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Research Opportunities

Residents will be required to participate in scholarly activities on clinical research while rotating on disease-site specific services with specialist radiation oncologists. When their mentor doctor is engaged in full­time research (on average one day per week), the resident will also engage in full­time clinical research during that time. Statistics, research skills and research related education will be given to the resident, in addition to opportunities to advance meaningful research. The resident should be able to complete one project, accepted to our national meeting for poster presentation, in their four­year training period. The resident will also be allotted 20% of dedicated research time throughout the training and 3 months of time during the final year, one of which will be spent at St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.

Each resident will be involved in a quality improvement project. Faculty will supervise the residents participating in this project. At the beginning of the second year of residency, each resident will choose a research project with one attending. Each resident will have an original idea. The resident can choose to work on a project that has already been started, but a novel idea must be discovered so that new scientific research can be completed before the resident’s graduation.

Resident Research Projects

Yuefeng Wang, Graduate

Research Interests

  1. Role of definitive local radiotherapy for newly diagnosed metastatic cancers.
  2. Combination of definitive local radiotherapy and immunotherapy for newly diagnosed metastatic cancers.
  3. Health service research using population based cancer database including the NCDB, or SEER-Medicare. 

Selected Publications

  1. Yuefeng Wang, Farmer M, Izaguirre E, Schwartz D, Somer B, Tillmanns T, Ballo MT. Association of Definitive Pelvic Radiotherapy with Survival Among Patients with Newly Diagnosed Metastatic Cervical Cancer. (2018) JAMA Oncology, published online on July 26, 2018.
  2. Yuefeng Wang, Yu X, Zhao N, Wang, J, Lin C, Izaguirre E, Famer M, Tian G, Somer B, Dubal N, Schwartz D, Ballo MT, Vanderwalde N. Definitive Pelvic Radiotherapy and Survival of Patients with Newly Diagnosed Metastatic Anal Cancer. (Under Review)
  3. Yuefeng Wang, Gieschen H, Greenberger M, Stockstill T, Izaguirre E, VanderWalde N, Yu X, Farmer M, Rinker L, Somer B, Ballo MT. Association of Surgical Approach with Survival among Patients with Localized Prostate Cancer Receiving Robotic-Assisted Prostatectomy versus Open Prostatectomy. (Under Review)
  4. Yuefeng Wang, Hubler A, Ballo MT, VanderWalde N, Rinker L, Somer B, Tillmanns T, Farmer M. Intensity-modulated versus Three-dimensional Conformal Radiotherapy for Cervical Cancer: National Trend and Outcomes. (In manuscript)
  5. Yuefeng Wang, Tian Liu, Peter J. Rossi, Deborah Watkins-Bruner, Wayland Hsiao, Sherrie Cooper, Xiaofeng Yang, and Ashesh B. Jani. Influence of Vascular Comorbidities and Race on Erectile Dysfunction after Prostate Cancer Radiotherapy. (2013) Journal of Sexual Medicine, 10(8):2108-14. [Reported as Breaking News by the Renal and Urology News on 09/29/2013]
  6. Yuefeng Wang, Marie Assem, Rose Matthew, Jack Sublet, Limin Xiao, Martine F. Roussel, Richard W. Kriwacki. Intrinsic Disorder Mediates the Diverse Cell Cycle Regulatory Functions of the Cyclin dependent kinase Inhibitor, p21Cip1. (2011) Nature Chemical Biology, 7(4), 214-21. [Highlighted as News and Views by Nature Chemical Biology on 2011]
  7. Matthias Grimmle*, Yuefeng Wang*(co-first author), Thomas Mund, Zoran Cilenšek, Eva-Maria Keidel, M. Brett Waddell, Heidelinde Jäkel, Michael Kullmann, Richard W. Kriwacki, and Ludger Hengst. Cdk-Inhibitory Activity and Stability of p27Kip1 Are Directly Regulated by Oncogenic Tyrosine Kinases. (2007) Cell, 128(2), 269-280. [Highlighted as News and Views by Cell, Nature Review Cancer, and Chemical & Engineering News on 2007]
  8. Yuefeng Wang, Igor Filippov, Christain Richter, and Richard W. Kriwacki. Solution NMR Studies of an Intrinsically Unstructured Protein within a Dilute, 75 kDa Eukaryotic Protein Assembly; Probing the Practical Limits for Efficiently Assigning Polypeptide Backbone Resonances. (2005) ChemBioChem, 6(12), 2242-6.
  9. Eilyn R. Lacy*, Yuefeng Wang*(co-first author), Jeremy Post, Amanda Nourse, William Webb, Marina Mapelli, Andrea Musacchio, Gary Siuzdak and Richard W. Kriwacki. Molecular basis for the specificity of p27 toward cyclin-dependent kinases that regulate cell division. (2005) Journal of Molecular Biology 349(4), 764-73.
Daniel V. Wakefield, PGY-3

Research Focus

I have a dream that all patients with cancer receive the highest quality of care, regardless of their means. This passion has a local and global focus. Currently, I am pursuing my MPH at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health to equip myself to achieve this dream for our local region. My thesis focuses on the social and geographic determinants of cancer care quality in the South with support from the University of Tennessee Center for Health Equity—ongoing projects are investigating population level risks of poor cancer care compliance and interventions for care quality maximization. I am also working with St. Jude Global to assess the quality of radiotherapy at low and middle income country affiliate sites that treat children. Across medical school and in my intern year, my primary research focus was on the quality of patient-centered online cancer education, as well as the management of recurrent pediatric solid tumors at St. Jude. 

Primary Publications

  1. Wakefield, D.V., Manole, B.A., Jethanandani, A., May, M.E., Marcrom, S.R., Farmer, M.R., Ballo, M.T., VanderWalde, N.A. Accessibility, availability, and quality of online information for US radiation oncology residencies (2016) Practical Radiation Oncology, 6 (3), pp. 160-165. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26723548
  2. Dulaney C., Barrett O.C., Rais-Bahrami S., Wakefield D.V., Fiveash J., Dobelbower M.. Quality of Prostate Cancer Treatment Information on Cancer Center Websites. (2016) Cureus. Apr 20;8(4):e580. doi: 10.7759/cureus.580. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27226941
  3. Wakefield, D.V., Venable, G.T. , Vanderwalde, N.A., Michael, L.M., II, Sorenson, J.M., Robertson, J.H., Cunningham D., Ballo, M.T. Comparative Neurologic Outcomes of Salvage and Definitive Gamma Knife Radiosurgery for Glomus Jugulare: A 20-Year Experience. (2017) Journal of Neurological Surgery, Part B: Skull Base, Article in Press. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28593112
  4. Doubrovin, M., Wakefield, D.V., Cooper, D.A., Manole, B.A., Shulkin, B., Lucas, J.T. New Delineation of Semi-Quantitative Scoring System for 123I-MIBG Guided Targeted External Beam Radiation Treatment of Bone Metastases in High-Risk Neuroblastoma Patients. (2017) Journal of Nuclear Medicine. vol. 58, no.141. http://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/58/supplement_1/41
  5. Bogdan-Alexandru Manole, BS; Daniel V Wakefield, MD; Austin P Dove, BS; Caleb R Dulaney, MD; Samuel R Marcrom, MD; David L Schwartz, MD; Michael R Farmer, MD. Quality of prostate cancer screening information on the websites of nationally-recognized cancer centers and health organizations. Practical Radiation Oncology, December 2017. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29452874
  6. Daniel V Wakefield, MD; Bree R Eaton, MD; Austin P Dove, BS; Chih-Yang Hsu, PhD; Thomas E Merchant, DO, PhD; Alberto Pappo, MD; Andrew M Davidoff, MD; Natia Esiashvili, MD; Matthew J Krasin, MD; John Thomas Lucas, M.S., M.D., Jr. Is There a Role for Re-Irradiation In Pediatric Patients With Locoregionally Recurrent Rhabdomyosarcoma? Clinical Outcomes from A Multi-Institutional Cohort. Radiotherapy and Oncology, July 2018. https://www.thegreenjournal.com/article/S0167-8140(18)33378-4/fulltext?rss=yes
  7. Austin P. Dove, Bogdan-Alexandru Manole, Daniel V. Wakefield, Michael Doubrovin, Barry L. Shulkin, Thomas E. Merchant, Andrew M. Davidoff, Wayne L. Furman, Matthew J. Krasin, John T. Lucas Jr.. Managing Local-Regional Failure in Children with High-risk Neuroblastoma: A Single Institution Experience. Pediatric Blood and Cancer. Accepted August 2018.
  8. Austin P.H. Dove, Daniel V. Wakefield, Matthew J. Krasin, Wayne L. Furman, John T. Lucas Jr. Radiation Pneumonitis following low dose radiotherapy and hu14.18K322A, NK cell therapy and Autologous Stem Cell Transplant for High Risk Neuroblastoma. Submitted July 2018.
  9. John T. Lucas, David Cooper, Mike Doubrouvin, Daniel V. Wakefield, Teresa Santiago, Yimei Li, Xingyu Li, Matthew Krasin, Victor Santana, Wayne Furman, Andrew Davidoff.  Implications of Image-Defined Risk Factors, and Primary Site Response on Local Control and Radiation Treatment Delivery in the Management of High Risk Neuroblastoma: Is there a Role for De-escalation of Adjuvant Primary Site Radiotherapy? Submitted August 2018.

Abstracts

  1. Wakefield, D., Pharr, Z., Marcrom, S., Verdell, T., Watkins, P., Pramanik, S., Dash, G., Patra, P., Berry, M., Pritchard, E., Gieschen, H., Schwartzberg, L., Farmer, M. A Community Report: Initial Clinical Experience using the Strut Adjusted Volume Implant for Accelerated Partial Breast Irradiation. Poster presentation. Research in Medicine Symposium of Alpha Omega Alpha, University of Tennessee College of Medicine, February, 2015; West Cancer Center Research Symposium. May, 2015. Memphis, TN.
  2. Wakefield, D., Jethanandani, A., Manole, B., Marcrom, S., May, M., Farmer, M., Ballo, M., VanderWalde, N. Accessibility and Availability of Online Information for United States Radiation Oncology Residencies. Poster presentation. West Cancer Center Research Symposium 2015.
  3. Wakefield, D., Jethanandani, A., Manole, B., Marcrom, S., May, M., Farmer, M., Ballo, M., VanderWalde, N. Quality of Online Information for United States Radiation Oncology Residencies. Poster presentation. ASTRO 2015. San Antonio, Texas. 
  4. Wakefield, D.V., Lucas, J.T. Jr., Li, Y., Cooper, D.A., Manole, B.A., Merchant, T.E., Davidoff, A.M. Krasin, M., Santana, V., Furman, W.L., Shulkin, B.L., Doubrovin, M. Role of MIBG Studies in Prognostication and Prediction of Metastatic Site Failure in Pediatric Patients with High-Risk Neuroblastoma.Selected for oral presentation. ASTRO 2017, San Diego, CA.
Wesley Garner, PGY-2

Research Interest

  • Finding innovative ways to improve access and quality of radiotherapy
  • Health disparities in radiation therapy
  • Economics of radiation therapy

Publications

Wesley Garner, John Esther, J. Thaddeus Beck, Eric Scott Schaefer, Gregory James Oakhill, Daniel S. Bradford, Joanna Thompson.  Early Detection of Lung-Cancer in a Community Screening Program using Low-Dose Computer Tomographic Scanning. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 34, no. 15_suppl (May 20 2016) 8535-8535.

Presentations

Wesley Garner, John Esther. (2016, June).  Early Detection of Lung-Cancer in a Community Screening Program using Low-Dose Computer Tomographic Scanning.  Poster presented at American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting, Chicago, IL.

Drucilla Edmonston, PGY-1

Research Interest

  • Disparities-based research, with a focus on understanding the role of health-literacy in treatment compliance
  • Combination definitive radiotherapy and immunotherapy for early and late stage disease

Publications 

1. Tawk RG, Grewal SS, Heckman MG, Rawal B, Miller DA, Edmonston DY, Ferguson JL, Navarro R, Ng L, Brown BL, Meschia JF, Freeman WD. The Relationship Between Serum Neuron-Specific Enolase Levels and Severity of Bleeding and Functional Outcomes in Patients With Nontraumatic Subarachnoid Hemorrhage. Neurosurgery. Apr 2016, 78(4):487-491.

Manuscripts in Preparation

Merkel Cell Carcinoma of Unknown Primary: A Case Report (First author)

  • Principal Investigator William Mendenhall, MD
  • Submitted to The Laryngoscope for manuscript publication February 28, 2018.

Abstracts and Poster Presentations 

1. Tawk RG, Cameron BC, Edmonston DY, Darish R, Heckman MG, Diehl NN, Owens SB, Freeman WD, Hanel RA. Influence of Antithrombotics on Outcome Following Subarachnoid Hemorrhage. International Stroke Conference Abstract. New Orleans, LA. 2012;43:A44.

2. Edmonston DY, Gruder OK, Barr G, Maitland CG. Whole Body Vibration Therapy with Exercise Enhances Motor Function and Improves Quality of Life in Parkinson’s Disease. American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine Conference Poster Presentation. Chicago, IL. 2016.

Current Projects

Registry Study to Evaluate the Clinical Outcomes of Cancer Patients and Benign Diseases Treated with Radiation Therapy at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center

  • Principal Investigator David L. Schwartz, MD, FACR
May 26, 2022