KSOM Radiation Oncology News and Updates

The Department of Radiation Oncology is constantly growing. Please see achievements, awards, publications, and updates related to our departments research, education and clinical efforts.

Drs. Lauren Lukas, MD and Hualin Zhang, PhD – Coauthored a new abstract publication titled “Immune Effects of Spatially Fractionated Radiation Therapy in Triple Negative Breast Cancer”.

Drs. Lauren Lukas, MD;  Hualin Zhang, PhD; and Zhengzheng Xu, PhD– Coauthored a new abstract publication titled “Feasibility of a Lead FRID Collimator for Electron GRID Therapy”

Drs. Hye Ri Han, MD; Hualin Zhang, PhD; and Lauren Lukas, MD – Coauthored a new abstract publication titled  “Threshold Dose in Spatially Fractionated Radiation Therapy for Preclinical Triple-Negative Breast Cancer”

Joshua Schiff, MD, PhD – Senior coauthor of a new publication titled “Workflow considerations for implementing a cone-beam CT-guided adaptive radiotherapy program” published in Applied Radiation Oncology.  Link to Article

Drs. Arthur Olch, PhD; Hualin Zhang, PhD; and Kenneth Wong, MD – coauthored a new abstract publication titled “ShotCaller: An Automated Target Placement Algorithm to Streamline Spatially Fractioned Radiation Therapy Treatment Planning”, about software to assist in SFRT treatment planning.

May Lin Tao, MD – Dr. Tao was featured in the article “Radiation Oncology: Leading Teams in Technology, Training and Beyond” on Keck Medicine Physician Hub site. Link to Article

Arthur Olch, PhD, FAAPM – Congratulations to Dr. Olch, who will be granted emeritus status upon his retirement by USC, effective July 1, 2025. This prestigious honor signifies honorable retirement from his assigned duties. This award is a testament to his unwavering service and is a well-deserved recognition of your contributions. We eagerly anticipate your continued presence in our academic community.

Eric Chang, MD, FARS, FASTRO – Dr. Chang’s article “ A Personalized Approach to Spinal Cord Ependymoma,” is now available online.

Link to Article: A Personalized Approach to Spinal Cord Ependymoma

May Lin Tao, MD, MSHS – Dr. Tao has treated the department’s first two osteoarthritis patients with low dose radiation therapy in the community based on ASTRO and German guidelines. Congratulations to her on breaking new ground for RT indications at Keck Medicine of USC!!!!

Eric L. Chang MD FARS, FACR, FASTRO – Named as Top Radiation Oncologist for 2025 by Castle Connolly.  These Oncologist represent the top 7% of all U.S. practicing physicians, and are best-in-class healthcare providers, embodying excellence in clinical care as well as interpersonal skills. Link to Caste Connolly profile.

Lijun Ma, PhD – Has been ranked #1 for Radiosurgical specialty on experscape.com and ranked 23 among all Medical Physicist: worldwide for specialty experts

Lijun Ma, PhD – Has been elected as a Fellow of American College of Radiology ( FACR)

Multiple Faculty –  Drs. Lauren Lukas, Jason Ye, Kenneth Wong, Hye Ri Han, and Hualin Zhang along with colleagues from Pathology and Medical Oncology recently had an article titled “Targeting EZH2 to mitigate immune checkpoint resistance in ARID1A-deficient triple-negative breast cancer” published in Advances in Radiotherapy and Nuclear Medicine.

Dr. Zhaoyang Fan –  Recently had an article title “Interleaved flow‐sensitive dephasing (iFSD): Toward enhanced blood flow suppression and preserved T₁ weighting and overall signals in 3D TSE‐based neuroimaging in Magnetic Resonance in Medicine” published online.

Link to article: http://doi.org/10.1002/mrm.30391

Dr. Eric Chang – Dr. Chang’s new 2nd Edition Book Adult CNS Radiation Oncology has been published as a definitive textbook (850 pages) on brain tumors.

Link to Article: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-67878-3

Dr. Eric Chang – Had an article published in Cancers that he contributed to, “The Role of CT and MR Imaging in Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy of the Spine: From Patient Selection and Treatment Planning to Post-Treatment Monitoring.”

Link to Article:https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/16/21/3692__;!!JkGBRS3n8cDS!h2wyXwCmr_JQEO0VoB-                     8W2cNHJlK45ISm7PcQFLAG8D6-zV8MpB3HGm4qNWdQeJ6sXYiCfUOqet5TZHAfOA$

Dr. Eric Chang – Dr. Chang recently had an article he co-authored, published online titled “An Update to the American Radium Society’s Appropriate Use Criteria of Lower Grade Gliomas: Integration of IDH Inhibitors.”

Link to Article: https://authors.elsevier.com/c/1k8o8cA0-IfeC

Hualin Zhang, PhD – Was awarded the Fellow of American Association of Physicists in Medicine (FAAPM)

Hualin Zhang, PhD – Had a new SFRT paper titled is ” Optimizing GRID and Lattice Spatially Fractionated Radiation Therapy: Innovative Strategies for Radioresistant and Bulky Tumor Management” published in the Journal of Seminars in Radiation Oncology

 Hualin Zhang, PhD – Had another new SFRT paper published titled The Radiosurgery Society Working Groups on GRID, LATTICE, Microbeam, and FLASH Radiotherapies: 2022 – 2023 Advancements Symposium and Subsequent Progress Made”, Pract Radiat Oncol. 2024 Oct 22: S1879. doi: 10.1016/j.prro.2024 .09.015.

Phuong Dang and Julie Shen – Our medical physics resident, Dr. Phuong Dang, won third place in the residency/Post Doctoral category at the AAPM Southern California Chapter Norm Baily Student competition. The event had 8 industry sponsorships, Dr. Zada was the keynote speaker, and event was organized by our Dr. Julie Shen.

GO2 Foundation Walk – On October 12, 2024, Dr. Ye joined the USC/Norris Cancer Center Team at the Annual GO2 SoCal Lung Cancer 5k Walk/Run. This year, the team raised over $4,000 in support of lung cancer care and research and won third place in fundraising efforts (beating City of Hope!).

Khoi Huynh, Ph.D. – Dr. Kho Huynh, post graduate, has secured his first grant. The award is the Margaret Kersten Ponty Endowed Post doctoral Fellowship award in oncology Research at the Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and will help support ongoing research efforts in Dr. Modrek’s lab

Drs. Chang and Ye – Were awarded an exact Sciences Grant for $20,000 to help fund the annual Breast Symposium

Aram Modrek and Syeda Narjis Fatima – Both Drs. Modrek and Fatima were awarded American Cancer Society Institutional Research Grants (ACS-IRG) by USC.

-Dr. Modrek will be utilizing the funds to conduct research Single-Molecule Techniques to Investigate DNA Damage induced Epigenetic Reprogramming.

-Dr. Fatima will be using the funds to research Deep Learning based Integrated Image Synthesis for Adaptive Radiation Therapy and Automated Treatment Planning Systems