Cancer Research

Radiation Oncology Research

Providing state-of-the-art care.

Our Mission Current Research Members Contact Us

Our Mission

The mission of the Radiation Oncology Department at the Helen F. Graham Cancer Center is to serve our neighbors and provide state-of-the-art, safe, and high quality radiation therapy care to our cancer patients, while integrating education, clinical translational research, and radiation physics innovations to improve outcomes.

Current Research

Institutional Clinical Trials: The Department is involved in institutional outcomes analysis of Head and neck Oropharynx cancer, incidence of HPV+ oropharynx cancer through the multi discipline clinic (MDC) and demographic patterns, outcomes of partial breast brachytherapy, prostate brachytherapy outcomes and prostate IMRT outcomes.
National Cancer Institute Clinical Trials: The department is participating in several clinical trials, bringing innovations and new approaches to cancer patients. We are active in national cooperative groups, including the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG), Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOC), NRG. Several members of the department are involved in NCI and COG trial evaluation and steering committees to evaluate new trials.
Radiation Physics Research: Clinical physics research programs include advanced dose calculation algorithms, adaptive planning, Atlas-based target delineation, and image-guided radiotherapy.
Workflow Enhancement & Safety: Using tools of Lean Six Sigma, we are making our department more efficient and also reducing errors. We are evaluating the role of Dashboards in process improvement and ability to do analysis of outcomes of various treatment strategies and cost.
Residency Programs: Accredited radiation oncology and medical physics residency programs have been established since 2013.
Translational Research: Ongoing collaborations with the Center for Translational Cancer Research and the Wistar Institute, such as radiobiological modeling of the interactions of immune checkpoint inhibitors and abscopal effect for IMRT and HDR brachytherapy.