St. Jude Research
Chair: Thomas E. Merchant, DO, PhD

Department of Radiation Oncology

  

See Details

About the department

The mission of the Department of Radiation Oncology is to improve pediatric cancer cure rates and minimize treatment-related long-term side effects. Radiation therapy has historically been considered a pillar of cancer therapy and here at St. Jude, it has long been instrumental in advancing treatment strategies for several types of pediatric cancers. Our faculty are reimagining pediatric radiation therapy and redefining its scope. 

Our team provides pediatric and young adult cancer patients with expert and compassionate clinical care in close collaboration with pediatric oncologists, surgeons and other medical specialists. The department fully embraces St. Jude’s “bench to bedside” mission and strives to conduct innovative research that advances knowledge and improves the outlook for all children. We are refining and redefining the role of imaging in pediatric radiation therapy in cancer treatment through utilizing the latest technologies and by leveraging valuable institutional and global collaborations.

Research

The Department of Radiation Oncology is performing critical research in the fields of pediatric oncology, pediatric radiation oncology and medical physics. We are exploring new indications for irradiation and combined modality therapy, intelligent sequencing and advanced technology including proton therapy. These endeavors are allowing us to focus on advancing cures for pediatric cancers with the lowest survival rates as well as for children with relapsed disease. 

We are also optimizing radiation therapy in order to deliver the precise type and amount of therapy needed to maintain survival rates while reducing the overall burden of therapy. This allows us to reduce the toxicity of cancer therapy and enhance the quality of life for the children we treat. 

man working in radiation lab

Apply now for open faculty positions

See open positions

Technology and protocols

The Department of Radiation Oncology is devoted to providing the highest quality patient care through integrating cutting-edge imaging technologies into all aspects of the radiation therapy process and conducting novel pediatric-focused research. 

  1. Photon and proton therapy

    Our state-of-the-art facilities include a 25,000 square foot Proton Therapy Center, featuring a synchrotron-based pencil beam scanning proton therapy system with two gantry rooms and a fixed beam room. Each room is equipped with high-precision patient positioning and image guidance systems. Adjacent to the proton treatment rooms are PET/CT and 3.0T MRI systems, both equipped for treatment planning. The department has a 20,000 square foot Photon Therapy Center and clinic dedicated to pediatric radiation oncology. The photon center is equipped with a Varian TrueBeam, a 1.5T MRI, and a Spectral CT unit dedicated to treatment planning.

  1. Magnetic resonance simulators

    Our department houses two wide-bore helium-efficient magnetic resonance (MR) simulators (Philips Ingenia 1.5T and 3.0T) for advanced 3D high-resolution imaging with receiver-coil arrangements tailored to pediatric radiotherapy patients. We have utilized these machines to analyze protocol-specified serial MR imaging acquired on diagnostic imaging systems after radiotherapy as well as investigated radiation-induced changes in cerebral white matter, brainstem and cerebral vasculature. 

    Our approach has increased our understanding of tumor/anatomic changes during a course of radiotherapy and long-term radiation-related effects in critical organs in children at different developmental stages. 

  1. Novel computed tomography imaging in treatment planning

    Our department has a first-generation detector-based spectral computed tomography (CT) (Philips IQon), offering a rotation speed of 0.27s, model-based iterative reconstruction and the capability to synthesize various spectral images in a single scan. This system has allowed for more rapid CT simulation acquisition, reduced metal implant artifact and enhanced iodine contrast in tumor with low keV (40-50 keV) monoenergetic images with or without reducing CT contrast dose during supply shortage. 

  1. Stopping power dose calculation in treatment planning

    We have developed and experimentally validated our in-house tool of stopping power images with proton irradiation of animal tissues and phantoms. Our next step will move toward clinical implementation of direct stopping power dose calculation and virtual non-contrast CT to achieve single-scan CT simulation for proton therapy.

  1. Image-guided proton radiotherapy

    We can perform in-room cone beam CT (CBCT) and use a ceiling-mounted robotic CBCT for daily volumetric image guidance. This capability enables us to visualize patient soft-tissue anatomy daily and position patients accurately without incorporating overly large setup uncertainty in scenario-based robust optimization. Our findings and practice recommendations have been widely disseminated through publications and presentations. 

  1. Adaptive proton planning

    Our image-guidance research has made a clinical impact on patients undergoing proton therapy. Our studies have produced unique data on pediatric site-specific setup uncertainty to account for in-treatment plan design and identified risk factors for outliers with large motion artifacts. A hybrid method of correcting CBCT for proton therapy dose calculation with deep learning and deformable image registration was developed and clinically implemented to facilitate same-day dose recalculation and decision for adaptive replan in patients with significant anatomic changes. We are currently designing a prospective protocol to utilize daily imaging to better characterize anatomic changes in pediatric patients and improve adaptive proton therapy workflow. All these imaging-related research efforts used cutting-edge imaging resources to target tumors with high accuracy and to reduce radiation-associated toxicity in children. 

Chair

Clinical Faculty

Medical Physics Faculty

  • View Details

    Chia-ho Hua, PhD

    Member, St. Jude Faculty

    Director of Medical Physics Research, Radiation Oncology Department

    Chia-ho Hua, PhD

    Member, St. Jude Faculty

    Director of Medical Physics Research, Radiation Oncology Department

    View Full Profile Explore Chia-ho Hua's research

    Affiliations

    Department of Radiation Oncology

    Comprehensive Cancer Center

    Neurobiology and Brain Tumor Program

    Research Interests

    • Improving proton therapy targeting accuracy
    • Advanced imaging for precision radiation therapy
    • Predictive modeling for tumor response and treatment late effects

    Contact Information

    Chia-ho Hua, PhD

    Radiation Oncology

    MS 210, Room I3133

    St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

    262 Danny Thomas Place

    Memphis, TN 38105-3678

    (901) 595-3610 (phone)

    (901) 595-3113 (fax)

  • View Details

    Ozgur Ates, PhD, DABR

    Assistant Member, St. Jude Faculty

    Ozgur Ates, PhD, DABR

    Assistant Member, St. Jude Faculty

    View Full Profile Explore Ozgur Ates's research

    Affiliations

    Department of Radiation Oncology

    Research Interests

    • Adaptive proton therapy
    • Surface guided radiation therapy
    • Motion management strategies
    • DECT-based proton dose calculations
    • Safety and toxicity analysis
    • Particle therapy metrology systems

    Contact Information

    Ozgur Ates, PhD, DABR

    Radiation Oncology

    MS 210

    St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

    262 Danny Thomas Place

    Memphis, TN 38105-3678

    (901) 595-2404 (phone)

  • View Details

    Andrew J. Boria, PhD, DABR

    Assistant Member, St. Jude Faculty

    Andrew J. Boria, PhD, DABR

    Assistant Member, St. Jude Faculty

    View Full Profile

    Affiliations

    Department of Radiation Oncology

    Research Interests

    • Implementing AI-based whole body pediatric auto-segmentation
    • Evaluating the safety and effectiveness of proton therapy for children with cancer
    • Implementing pulsed reduced dose rate radiotherapy for large-volume recurrent cancer
    • Evaluating patient positioning on accuracy of craniospinal pediatric proton therapy

    Contact Information

    Andrew J. Boria, PhD, DABR

    Radiation Oncology

    MS 210

    St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

    262 Danny Thomas Place

    Memphis, TN 38105-3678

  • View Details

    Chin-Cheng Chen, PhD, DABR

    Associate Member, St. Jude Faculty

    Chin-Cheng Chen, PhD, DABR

    Associate Member, St. Jude Faculty

    View Full Profile Explore Chin-Cheng Chen's research

    Affiliations

    Department of Radiation Oncology

    Research Interests

    •  Implementing clinical physics workflows, quality assurance measures and adoption of cutting-edge treatment planning techniques
    • Developming tailored, patient-specific treatments 

    Contact Information

    Chin-Cheng Chen, PhD, DABR

    Department of Radiation Oncology

    MS 210, Room IP304

    St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

    262 Danny Thomas Place

    Memphis, TN 38112

More information

Studies and clinical trials

Related topics

Selected publications

Response of bilateral Wilms tumor to chemotherapy suggests histologic subtype and guides treatment
Duncan et al. J Natl Cancer Inst, 2024
Radiation therapy dose escalation achieves high rate of local control with tolerable toxicity profile in pediatric and young adult patients with Ewing sarcoma
Kacar et al. Cancer, 2024
Performance analysis and knowledge-based quality assurance of critical organ auto-segmentation for pediatric craniospinal irradiation
Hanna et al. Sci Rep, 2024
Proton therapy and limited surgery for paediatric and adolescent patients with craniopharyngioma (RT2CR): A single-arm, phase 2 study
Merchant et al. Lancet Oncol, 2023
ATM inhibition enhances the efficacy of radiation across distinct molecular subgroups of pediatric high-grade glioma
Xie et al. Neuro Oncol., 2023

Contact us

Department of Radiation Oncology
MS 210, Room I3131
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
262 Danny Thomas Place
Memphis, TN 38105-3678

Email: thomas.merchant@stjude.org
Phone: (901) 595-3604
Fax: (901) 595-3113

Preferred contact method: Phone