Radiation Oncology - Chairman's Page

Welcome to the Department of Radiation Oncology!

Our Department of Radiation Oncology, UTHSCSA, is located at an NCI designated cancer center, Cancer Therapy and Research Center (CTRC). With the recent arrival of new leadership at the School of Medicine, CTRC and this department, I am thrilled to inform you that we are undergoing one of the most exciting phases in our departmental history to achieve excellence and national leadership in all three missions of our department: patient care, research and education.

With 8 vaults, 7 linear accelerators and soon-to-arrive state of the art improvements in our radiosurgery and stereotactic body radiation therapy capabilities, we are one of the largest and technically most advanced departments of radiation oncology in the U.S.A. More importantly, I am proud to tell you that we have nationally recognized experts in almost every category of cancers. Once a patient arrives in our department for consultation or treatment, he or she can be assured that all of the medical decisions will be made with one goal in mind: the best care for the patient.

There are many cancer specific tumor boards at the School of Medicine and CTRC where patient’s medical care recommendations are made in a multidisciplinary setting that includes surgeons, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, diagnostic radiologists, pathologists and other support staff. Within our department, every patient’s treatment plan is reviewed at quality assurance conferences attended by all of the radiation oncology faculty members and clinical physicists to ensure peer reviewed quality control. Our department offers many clinical trials open through the national cooperative study groups such as RTOG (Radiation Therapy Oncology Group), SWOG (Southwest Oncology Group) and NSABP (National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project). With close collaboration with the Institute for Drug Development (IDD), nation’s largest and foremost phase I cancer drug trial center located within CTRC, our department also renders an array of newest treatments in developmental stage available to our patients.

In addition to the clinical excellence, our department takes great pride in our commitment to education and research. We offer clerkships to qualified 3rd and 4th year medical students from around the world. We have ACGME (Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education) accredited residency program with 7 residents and also offer fellowships to qualified individuals who plan to pursue subspecialty training in radiation oncology. The division of radiation biology is expanding rapidly in its scope of research activities with recruitment of a new division chief. The division of radiation physics is known for tremendous research productivity and is at the cutting edge of new technology development. Close collaboration among the basic science, physics and clinical faculty members is greatly fostered in our department to constantly pursue a better way to diagnose and treat cancer.

Please take time, explore our website and meet the people from every corner of our department who make this place so special . If you have any question or suggestion for our department, please feel free to call me at (210) 450-5566.

Thank you very much.

Chul S. Ha, M.D.
Professor and Chairman