopathic and 2 osteopathic US medical schools, and 5 international schools. 104 attendees (74%) were from a school with an affiliated RO department, and 66 (47%) with an affiliated RO residency. Fourteen schools had at least 3 students attend, with the highest number of attendees from the principal investigator's home institution (n=12). These 14 schools accounted for 50% of all attendees, of which 8 (57%) had an affiliated RO residency, and two were osteopathic schools. 280 students (42%) described how they heard about the series; the most common sources included 87 (31%) from medical school faculty, 75 (27%) from social media post or email (source not specified), 53 (19%) from an OIG, 16 (6%) from SNMA or LMSA, and 15 (5%) from ASTRO.ConclusionMost attendees were from schools with a RO department, and disproportionately high attendance was from a small number of schools, suggesting that radiation oncologists’ individual efforts and pre-existing relationships with students, Dean's offices, and student groups at their institution are the most effective ways of promoting nationwide virtual RO education. The purpose of this study was to characterize the relative effectiveness of different methods of advertising virtual radiation oncology (RO) educational content to US medical students, to inform future efforts to expand access to RO education. A four-part “Oncology Virtual Series for Medical Students” was developed to emulate an oncology interest group (OIG). The topics were intended to have broad appeal, but were presented exclusively by RO faculty and residents. The selection of topics, speakers, and approach to advertising were intended to attract a geographically, racially and ethnically diverse audience. All academic RO department chairs and residency program directors at allopathic US medical schools were asked to engage their respective Dean's office or OIG to promote the event to all students, particularly emphasizing student groups with primarily female (e.g., American Medical Women's Association chapter) or under-represented in medicine (e.g., institutional Student National Medical Association (SNMA) or Latino Medical Student Association (LMSA) chapter) membership. A similar email was sent to the Dean(s) of all US allopathic medical schools’ Diversity (or equivalent) Office, all SNMA and LMSA regional directors, and the SNMA newsletter. The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) also promoted via ASTROgram, social media, and student members’ ROhub. During preregistration, students’ full name, email address, medical school, and how they heard about the series were requested. Attendees’ name and email address was automatically recorded upon login. Descriptive statistics are reported. 660 unique students preregistered, and 140 attended at least one of the four sessions. Attendees represented 53 allopathic and 2 osteopathic US medical schools, and 5 international schools. 104 attendees (74%) were from a school with an affiliated RO department, and 66 (47%) with an affiliated RO residency. Fourteen schools had at least 3 students attend, with the highest number of attendees from the principal investigator's home institution (n=12). These 14 schools accounted for 50% of all attendees, of which 8 (57%) had an affiliated RO residency, and two were osteopathic schools. 280 students (42%) described how they heard about the series; the most common sources included 87 (31%) from medical school faculty, 75 (27%) from social media post or email (source not specified), 53 (19%) from an OIG, 16 (6%) from SNMA or LMSA, and 15 (5%) from ASTRO. Most attendees were from schools with a RO department, and disproportionately high attendance was from a small number of schools, suggesting that radiation oncologists’ individual efforts and pre-existing relationships with students, Dean's offices, and student groups at their institution are the most effective ways of promoting nationwide virtual RO education.