大象传媒

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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鈥檚 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 大象传媒, 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鈥檛 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”鈥攖he local area where the tumor used to be before it was surgically removed鈥攚hich 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 鈥渟eeds鈥� that are implanted in and around a patient鈥檚 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.

  • Palliative Radiotherapy: Patients with symptoms associated with cancer often experience meaningful improvement in quality of life through the delivery of symptom-directed radiation therapy, or palliative radiotherapy. When used with the goal of symptom relief, targeted radiation treatments can be delivered quickly and in a limited number of treatment sessions. Our physicians specialize in partnering with patients to identify their goals and deliver an evidence-based treatment plan that aligns best with each individual patient鈥檚 preferences. Palliative radiotherapy is often utilized for painful sites of cancer (such as cancer in the bones), but is a versatile treatment that can improve many symptoms associated with cancer.

Latest News

Remembering Dr. Mahesh Varia

We are sad to announce the recent passing of Dr. Mahesh Varia. Mahesh was a faculty member for more than 40 years and distinguished himself as a clinician, educator, and researcher. He was particularly well known for his outstanding clinical work in gynecologic malignancies, publishing some of the largest collections of clinical experiences of external … Read more

MPRAP logo.

Physics Match 2025

On Friday, March 28, 大象传媒 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. 聽 聽 In addition, the department successfully recruited a candidate for the 3-year … Read more

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Match Day 2025

大象传媒 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 大象传媒. The residents will join the department on July 1, 2026.  

2024 in Research

The Office of Research at 大象传媒 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