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COVID-19: What people with cancer need to know

Welcome to Radiation Oncology

Welcome Message From Dr. Jean L. Wright, Chair

Professional head and shoulders shot.

I am thrilled to join the University of North Carolina as Chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology. I look forward to leading the department into its next great era, after decades of successful leadership by prior chairs, Dr. Joel Tepper, Dr. Larry Marks, and Interim Chair Dr. Ellen Jones. We offer a comprehensive array of treatments to provide the very best care for our patients, including innovative approaches available through clinical trials and cutting-edge research. We train tomorrow’s leaders and caregivers through medical physics and radiation oncology residency programs, as well as training programs for radiation therapists and dosimetrists. As a part of the UNC School of Medicine, we are dedicated to improving the health and well-being of North Carolinians and others we serve. Together, our multidisciplinary team works toward the common goals of providing the best and safest care for our patients today, and developing better cancer treatments for the future.

I invite you to explore our web page and get to know our team of world-class clinicians, educators, and researchers. Our clinical team spans nine campuses across North Carolina. The Chapel Hill campus is housed in the North Carolina Cancer Hospital, where we offer the following services:

  • External Beam Radiation Therapy: Using state-of-the-art linear accelerators, X-rays or electrons are focused on the tumor while trying to avoid damage to surrounding normal tissues.
  • Intensity-Modulated and Image-Guided Radiation Therapy: External beam radiation therapy that allows radiation doses to be delivered to the tumor more accurately, while further minimizing damage to surrounding normal tissues.
  • Tomotherapy: External beam radiation therapy in which the radiation is delivered to the tumor in a series of small slices, rather than irradiating the whole tumor at once. This improves accuracy even more and further minimizes damage to surrounding normal tissues.
  • CyberKnife Robotic Radiosurgery: External beam radiation therapy that allows physicians to irradiate small tumors virtually anywhere in the body with the highest level of precision. This is useful because some tumors can’t be removed by traditional surgery without involving significant risks.
  • Mobetron Intraoperative Radiotherapy: Intraoperative radiotherapy (IORT) consists of a large single dose of electrons generated by a portable linear accelerator and delivered during cancer surgery through the surgical incision. The goal of IORT is to treat the “tumor bed”—the local area where the tumor used to be before it was surgically removed—which could still contain microscopic deposits of cancer. Normal tissue damage is minimized by either moving nearby organs out of the radiation field, or else shielding them from the radiation exposure.
  • Brachytherapy: The use of radioactive capsules, wires or “seeds” that are implanted in and around a patient’s tumor, either temporarily or permanently. Brachytherapy is commonly used for gynecologic and genitourinary cancers. The brachytherapy room provides live imaging of the treatment area as the radioactive materials are implanted, allowing procedures to be completed more quickly and accurately.

 

Latest News

MPRAP logo.

Physics Match 2025

On Friday, March 28, UNC RadOnc was delighted to be matched with two candidates via the MP-RAP system. Allison Jones, MS (Duke University, left) and Ankit Pant, PhD (SUNY Buffalo, right) will join the Medical Physics Residency Program on July 1, 2025.     In addition, the department successfully recruited a candidate for the 3-year … Read more

NRMP Match logo.

Match Day 2025

UNC RadOnc is thrilled to announce the 2025 NRMP match results. The department was matched with two stellar resident candidates: Margaret Bennett, MD, PhD (left) of Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine and Syeda Wasti, MD (right) of UNC School of Medicine. The residents will join the department on July 1, 2026.  

2024 in Research

The Office of Research at UNC School of Medicine published its 2024 Research Round-up. Among the featured projects are Dr. Gupta’s work on the interplay between radiation-induced DNA damage and the immune system. The publication also highlighted the contributions made by Dr. Marks, Dr. Casey, Dr. Shen, and Dr. Das to the PENTEC initiative. The … Read more

Michael Dance Named as Physics Safety Star

ASTRO has named Michael Dance as one of three 2024 Radiation Oncology Incident Learning System (RO-ILS) Physics Safety Stars. Dr. Ashley Weiner nominated him for this honor, noting his role as lead physicist for the department’s Quality and Safety Committee, his numerous projects and initiatives in support of patient and team member safety, and his … Read more