Julie Schwarz, MD, PhD, was elected Vice President of the Radiation Research Society and will subsequently become President next year. Dr Schwarz is Director of our Cancer Biology Division and Vice Chair for Research in Radiation Oncology. She is the past recipient of the annual Michael Fry award from RRS. Radiation Research is one of our most important international organizations. RRS Members conduct research in all aspects of Radiation Biology, Hypertherapy, radiation exposures, and other sciences.

We are pleased to announce a change to administrative leadership roles of clinical services.

Dr. Jiayi Huang has accepted the role for Chief of the CNS / Gamma Knife service effective August 1, 2020. He has done a tremendous job fulfilling the role of interim chief of service since October, 2019. Dr. Huang attended medical school at the University of Massachusetts School of Medicine, and trained in the William Beaumont University residency program. He has been a member of our department faculty since 2012. He has made a number of accomplishments, notably he has led investigations on the use of use of novel drugs in glioblastoma and the late effects of treatment following proton therapy for brain tumors. 

These roles plays an important part in our mission to provide outstanding care for our patients, lead clinical trial development and academic initiatives to advance the field of radiation oncology. We look forward to his continued leadership and please join us in congratulating Jiayi.

David Curiel, MD, PhD, the Distinguished Professor of Radiation Oncology, is co-senior author of a new study working to find a COVID-19 vaccine. Unlike other COVID-19 vaccines in development, this one is delivered via the nose, often the initial site of infection. In the new study, the researchers found that the nasal delivery route created a strong immune response throughout the body, but it was particularly effective in the nose and respiratory tract, preventing the infection from taking hold in the body.