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Radiation Oncology Team

Members of your child's treatment team will have different roles. One of those specialists will be a radiation oncologist. Other team members will be nurses and radiation therapists. St. Jude uses this multidisciplinary approach to give children with cancer the best chance of survival and the best possible quality of life.

Director

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    Thomas E. Merchant, DO, PhD

    Member, St. Jude Faculty

    Chair, Radiation Oncology Department

    Baddia J. Rashid Endowed Chair in Radiation Oncology

    Chairman, Radiation Oncology Discipline, Children's Oncology Group

    Thomas E. Merchant, DO, PhD

    Member, St. Jude Faculty

    Chair, Radiation Oncology Department

    Baddia J. Rashid Endowed Chair in Radiation Oncology

    Chairman, Radiation Oncology Discipline, Children's Oncology Group

    Research Interests

    • Pediatric neuro-oncology
    • Application of advanced radiotherapy methods for treatment of pediatric cancers
    • Mitigation of radiotherapy-related side effects
    • Conformal radiation therapy 
    • Development of guidelines for intensity-modulated radiation therapy and proton beam therapy for treatment of solid tumors

    Contact Information

    Thomas E. Merchant, DO, PhD

    Radiation Oncology

    MS 210, Room I3131

    St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

    262 Danny Thomas Place

    Memphis, TN 38105-3678

Radiation oncology physicians

Medical physicists

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    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

    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

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    Ozgur Ates, PhD, DABR

    Assistant Member, St. Jude Faculty

    Ozgur Ates, PhD, DABR

    Assistant Member, St. Jude Faculty

    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

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    Andrew J. Boria, PhD, DABR

    Assistant Member, St. Jude Faculty

    Andrew J. Boria, PhD, DABR

    Assistant Member, St. Jude Faculty

    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

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    Chin-Cheng Chen, PhD, DABR

    Associate Member, St. Jude Faculty

    Chin-Cheng Chen, PhD, DABR

    Associate Member, St. Jude Faculty

    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

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    Christopher Kutyreff

    Sr Physicist

    Christopher Kutyreff

    Sr Physicist

Nurse practitioners

Valerie Groben, RN, MSN, APRN-BC
Nurse Practitioner