Research/Conferences

We have up to 12 months of elective time that can be used for research or additional clinical rotations (your pick!). You can take the time in 2 month blocks throughout PGY 3-5 years or as a continuous year. Holman Research Pathway candidates welcome!

Our research ranges from prospective investigator-initiated trials (started by residents and attendings alike!), to retrospective series, population database studies, and basic science collaborations with immunology and other departments. Our site-specific attendings are supportive in helping us develop our own research interests and connect us with our institutional review board or statistical support.

Residents have a generous annual stipend to attend ASTRO and/or any other national conference as long as you have a poster or oral presentation. We love to use this time to spend time to explore new cities with our co-residents, former graduates, friends, colleagues and faculty!

There are also several annual local conferences such as LARS (Los Angeles Radiological Society) and USC’s annual Breast Cancer Symposium that provide opportunity to learn from other experts in radiation oncology.

Peruse some of our most recent publications:

  1. Chau BL, LaGuardia JS, Kim S, Zhang SC, Pletcher E, Sanford NN, Raldow AC, Singer L, Gong J, Padda SK, Kamrava M, Cohen T, Mitra D, Atkins KM. Association of Parental Status and Gender With Burden of Multidisciplinary Tumor Boards Among Oncology Physicians. JAMA Netw Open. 2023 Oct 2;6(10):e2340663. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.40663. PMID: 37906191; PMCID: PMC10618838.
  2. Chau B, Abuali T, Shirvani SM, Leung D, Al Feghali KA, Hui S, McGee H, Han C, Liu A, Amini A. Feasibility of Biology-guided Radiotherapy (BgRT) Targeting Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) Avid Liver Metastases. Radiat Oncol.2024 Sep 18;19(1):124. doi:10.1186/s13014-024-02502-w. PMID: 39294733; PMCID: PMC11412044.
  3. Karnwal A, Chau B, Chang B, Tsotras MP, Yeo C, Olch AJ, Wong K. Nth Slice Eraser: An Automated Algorithm to Ease Editing Workflow of Organ Contours Generated by Artificial Intelligence. Cureus. 2024 Nov 13;16(11):e73640. doi:10.7759/cureus.73640. PMID: 39677271; PMCID: PMC11645465.
  4. Zhang H, Wong K, Olch A, Han HR, Chau B, Lukas L, Chang EL. Initial Experience of Spatially Fractionated Lattice Radiation Therapy for Palliative Treatment of Pediatric Bulky Tumors. Front Oncol. 2025;15:1648847. doi:10.3389/fonc.2025.1648847. (In press).
  5. Chau B, Chang EL, Garsa A. Modern Radiosurgery Approaches for Brain Metastases. Cancer J. 2025. (In press).
  6. Schiff J, Park J, Badiyan S, Cai B, Park H, Amini A, Vitzthum L, McCall N, Chang E, Ye J. Biology-guided Radiotherapy: A New Frontier in PET-guided Radiation Oncology. Clin Nucl Med Open. 2025;2. doi:10.1097/nm9.0000000000000027.
  7. Odei BC, Agabalogun T, Bello-Pardo E, Huang C, Vanderbilt D, Omeh S, Sterling B, Chino F. Representation of Radiation Oncologists on National Comprehensive Cancer Network Guideline Committees. Adv Radiat Oncol. 2025 Apr 2;10(6):101773. doi:10.1016/j.adro.2025.101773. PMID: 40486291; PMCID: PMC12143620.
  8. Vassantachart A, Ragab O, Miller K, Lock D, Stal J, Bian SX, Jang J, Fossum C, Han HR, Mehta S, Cheng K, Ballas LK. Knowledge and Understanding of Radiation Therapy Among Patients With Breast Cancer From Culturally Diverse Backgrounds at a Safety-Net Hospital. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2023 May 1;116(1):176-181. doi:10.1016/j.ijrobp.2023.01.036. Epub 2023 Jan 28. PMID: 36720316.
  9. Han HR, Manasyan A, Kang I, Stanton E, Beriwal S, Daar DA, Ling DC. Can We Have the Best of Both Worlds? Considerations for Combining Oncoplastic Reconstruction With Partial Breast Irradiation. Pract Radiat Oncol. 2025 Jul-Aug;15(4):e326-e331. doi:10.1016/j.prro.2025.02.008. Epub 2025 Feb 28. PMID: 40024440.
  10. Ballas LK, Reddy CA, Han HR, Makar JB, Mian O, Broughman J, de Bustamante C, Eggener S, Liauw SL, Abramowitz M, Montoya C, Tendulkar R. Patterns of Recurrence Following Radiation and ADT for Pathologic Lymph Node-Positive Prostate Cancer: A Multi-institutional Study. Pract Radiat Oncol. 2025 Jul-Aug;15(4):e350-e361. doi:10.1016/j.prro.2024.12.006. Epub 2024 Dec 27. PMID: 39733964.
  11. Jiao C, Ling D, Bian S, Vassantachart A, Cheng K, Mehta S, Lock D, Zhu Z, Feng M, Thomas H, Scholey JE, Sheng K, Fan Z, Yang W. Contrast-Enhanced Liver Magnetic Resonance Image Synthesis Using Gradient Regularized Multi-Modal Multi-Discrimination Sparse Attention Fusion GAN. Cancers (Basel). 2023 Jul 8;15(14):3544. doi:10.3390/cancers15143544. PMID: 37509207; PMCID: PMC10377331.
  12. Kishan AU, Juarez Casillas JE, Sargos P, Kalbasi TR, Chabaud S, Brihoum M, Sachdeva A, Nikitas JN, Ma TM, Karasik D, Ballas LK, Lock D, Valle L, Taparra K, Reiter RE, Saigal C, Chamie K, Donin N, Chin AI, Rettig M, Nickols NG, Sun Y, Spratt D, Lamb JM, Cao M, Pommier P, Steinberg ML. Stereotactic Intensity-Modulated Radiotherapy After Radical Prostatectomy (SCIMITAR): 4-Year Outcomes of a Phase 2 Clinical Trial. Eur Urol. 2025 Sep 30:S0302-2838(25)04699-8. doi:10.1016/j.eururo.2025.09.4149. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 41033921.
  13. Cheng K, To S, Liu Z, Han HR, Lock D, Mitra P, Ragab O, Lim A, Momin F, Bian S. Clinical and Dosimetric Outcomes of a 3-Fraction High-Dose-Rate Brachytherapy Boost for the Treatment of Locally Advanced Cervical Cancer in a Safety-Net Hospital. Brachytherapy. 2025 Jan-Feb;24(1):162-170. doi:10.1016/j.brachy.2024.11.003. Epub 2024 Dec 6. PMID: 39645406.