UCLA Journal of Radiation Oncology January 1, 2022 - Flipbook - Page 4
Chairman’s
Letter
A
ngela Duckworth, in her New York Times best seller Grit, wrote,
“Grit has two components: passion and perseverance.” Over the
last year, our faculty, trainees, and staff have embodied these
components…embodied grit.
Despite the continued adversity the medical community and world
faced with an evolving pandemic, our team persevered. They used their
passion to care for their patients, educate our residents, and propel our
many research endeavors forward.
Here are a few examples featured in this issue of the UCLA Radiation
Oncology Journal. Dr. Ann Raldow became part of the kidney transplant
team adding the benefit of radiation therapy to induce an immunologic
chimera that will allow the patient to forgo the use of organ antirejection medicine, yielding a treatment approach that will seismically
shift how we think about and perform many organ transplants in the
future. Dr. Drew Moghanaki continued his work helming the VALOR
Trial as well as his work in lung cancer prevention and detection, which
will undoubtedly play an important role in getting us to “a time when
no one dies from lung cancer.” Dr. Amar Kishan’s research continues to
reshape our approach to the treatment of prostate cancer—with shorter
treatment durations and optimal outcomes. Our residents and faculty
brought their “A” game to ASTRO 2021. Dr. Diana Gage, a member of our
VA Team, addressed growing adversity and violence within her local
community through creating a campaign that not only assisted with
COVID mitigation efforts, but also spread awareness about pandemicsparked violence against Asians. And Dr. Michael Xiang skippered
the official opening of our new center in Santa Clarita where ETHOS
technology offers the Northern Los Angeles County adaptive millimeter
accuracy––only a few miles from home.
I hope you enjoy this edition of the Journal. Wishing you a successful
and healthy New Year.
Michael Steinberg, M.D.
Professor and Chair
@MSteinbergMD