UCLA Journal of Radiation Oncology SPRING 2024 - Flipbook - Page 4
CHAIR'S
LETTER
Dear All,
As we near the end of the first quarter of 2024, this issue of the UCLA Radiation
Oncology Journal explores ideas, research, and conversations beyond our
department and bigger than ourselves—ideas, research, and conversations that
aim to enrich our experience.
Our Featured Artist, Kehinde Wiley, President Obama’s official presidential
portraitist, re-visions Old Masters’ and, through his work, paints the exquisite
“Grand Manner” of a Black future. Dr. Trudy Wu and Dr. Beth Neilsen, the next
generation of Radiation Oncologists, share their contributions to the treatment
of non-small cell lung cancer. Featured Poet, Nick Flynn, drives home the
importance of human connection. Dr. Ann Raldow and Kathleen Mier, LCSW,
catch up with Yale’s iconic “happiness professor,” Dr. Laurie Santos, about how
we can all cultivate more joy in 2024. Dr. Travis Courtney’s article from Seminars
in Radiation Oncology lays out the UCLA Department of Radiation Oncology's
work to advance care through MRI-Guided Radiation Therapy (MRgRT).
UCLA Radiation Oncology's Registered Dietitian, Lydia Chau, MS, RDN,
CNSC, sits down with Dr. Uma Naidoo, Director of Nutritional and Lifestyle
Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), to delve into the scientific
connections between nutrition and mental health. Our Editor-In-Chief explores
the intersection of well-being and the “power in where you put yourself in a
space” with the multi-disciplinary and transcendent designer Mark Grattan. And
Dr. Amar Kishan provides an update on his SATURN Trial—demonstrating a
paradigm shifting approach for the treatment of metastatic prostate cancer.
And now, following Dr. Laurie Santos’ advice regarding letters of gratitude, let me
take this opportunity to express my heartfelt gratitude to our faculty, residents,
fellows, research associates, and staff for the dignity and professionalism they
exhibit every single day as they uphold and embody UCLA Health's vision “to heal
humankind, one patient at a time, by improving health, alleviating suffering, and
delivering acts of human kindness.”
Be well and stay safe,
Michael Steinberg, M.D.
Professor and Chair
@MSteinbergMD