The Division of Clinical Affairs consists of the team of professionals who diagnose, treat, and care for our radiation oncology patients.

Mission Statement  

The patient is the primary focus of the Department of Radiation Oncology. Our team of highly trained professionals—physicians, physicists, nurses, therapists, and others—is committed to treating patients with neoplastic diseases in a caring and efficient environment using cutting edge technology and the most up-to-date information available.

The Radiation Oncology clinical team consists of highly qualified professionals dedicated to providing the best possible care to all patients.

Our physicians (radiation oncologists) are board-certified, some in more than one specialty. All have areas of particular interest and expertise.  In addition to patient care and research, they are involved in teaching the department's resident physicians (radiation oncologists in training).

Department physicists use treatment planning software to determine how to deliver the prescribed radiation therapy; they perform necessary maintenance and calibration of the department's equipment; they investigate the integration of new technology to optimize patient care; and they are involved in teaching the next generation of physicists.

Excellent radiation therapists, some of whom have been with the department for many years, are experienced and highly qualified. They have mastered the intricacies of delivering complex treatment plans--a very important skill in our environment of advanced technology.

Our oncology nurses bring not only special expertise to the treatment and management of cancer patients, particularly regarding the side effects of radiation therapy, but also extraordinary empathy and compassion.

The department's social worker counsels patients and families and facilitates solutions to the myriad problems encountered by radiation oncology patients.

Our resident physicians (radiation oncologists in training) assist in the care and treatment of patients under the direct supervision of the staff physicians.  Their inquiring minds and compassion also provide an extra dimension to the department mission. 

The Division of Cancer Biology in the Department of Radiation Oncology is a unique group of scientists conducting cutting-edge research focused on understanding the causes of and finding potential cures for human cancer. The division consists of three full-time faculty and their research laboratories which are located at both Emory's main campus and at the Edward C. Loughlin Radiation Oncology Center at Grady Memorial Hospital. The research interests of the faculty include the molecular basis for genetic damage and its repair, cell stress responses, signal transduction, and epigenetic mechanisms of gene regulation.

These research programs are supported by a number of agencies including the National Institutes of Health and the American Cancer Society.  The division also provides a vibrant and intellectually stimulating training environment for graduate and medical students, physician residents in radiation oncology, postdoctoral fellows, and visiting scientists from around the world. The Division of Cancer Biology represents an important component of the Atlanta area cancer research community and Emory's Winship Cancer Institute.

The mission of the Division of Medical Physics is to improve the efficacy of radiation therapy and well-being of our patients through

·         High-quality clinical service;

·         Clinical investigation and implementation of improved treatment planning and delivery technologies; and

·         Through basic and applied research programs intended to improve the efficiency and efficacy of radiation therapy.

The Division of Medical Physics is focused on clinical service, teaching and research.  One of the main areas for Medical Physics is clinical service which includes the delivery of high-quality clinical treatments.  IMRT was implemented in 1998 with ~50% of our external beam patients receiving IMRT treatments.  In 2004, we initiated our image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT) program using Varian Medical Systems’ On-Board Imaging technology.  In addition to clinical service, teaching is a priority with the joint Medical Physics program with Nuclear Engineering at GT as well as medical resident teaching.  The research theme of DMP centers on techniques for adaptive and image-guided radiation therapy, automated treatment planning, dose computation methods, and quality assurance projects. 

Over the past 15 years, our department has transformed itself by being an early adopter of new technology which included CT simulation, IMRT and IGRT.  Using a centralized R&V system (Varian’s ARIA), we are able to perform treatment planning on any patient located at the other clinical sites.  This allows us to assist other sites with treatment planning.

Division of Medical Physics participates in teaching of both graduate students in engineering as well as the medical residents within our department.  In 2004, Emory Radiation Oncology cooperated with Georgia Tech’s Nuclear and Radiological Engineering (NRE) Program in developing a Master of Science in Medical Physics (MSMP) program. We also assist the Residency Program Director for the physic’s curriculum for the residents.  We present medical physics lectures to radiation oncology residents throughout the year.  These lectures are provided for 1.5 hours on a weekly basis.

The major research effort focuses on modeling and computational methodologies for medical imaging, cancer treatment planning and dose computation methods.  Our faculty members are engaged in a number of projects that reach beyond the department with close interaction with GT as well as other clinical departments.    We have received foundation and industrial funding for some of the projects.  The research performed by Division of Medical Physics can be broken into two broad areas of software and experimental/machine projects.  The following research areas are being pursued by our division:

1.     Molecular Imaging & Image Registration

2.     Image-Guided Radiation Therapy & Adaptive Radiation Therapy

3.     Treatment Planning Optimization

4.     Radiation Measurements & Dose Computation Methods

5.     Treatment Process Efficiencies

The Division of Computational Research and Informatics (DCRI) was formed in 1996 in the Department of Radiation Oncology.  The division's research centers on techniques for decision making and automation that enable software systems to perform intelligently and exhibit goal-directed behavior in a clinical environment. The solutions to this problem require approaches from many different academic fields. DCRI's research draws on areas such as artificial intelligence, constrained optimization methods, computational radiation dosimetry, and visualization methods. Emory radiation oncologists participate in the division's long range planning goals.  In addition, faculties outside the university have been recruited to actively participate in certain research projects. 

A New Shape for Hope...

What is the Southeast Center for IMRT of Emory University?

Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) has been in research and clinical use at Emory since August 1998.  A research and clinical program was initiated to advance this treatment process within the southeastern United States. Since that time, various disease sites have been treated with this technique at our institution; we have also trained radiation oncologists and physicists from the United States and several foreign countries in how to utilize IMRT.  IMRT will continue to be one of our areas of research and clinical expertise.  

What is IMRT?

Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) uses computer-generated images to plan and then deliver even more tightly focused radiation beams to cancerous tumors than is possible with conventional therapy.  IMRT helps radiation oncologists achieve increased precision through a combination of computerized machines that produce and deliver the radiation (called medical linear accelerators), advanced planning and control software, and specialized mechanical devices used to shape the radiation beams.  This improved precision often allows the radiation oncologists to increase the radiation dose delivered to the tumor. 

IMRT differs from conventional three-dimensional radiation therapy in two important respects:  inverse planning and intensity modulation.  "Inverse planning" refers to the practice of specifying intended radiation doses for the tumor and surrounding normal tissues; the treatment planning software then calculates the optimal radiation beam arrangement to satisfy these dose requirements.  In conventional treatment planning, the radiation beams are set manually, then dose distributions are calculated and reviewed to see if they are satisfactory.  "Intensity modulation" refers to the ability of IMRT to vary the strength of the radiation at different locations within the beam.  This is accomplished by dividing each beam into many small "beamlets" that essentially deliver radiation independently. 

Click here for a more detailed description of IMRT.

Why use IMRT?

IMRT's benefits to patients include reduced side effects and complications of radiation therapy, and in some cases greater probability of cure due to increased radiation dose to the tumor. IMRT may even permit radiation therapy to be given for some cancers that would not otherwise have been treated, giving those patients new hope of being cured.

IMRT is being used today to escalate the doses given to prostate cancer patients and the preliminary results indicate this increase in dose improves the probability of cure. A reduction in the side effects associated with prostate therapy has also been reported. In other treatment sites such as breast and head-and-neck cancers, a reduction in side effects has also been reported. A great deal of the IMRT focus has been on cancers of the central nervous system, where positive results have been reported as well.  IMRT also is proving useful in treating gastrointestinal malignancies, where it allows better control of radiation dose to the many organs in close proximity to these tumors. 

Click here to see a comparison between conventional radiation therapy and IMRT for a patient case.

Our Treatment Technology

IMRT represents one of the first uses of computer systems to optimize the radiation delivery technique. The IMRT planning system evaluates millions of possible beam arrangements and yields an optimized treatment plan. This plan maximizes the radiation dose delivered to the tumor while minimizing the radiation dose delivered to the surrounding normal tissues.  Emory's Department of Radiation Oncology has an industry partnership with Varian Medical Systems to help develop, test, and implement the latest technology solutions for IMRT. 

Click here to learn more about our IMRT technology.

Our Research Program

At Emory University we have recruited world-class faculty, developed collaborative research programs, and created partnerships with leading radiation therapy technology vendors to develop and implement IMRT at our institution. 

Click here to learn more about our IMRT research program.