Category: Department News

Perkins receives grant from NCI

Dr. Stephanie Perkins has received an NCI grant for $249,997 for her work “Pediatric Proton and Photon Therapy Comparison Cohort”, with a start date of 11/1/2024.

Hallahan and Singh awarded Needleman grant

Dennis Hallahan, MD, FASTRO, and Abhay Singh, PhD have been awarded a grant from the Needleman Program for Innovation & Commercialization for $328,340. Their work is entitled “Bispecific T Cell effectors targeting an inducible cancer cell surface antigen”.

WashU Med celebrates first R01 recipients (Links to an external site)

The event honored recipients of their first R01 research grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Radiation Oncology was well-represented here, including Jessika Contreras, MD, Stephanie Markovina, MD, PhD, Jin Zhang, PhD and Stephanie Perkins, MD (not pictured, but also recently received first R01).
Congratulations to these researchers!

Our BJC West County location expands & upgrades

Our Siteman Cancer Center Barnes Jewish West County Hospital location has been expanded & upgraded. This state-of-the-art facility provides an even better patient-centered experience with additional exam rooms, larger changing rooms and a brand new Varian TrueBeam radiotherapy machine with advanced Hypersight CBCT imaging. Siteman Cancer Center is the only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer […]

Barnes selected for ASTRO award

PGY-5 Resident Justin Barnes, MD, has been chosen to receive the Quick Pitch Oral Abstract Recognition Award at the 2024 ASTRO annual meeting in Washington, D.C. Abstract awards are only given to the top-scoring abstracts after a rigorous peer review process, and this year, only 30 winners were selected from nearly 2,000 abstract submissions!

Markovina awarded NIH R01

Stephanie Markovina, MD, PhD, METEOR Clinical Trial and Project 1 Co-l (Cervix) Lead has been awarded an R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health in the amount of $2,865,128. Her work is entitled “The role of SERPINB3 in cervical cancer therapeutic resistance”.

Habimana-Griffin has been selected as a 2024 PROUD-MED Scholar (Links to an external site)

PGY-5 resident LeMoyne Habimana-Griffin, MD, PhD, has been selected to be a member of the Program for Underrepresented in Medicine for Equity and Diversity (PROUD-MED) 2024 Cohort. PROUD-MED is an initiative supported by the ICTS and WashU Medicine to enhance underrepresented in medicine (URiM) faculty development by providing mentored clinical research training, dedicated Research Development Program […]

Sviderskiy chosen for Holman Research Pathway

PGY-3 resident and PSTP member, Vladislav Sviderskiy, MD, PhD, has been chosen to be part of the B. Leonard Holman Research Pathway by the American Board of Radiology (ABR). The Holman Research Pathway is an alternative pathway leading to Board certification, designed for the exceptional trainee who has both strong clinical abilities and a background […]

Markovina and Contreras awarded an NIH R37 MERIT

Stephanie Markovina, MD, PhD and Jessika Contreras, MD have been awarded an R37 MERIT grant from the National Institutes of Health in the amount of $3,182,644. Their work is entitled, “Accelerated Brachytherapy Forward Chemoradiation Therapy (ABC-RT) for Cervical Cancer”.

Barnes will receive two awards at ASCO

During the 2024 ASCO Annual Meeting held in Chicago, Illinois, May 31 – Jun 4, Justin Barnes, MD, will receive a Conquer Cancer Merit Award. This will be his third year in a row to receive this award! In addition, Dr. Barnes will also receive a Young Investigator Award, along with his mentors Dr. Joanna […]

Aaron Silvus, MS (Medical Physics PhD Program Student)

Aaron Silvus at microscope

Tell me about your background. I was born in Atlanta but moved to Lee’s Summit, a suburb of Kansas City, MO, at a fairly young age, so I’d say I am from KC. I started my bachelor’s degree at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in mechanical engineering but switched to physics in my second year. After […]

Karam named head of department (Links to an external site)

Sana D. Karam, MD, PhD, a renowned radiation oncologist widely known for cutting-edge cancer research that combines radiation therapy and immunotherapy to treat head and neck, and pancreatic tumors, has been named the James S. McDonnell Professor of Radiation Oncology and head of the Department of Radiation Oncology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Her appointment begins Oct. 1.

Curiel awarded $6.5M NIH grant (Links to an external site)

David Curiel, MD, PhD, professor of radiation oncology, and Washington University in St. Louis graduate student Paul Boucher have been awarded an R01 grant from the NIH for $6.5M over 5 years. Their research entitled “Vectored HIV Immunotherapy via in vivo B cell editing” aims to elicit broadly neutralizing antibodies against HIV through in vivo CRISPR/Cas engineering of the B cell receptor.

Robinson receives Dean’s Impact Award

Cliff Robinson, MD has been selected to receive a 2024 Dean’s Impact Award from Washington University School of Medicine!

This award recognizes faculty who have demonstrated enduring commitment to advancing the careers of others through exceptional mentorship and/or sponsorship.

Remembering Compton’s Discovery – 100 years later

In 1920, Arthur Holly Compton was appointed Wayman Crow Professor of Physics and head of the department of physics at Washington University in St. Louis. During that time, Compton did the experimental work that resulted in his being awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1927. His discovery, known as the “Compton effect” or “Compton […]

Thorstad is co-leader of new Siteman Head and Neck Tumor Center (Links to an external site)

Wade Thorstad, MD, our Chief of Head & Neck Cancer Service, co-leads the Siteman comprehensive Head & Neck Tumor Center. It is a collaborative, multispecialty practice of Washington University physicians and researchers whose mission is to provide cutting-edge care for patients with head and neck cancers as well as benign tumors and masses of the head and neck.