Meet Our Researchers

Sara Alcorn, MD, PhD, and Crystal Aguh, MD

Dr. Alcorn and Dr. Aguh are leading a multidisciplinary team to develop a web-based tool that will objectively assess acute skin toxicity in patients with a wide range of skin tones who are receiving radiotherapy to treat breast cancer. This unique collaboration between the Department of Radiation Oncology and the Department of Dermatology aims to improve quality of life for patients across the range of skin tones.

G. Nic Rider, PhD, and Stephanie Terezakis, MD

G. Nic Rider, PhD, and Stephanie Terezakis, MD, of the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities are evaluating disparities in cancer care for patients who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and/or questioning (LGBTQ+). Their qualitative study will provide rich information about the training needs of various health care providers to deliver more competent, quality care to LGBTQ+ patients with cancer.

Malcolm Mattes, MD

Dr. Mattes and his team are working to develop a more diverse radiation oncology workforce by introducing students to the specialty earlier in medical school. Using a multifaceted approach, they are studying the perceived value of each of the initiatives as well as the impact of the program on radiation oncology residency applications and matches. Dr. Mattes' work is supported by an Improving Diversity and Inclusion in Radiation Oncology Award.

Oluwadamilola T. Oladeru, MD, MA

Dr. Oladeru and her team are studying cancer care in the federal prison system by measuring the cancer incidence and mortality, characterizing the utilization of radiation treatment, describing patterns of disease presentation and disparities in access to care, and developing an integrated value-based model for cancer care delivery. Dr. Oladeru was the first ever James D. Cox Resident's Research Award Winner.

Adam Wolfe, MD, PhD

Adam Wolfe, MD, PhD, and his team are conducting research that will help personalize treatments for patients with pancreatic cancer. Their work aims to identify which pancreatic cancer patients could benefit the most from radiation therapy following surgery using a new molecular signature that they discovered and is made up of microRNAs found in blood and tumor tissue samples. Dr. Wolfe's research is supported by a 2019 ROI Personalized Radiation Therapy award. 
 

Carmen Bergom, MD, PhD, and El-Sayed Ibrahim, PhD

Dr. Bergom, Dr. Ibrahim and their team are conducting a pilot study to determine whether advanced cardiac MRI can be used to detect early, non-symptomatic damage to the heart in lung cancer patients treated with radiation therapy. They are working to better understand how radiation therapy affects the heart so that treatment plans can be personalized to reduce damage to the heart and improve long-term outcomes among patients with lung cancer.

Daniel Golden, MD, MHPE

Dr. Golden and his team are improving communication between patients with cancer and their physicians by developing a personalized clinical discussion guide that explains external beam radiotherapy in an easy-to-digest format. With a grant from the ROI, the team has created three new guides in the “Communicating the External Beam Radiotherapy Experience” (CEBRE) series that are tailored for patients with breast, lung and prostate cancer. The guides provide understandable information unique to the patient’s disease site and treatment process in a graphic narrative format. The team is developing three additional disease site-specific CEBRE guides for head and neck, central nervous system, and gastrointestinal malignancies to be released in 2022.

David Byun, MD

Dr. Byun and his team are exploring whether the application of virtual and augmented reality platforms during consultation visits could better increase patient knowledge about radiation therapy, reduce anxiety, and improve the quality of their overall treatment experience.Their CurieUx mixed reality patient education software is designed to include a novel virtual reality 360° tour of simulation and treatment rooms for patients to explore, as well as interactive virtual disease-specific anatomy models to help physicians personalize their verbal explanation of each patient's diagnosis and treatment.

Fumiko Chino, MD, and Yvonne Mowery, MD, PhD

Dr. Chino, Dr. Mowery and their team are prospectively quantifying and investigating the effects of financial toxicity—a term for the hardship that patients face from their medical expenses—for head and neck cancer patients. The ROI is supporting the team's work as part of the 2018 Innovative Projects in Radiation Oncology awards, which focused on funding research to address some of the field’s most pressing challenges.

Karen Hoffman, MD, MHSc, MPH

Dr. Hoffman and her team prospectively surveyed patients with prostate cancer to study whether receiving counseling from a radiation oncologist in a multidisciplinary clinic increased patients’ awareness of radiation therapy as a treatment option with a favorable side effect profile. The team also assessed changes in treatment choice and explored why any changes were made. The results are being used to develop patient education materials.

Nima Nabavizadeh, MD

Dr. Nabavizadeh and his team are prospectively studying whether stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) can be safely used to help patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and advanced cirrhosis as they await a liver transplant. The ROI supported Dr. Nabavizadeh’s work as part of the 2018 Innovative Projects in Radiation Oncology awards, which sought to address some of radiation oncology’s highest priority topics, including SBRT.

Chad Tang, MD

Dr. Tang and his team conducted an analysis to understand the barriers to access and costs associated with treatment options for patients with prostate cancer including, surgery, IMRT, SBRT, brachytherapy, proton therapy and active surveillance. The ROI supported Dr. Tang’s work as part of the 2018 Innovative Projects in Radiation Oncology awards, which focused on funding research to address some of the field’s most pressing challenges.

Todd McNutt, PhD

Dr. McNutt and his team used big data and machine learning approaches to develop better predictive models for toxicities associated with head and neck cancer and to create a clinical decision support tool to help provide patients with more personalized care. The ROI supported Dr. McNutt’s groundbreaking work to stimulate this emerging field of research using big data to improve the safety and quality of radiation therapy.

Geoffrey Martin, MD

Dr. Martin and his team conducted a clinical trial using smartphone-connected technology to monitor lung cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy. ROI awarded Dr. Martin an Innovative Projects in Radiation Oncology grant to investigate the correlation between patient reported outcomes, the continuous biometric monitoring via smartphones and the side effects of radiation therapy.

Nitin Ohri, MD

Dr. Ohri and his team conducted a randomized clinical trial to determine if giving patients daily customized step count goals as measured and guided through fitness trackers could improve patients’ ability to tolerate concurrent chemoradiotherapy. Dr. Ohri’s study explored whether this relatively simple intervention can reduce the number of missed treatments, decrease treatment-related toxicities and improve quality of life for cancer patients.

Anand Shah, MD, MPH

Dr. Shah and his team developed novel episode-based Medicare payment definitions for stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) to treat patients with early stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). As part of ROI’s value of radiation therapy initiative, Dr. Shah’s study included an exploration of whether an academic versus nonacademic setting has an impact on the relative value of SBRT compared with surgery.

David Sher, MD, MPH

Dr. Sher and his team conducted parallel comparative effectiveness and cost comparison studies for early-stage and locally advanced oropharyngeal cancer using two large databases, SEER-Medicare and the HealthCore Integrated Research Database (HIRD). The results from Dr. Sher’s ROI-funded study are providing important evidence about the value of radiation therapy in the treatment of oropharyngeal cancer.

Christopher Slatore, MD, MS

Dr. Slatore and his team conducted a comparative, mixed-method study to better understand the patient-centered outcomes associated with radiation therapy versus surgery for early stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC.) Dr. Slatore's ROI-funded work on the value of radiation therapy for the treatment of lung cancer laid the groundwork for additional research now being supported by the National Cancer Institute.

Malolan S. Rajagopalan, MD, MBA

Dr. Rajagopalan developed the RadOnc Toolbox app that features evidence-based interventions for managing and preventing eight of the most common radiation-related toxicities and a number of other clinical tools. The ROI supported the development of the RadOnc Toolbox to provide practitioners with an evidence-based resource for toxicity management in order to improve outcomes for cancer patients and survivors.

Peter Greer, PhD

Dr. Greer and his team are developing the WatchDog system that determines treatment delivery accuracy for radiation therapy patients in real-time and can prevent mistreatment. Dr. Greer received ROI’s inaugural research award to conduct the team’s first clinical demonstration of the WatchDog system as part of the ROI’s safety and quality initiative.