Ross Weber, MD, PhD

I grew up in Westchester, New York, and attended college at the University of Pennsylvania. At Penn, I studied molecular biology with a research focus on plant hormone signaling and stayed on as a research technician studying drosophila models of neurodegeneration. Next, I enrolled in the Weill Cornell Medical College/Rockefeller University/Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) Tri-Institutional MD-PhD Program. For my graduate work, under the guidance of Dr. Kivanc Birsoy, I studied the role of organellar metabolite compartmentalization in cancer. Prior to starting the radiation oncology residency, I completed my transitional year internship at MSK. In my free time, I enjoy cooking, long walks, reading, and playing tennis.

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David Miller, MD

I was born and raised in Tallahassee, Florida, and I attended Florida State University as a religion major. I then pursued a master’s degree in medical anthropology at the University of Oxford as a Frost Scholar. I moved to Washington, D.C., to complete a two-year research fellowship at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Department of Bioethics, researching ethical and policy issues for patients at the end of life. At NIH, I became interested in the intersection of ethics, public policy, and clinical medicine, especially for patients facing serious illness, which motivated me to pursue a career in medicine. I attended medical school at the University of Pennsylvania, where I explored these interests through projects relating to palliative radiotherapy, surrogate decision-making, and medical education. I completed my internship in internal medicine at Mount Sinai Beth Israel Hospital in New York City before joining the Radiation Oncology Residency Program at MSK. During my free time, I enjoy lifting weights, skiing, playing piano, running a “Survivor” fantasy league, and hosting themed costume parties.

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Yue Helen Zhang, MD

I was born in Zhengzhou, China, then grew up in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. After graduating from UNC-Chapel Hill with a major in biology, I attended medical school at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), where I discovered my interest in radiation oncology, specifically brachytherapy. While at VCU, I received a grant from the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) to assess the clinical feasibility and benefit of utilizing a novel hybrid brachytherapy technique for locally advanced cervical cancer. Between my third and fourth year of medical school, I completed a yearlong clinical research fellowship in the Department of Radiation Oncology at MSK and investigated ways to improve the quality of radiation treatment planning. Before starting my radiation oncology residency, I completed a preliminary year in internal medicine at Greenwich Hospital in Connecticut. In my free time, I enjoy exploring Central Park with my dog, live music, yoga, and snowboarding.

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Kevin Boehm, MD, PhD

I grew up in Oakton, Virginia, and attended Yale University, where I studied biomedical engineering and developed an interest in machine learning for cancer imaging. After college, I moved to New York to affiliate with the Weill Cornell Medical College/Rockefeller University/Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) Tri-Institutional MD-PhD Program. Dr. Sohrab Shah mentored my doctoral research in computational oncology, during which I developed machine-learning techniques to integrate clinical imaging and genomic data at Memorial Hospital. After graduation, I stayed at MSK to complete the Transitional Year Internship, conduct postdoctoral research in computational oncology, and join the radiation oncology residency.

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Sybil Sha, MD

I grew up in Orlando, Florida, and moved north to attend Cornell University, studying human biology, health, and society. During this time, I developed an interest in research of accelerated partial breast irradiation after seeing how much more convenient it could be for patients. While in medical school at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, I continued conducting research in rectal cancer with Dr. Nirav Kapadia at the Dartmouth Institute, with a specific focus on geographic factors to radiation accessibility. I also explored research in post-radiation malignancy, disparities, and internet use in patients who underwent radiation therapy with Drs. Paul Nguyen and Kent Mouw at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. I completed my preliminary internal medicine year at UT Southwestern prior to joining the Radiation Oncology Residency Program. In my free time, I love finding scenic bike routes and playing backgammon with my family.

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Alok Deshane, MD

I was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, and studied sociology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. I attended medical school at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. At University Hospitals of Cleveland, under the mentorship of Drs. Serah Choi and Aashish Bhatt, I helped conduct a study evaluating an intervention to alleviate transportation burden for patients undergoing radiotherapy and worked on various clinical research projects in head and neck and central nervous system cancer. During my time at Case, I also completed a Master of Arts degree in bioethics. After medical school, I returned home to complete a transitional year at Brookwood Baptist Health in Birmingham before joining the Radiation Oncology Residency Program at MSK. In my free time, I enjoy sports (namely basketball), live music, and trying new restaurants.

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Proton Fellow

Fan Yang, MD

I grew up in Vancouver, Canada and attended the University of British Columbia for both my undergraduate studies in honors physiology and medical school. During medical school, I developed a passion for taking care of patients with cancer and pursued radiation oncology residency training at the University of Alberta. During residency, I was actively involved in clinical research focusing on dosimetric predictors of radiation toxicity and have earned recognition for my research in various conferences, scientific journals, and news publications. I am excited to train with experts in our field at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) as a proton therapy fellow.

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Brachytherapy Fellow

Irini Youssef, MD

I grew up in Queens, New York, and attended medical school at the Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education. I went to SUNY Downstate School of Medicine for my clinical rotations, where I obtained my medical degree. I completed my residency at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University. During my residency, I developed an interest in procedures utilizing brachytherapy for all treatment areas, especially gynecologic and genitourinary malignancies. I am grateful to continue my training at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, working alongside many of the greatest pioneers in radiation oncology.

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Nikhil Mankuzhy, MD

I was born and raised in Metro Detroit. I attended the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and studied neuroscience. After graduating college, I discovered my interest in cancer care as a scribe in ocular oncology at the Kellogg Eye Center. During this time, I also conducted clinical research on precision medicine applications in pediatric oncology at Michigan Medicine. As a medical student at the Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine, I worked on clinical research projects with Beaumont Hospital’s Department of Radiation Oncology in lung, breast, and prostate cancer. I returned to Ann Arbor for my transitional year internship at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital before finally leaving Michigan to join the Radiation Oncology Residency Program at MSK. While living in New York City, I enjoy playing pickup basketball and trying new restaurants.

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Edward “Christopher” Dee, MD

I grew up in Manila, Philippines, and Vancouver, Canada, and attended Yale University, where I majored in molecular biophysics and biochemistry and studied proteins involved in DNA repair. Thereafter, I worked in global health and health policy in New Delhi, Manila, and Washington, D.C. I attended Harvard Medical School, where my interest in oncology grew. I conducted prostate cancer clinical research with Dr. Paul Nguyen and Dr. Anthony D’Amico at the Dana- Farber Cancer Institute. I also explored health services research, with a focus on disparities, financial toxicity, and oncology care delivery in lower-middle-income countries. This work has led to collaborations with a global team of researchers studying healthcare delivery and cancer disparities, allowing me to combine my interests in oncology and health equity. I completed my transitional intern year at MSK. I am an avid fan of Rainer Maria Rilke’s poetry, Marc Chagall’s paintings, and Albert Camus’ prose.

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Kaitlyn Lapen, MD

I grew up in the western suburbs of Chicago and obtained my undergraduate degree at Emory University, where I studied biology and human health. I then returned to Chicago to attend the University of Illinois College of Medicine. While in medical school, I developed an interest in oncology and participated in MSK’s Medical Student Summer Fellowship Program, where I studied the use of complementary therapies for patients with cancer. Between my third and fourth years of medical school, I returned to MSK to complete a yearlong research fellowship in the Department of Radiation Oncology. Under the mentorship of Dr. Erin Gillespie, I investigated the development and implementation of a remote symptom reporting tool for patients undergoing breast radiation, in order to optimize symptom management. I completed my transitional-year internship at MSK prior to joining the Radiation Oncology Residency Program. While living in New York, I enjoy exploring various museums, spending time in Central Park, and searching for antique furniture and home decor.

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Roshal Patel, MD

I was born and raised in Albany, New York. A true upstate New Yorker, I pursued undergraduate studies in health policy and biology at the University of Rochester and later attended medical school at Albany Medical College. During medical school, I spent a year at MD Anderson Cancer Center under the mentorship of Dr. Jim Welsh, studying strategies to combine radiation with immune therapies to improve outcomes in patients with metastatic cancers. Throughout my career, I have worked with several other teams focusing on research disciplines, including palliative radiation therapy, pediatric brain tumor genomics, and disparities in cancer clinical trials. Prior to joining Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, I completed my preliminary-year internship in internal medicine at Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center. In my free time, I enjoy live music, sports, hiking, and skiing.

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Alex Goglia, MD, PhD

I grew up in Edina, Minnesota, and attended Gonzaga University, where I studied evolutionary biology and philosophy as an undergraduate. After deciding to pursue medicine, I completed a master’s degree at Columbia University and then spent two years working in Dr. Simon Powell’s laboratory at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), studying DNA repair and developing small molecule radiosensitizers. I then joined the Rutgers/Princeton MD/PhD program, where my doctoral research, funded by the NCI F30, was completed at Princeton University in the laboratory of Jared Toettcher. There, I used synthetic biology tools to study how cells use time-varying dynamics of Ras/Erk MAPK signaling activity to encode information and inform proliferative cell fate decisions. During my PhD training, I also co-founded a biotech company developing proteins whose enzymatic activity can be controlled using precise wavelengths of visible light. After graduation, I completed a transitional-year internship at MSK before joining the Radiation Oncology Residency Program, where I hope to continue studying how cell fate decision networks become corrupted in cancer. In my free time, I enjoy live music, basketball, eating every kind of food, and fishing (now in Central Park).

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Yuzhong “Jeff” Meng, MD, PhD

I grew up in Nanjing, China, and attended Williams College, where I majored in chemistry and math. In my undergraduate career, I used polymer physics models and computer simulations to study the free energy of small RNA–mRNA binding with Daniel Aalberts. After a gap year of research, I joined the Harvard/MIT MD/PhD program, where I worked with Rameen Beroukhim to identify the genomic correlates of outcome in tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte therapy for metastatic melanoma. I completed my transitional-year internship at Cambridge Health Alliance before joining the Radiation Oncology Residency Program.

Alexandra Dreyfuss, MD, MS

I grew up in Miami, Florida and attended the University of Pennsylvania for college, where I majored in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and designed production processes for cancer therapeutics. I remained at Penn for medical school where my love for the nuanced and compassionate relationship between a cancer patient and physician first developed. My interest in oncology deepened through my research in the oncologic applications of molecular imaging under the mentorship of Dr. Abass Alavi, and more broadly through my research in clinical trial design and novel radiation technologies. While in medical school I also completed a Master’s of Science in Translational Research, investigating radiation-induced cardiotoxicity as an NIH TL1 grant recipient in the lab of Dr. Costas Koumenis. I completed my transitional year internship at MSKCC where I experienced the value of coordinated, multidisciplinary cancer care and I am excited to continue my training in the Radiation Oncology Residency Program.

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Chengcheng Gui, MD

I grew up in Winnipeg, Canada, before studying chemical and biological engineering as an undergraduate at Princeton University. There, I developed an interest in computational modeling of biophysical systems. During my medical training at Johns Hopkins University, I assisted Dr. Kristin Redmond in completing several clinical studies of radiation therapy for brain and spine tumors. Some of our work took advantage of machine learning techniques for predicting clinical outcomes. I completed a preliminary year in internal medicine at Greater Baltimore Medical Center, before joining the Radiation Oncology Residency Program at MSK.

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Christopher Jackson, MD, MS

I was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona. I attended college at Stanford University where I majored in bioengineering. I went to Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons for medical school. During medical school, I took two years to obtain a Masters in Biomedical Sciences working in Ranjit Bindra’s lab at Yale University. My thesis explored DNA repair deficits in glioblastoma. Before joining the Radiation Oncology Residency Program, I completed a transitional year internship at MSK.

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Gustav Cederquist, MD, PhD

I grew up in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania and attended Harvard University. While at Harvard, I conducted research on the genetics of neocortical development and received a Bachelor’s degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology. I then joined the Weill Cornell/Rockefeller/Sloan-Kettering Tri-Institutional MD-PhD Program, where I worked under the mentorship of Dr. Lorenz Studer to develop novel pluripotent stem cell-based approaches to dissect the cellular heterogeneity of the human brain. After my PhD, I joined the lab of Dr. Adam Schmitt at Memorial Sloan-Kettering working to identify genetic determinants of radio-resistance in metastatic disease. I completed a transitional year internship at Memorial Sloan-Kettering before joining the Radiation Oncology Residency Program.

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Matthew McMillan, MD

I was born and raised in Charlotte, North Carolina and attended the University of South Carolina, where I received my undergraduate degree in History and German. After deciding to pursue a career in medicine, I moved to Philadelphia, where I completed a pre-health post-baccalaureate program at the University of Pennsylvania. While completing my premed coursework, I worked as a Harrison Surgical Scholar at Penn Surgery under the mentorship of Charles Vollmer. During this time, I had the opportunity to learn about radiation oncology through collaborating on research projects with Eric Ojerholm and Charles Simone. I then attended medical school at the University of Michigan and worked in the laboratories of Theodore Lawrence and Meredith Morgan, where I studied targeting the DNA damage response to sensitize pancreatic cancers to immune checkpoint blockade. I completed a transitional year internship at MSK prior to joining the Radiation Oncology Residency Program.

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Sana Raoof, MD, PhD

I grew up in Long Island, New York and attended Harvard College, where I studied Chemistry and Physics. In my undergraduate career, I studied the statistical mechanics of protein folding and worked on passing anti-tobacco legislation. My interest in reducing the burden of tobacco-related diseases led me to the MD-PhD program at Harvard-MIT (HST), where I studied the epigenetic basis of drug tolerance in oncogene-mutant lung cancers and designed drug combinations to block the evolution of resistance. My concurrent work in the anti-tobacco space shifted my post-graduate scientific interests from drug development for late stage cancers to early detection and prevention of cancer. During my preliminary year in medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, I published and presented widely on the topic of liquid biopsy for cancer screening. I hope to conduct research on early detection technologies at Memorial Sloan Kettering as a radiation oncology resident.

David Billing, MD, PhD

I grew up in Gales Ferry, Connecticut and attended Harvard University where I received my bachelor’s degree in molecular and cellular biology. I then entered the MD/PhD program at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. For my doctoral thesis in Richard Baer’s lab, I studied the role of the BRCA1/BARD1 heterodimer in DNA damage response and breast cancer pathogenesis. I completed a transitional year internship at MSK prior to joining the radiation oncology residency program.

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Bill Diplas, MD, PhD

I grew up in Blacksburg, Virginia. I attended Johns Hopkins University for my undergraduate degree in biomedical engineering. During and after college, I did genetics and biomedical engineering research at Johns Hopkins and then at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) through the Whitaker Fellowship. I then joined the MD/PhD program at Duke University School of Medicine, where I did my doctoral research on cancer genomics and neuro-oncology, funded by the NCI F30, in the laboratory of Hai Yan. My work focused on identifying novel genomic alterations in glioblastoma, understanding their roles in telomere maintenance, and developing sensitive mutation-detection tools with applications in liquid biopsy. I completed a transitional year internship at MSK prior to joining the Radiation Oncology Residency Program.

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Jennifer Ma, MD

I grew up on Long Island, New York and completed my undergraduate studies at Fordham University, where I majored in biology and completed my honors thesis on the genetic regulation of cell differentiation. I conducted clinical research on hepatobiliary cancers at MSK before attending medical school at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx. During medical school, I completed a two-year graduate research fellowship in the laboratory of Simon Powell at MSK, where I developed an interest in genetic drivers of radiotherapy response. My work focused on the role of DNA repair genes as biomarkers of radiosensitivity for the development of targeted therapies. I completed my transitional year internship at Amita Saint Francis Hospital in Chicago and am excited to join the Radiation Oncology program at MSK.

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Patricia Santos, MD

I was born in Manila, Philippines but grew up in Brooklyn, New York. I attended Brooklyn Technical High School before pursing undergraduate studies at Brown University, where I studied neuroscience and history. I obtained my master’s in biomedical sciences at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, studying gene-environment interactions at the gut-brain interface. I later discovered my love for multidisciplinary cancer care as a medical student at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Inspired by time on the wards, I began research at MSK, using advanced imaging to monitor tumor response to radiotherapy. Meanwhile at Penn, under the mentorship of Neha Vapiwala, I studied the comparative effectiveness of proton versus photon therapy in mitigating toxicity in patients with prostate cancer. Additionally, I have been involved in a variety of research endeavors that encompass my broad interests in health services, medical education, ethics, and end-of-life care. I completed my transitional year internship at MSK and am excited to continue my training in the Radiation Oncology Residency Program.

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Reith Sarkar, MD

I was born and raised in Orange County, California and attended college at Washington University in St. Louis, where I majored in biomedical engineering. I then attended medical school at the University of California, San Diego, where I was first introduced to the field of radiation oncology. During medical school, I developed an interest in cost-effectiveness, health services, and big data research. Between my third and fourth years of medical school I obtained a master’s degree in clinical research, and under the mentorship of James Murphy and Brent Rose, completed a thesis on the role of finasteride in delaying the diagnosis of prostate cancer. Before joining the Radiation Oncology Residency Program at MSK, I completed a transitional year internship at Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego.

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Deborah Smith, MD

Born in Manhattan and raised in Connecticut, I attended Brown University where I studied classics and molecular biology. Afterward, I moved to Washington, DC, where I worked as a research fellow at the National Cancer Institute investigating regulatory links between chromatin, telomere protection, DNA replication and genome integrity. I returned to New York for medical school at Columbia University, where I also completed a master’s of science and Dean’s Research Fellowship conducting clinical and translational research on primary and metastatic brain tumors. Following a transitional year internship at MSK, I joined the Radiation Oncology Residency Program.