Leaders in Radiation Oncology
The Emory Department of Radiation Oncology was created in 1991 and led by inaugural chair Lawrence W. Davis, MD, MBA, FACR, who was appointed by then Emory School of Medicine Dean Jeffrey Houpt, MD. Over Davis’ 19-year tenure, the Department of Radiation Oncology went from a small medical practice to a national leader in clinical care, research, and education.
Since its inception, the department has embraced the early adoption of new technologies for radiation therapy. The Emory Department of Radiation Oncology was the first to implement Varian’s Trilogy system for intracranial and extracranial radiosurgery, the first in the U.S. to clinically use Varian’s On-Board Imaging technology, and the first in Georgia with a CT scanner and 3-D treatment planning system. The department was also one of the first adopters of Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy and Image Guided Radiation Therapy. These efforts were made more impressive by the fact that the department was originally a free-standing practice, responsible for acquiring, installing, and implementing technologies at the department’s expense.
In 2008, Walter J. Curran, Jr., MD, FACR, FASCO was named professor and chairman of the Department of Radiation Oncology. A year later, he was named Executive Director of Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University. The department acquired the TrueBeam radiation therapy system, currently available at two of its practice locations, in 2011, widening the spectrum of advanced radiotherapy options available for cancer patients in Georgia. Under Curran’s leadership, Winship Cancer Institute received the prestigious National Cancer Institute Comprehensive Cancer Center (NCI-CCC) designation in 2017, an honor awarded to only the top 1% of all cancer centers and is the only NCI-CCC designated cancer center in the state of Georgia. In 2018, the Emory Proton Therapy Center opened, exclusively operated by Department of Radiation Oncology faculty and staff and in its first year treated over 400 patients, had over 450 consults, and was granted the prestigious ACR accreditation for diagnostic magnetic resonance imaging. Dr. Curran stepped down as chair in January 2021.
In 2022, Reshma Jagsi, MD, DPhil, was named professor and chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology. Dr. Jagsi is internationally recognized for her research in both breast cancer and bioethics.
The department is actively working on expanding its clinical trial portfolio at the Emory Proton Therapy Center and is looking forward to increased efforts to expand the impact of the department via its partnerships with Kaiser Permanente and Emory Decatur and Emory Hillandale in the greater Atlanta area. Kaiser Permanente specialists have joined Winship radiation oncology experts at Emory University Hospital Midtown and Emory Saint Joseph’s Hospital. Winship radiation oncologists are now practicing at two former DeKalb Medical facilities: Emory Decatur Hospital and Emory Hillandale Hospital.
The research activities of the department have grown substantially in the past decade in basic, translational, physics, and clinical research. In 2019, the department ranked second among departments of radiation oncology based at universities in total National Institutes of Health funding.