O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center Magazine Spring 2019 | Page 4

QUICK TAKES
CONSTRUCTION BEGINS ON STATE’S FIRST PROTON THERAPY CENTER
Proton International, in conjunction with UAB, broke
ground in January 2018 on the first proton therapy
facility in the state. The facility, Proton International at
UAB, is expected to be ready to treat cancer patients in
2020.
“Establishing the first proton therapy facility in Alabama
is one more way that UAB Medicine is improving health
care for the residents of our state and region,” says
Will Ferniany, Ph.D., CEO of the UAB Health System.
“This advanced cancer-fighting radiation technology,
coupled with the skill, experience and resources of
Proton International, the UAB Department of Radiation
Oncology, UAB School of Medicine and the O’Neal
Comprehensive Cancer Center, will be a life-changing
resource for cancer patients throughout our region.”
Proton therapy uses highly precise proton beams
instead of traditional X-rays to attack tumors. It is
available at only 25 locations in the United States, most
associated with academic medical centers. The therapy
delivers a more precise dose of radiation to a tumor and
can avoid damage to healthy surrounding tissue better
than conventional X-ray radiation.
Proton International at UAB, on 20th Street South
between Fourth and Fifth avenues, will consist of a
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O ’ N E A L CO M PR EH EN S I V E C A N C ER C EN T ER AT UA B
CANCER CENTER RECRUITS NEW FACULTY
KIMO BACHIASHVILI, M.D., is an assistant professor in the Division of Hematology and Oncology and
associate scientist in the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB. He comes to UAB from Montefiore
Medical Center at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where he completed his hematology/oncology
fellowship training. His clinical focus is hematological malignancies and research interests are characterization
of the myelodysplastic syndrome abnormal clone and alteration of bone marrow microenvironment in MDS.
J. NICHOLAS DIONNE-ODOM, Ph.D., RN, is an assistant professor in the UAB School of Nursing, co-director
of Caregiver and Bereavement Support Services in the UAB Center for Palliative and Supportive Care, and
associate scientist in the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB. He completed his post-doctoral
studies at UAB in Cancer Prevention and Control and in the School of Nursing. His research focuses on
developing and testing telebehavioral early palliative care interventions to enhance the coping skills of family
caregivers of persons with advanced cancer and heart failure, as well as how families partner with patients in
decisions faced during serious illness and at end of life.
JAMES DONAHUE, M.D., the James H. Estes Family Endowed Chair for Lung Cancer Research in the O’Neal
Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB, is an associate professor in the Department of Surgery and section
chief of Thoracic Surgery. He comes to UAB from the University of Maryland School of Medicine where he had
an active clinical practice focused on thoracic surgical oncology. In addition to his clinical interests, Donahue
runs a basic science research laboratory that is focused on studying post-transcriptional gene regulation in
esophageal cancer cells as a way of identifying new therapeutic targets for management of this disease.
RONIT ELK, Ph.D., is a professor in the Division of Geriatrics, Gerontology, and Palliative Care and a senior
scientist in the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB. Elk has come to UAB from the School of Nursing
at the University of South Carolina. She received her degrees at the University of Cape Town, in South Africa,
and spent many years at the University of Texas Health Science Center and the American Cancer Society. Using
community-based participatory research, Elk focuses on developing culturally-based palliative care programs
for underserved communities in rural Southern U.S. and in other countries.
OLUMIDE GBOLAHAN, M.D., is an assistant professor in the Division of Hematology and Oncology and
associate scientist in the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB. He comes to UAB from Indiana
University School of Medicine where he completed his fellowship training. Gbolahan attended medical school
in Ibadan, Nigeria and completed residency training at Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, Ga. His
interests include gastrointestinal/hepatobiliary malignancies and early drug development.
LAKSHMIN NANDAGOPAL, M.D., is an assistant professor in the Division of Hematology and Oncology
and associate scientist in the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB. He comes to UAB from Wayne
State University, where he completed his medical residency training in internal medicine. His clinical focus is
improving patient outcomes in kidney, bladder and prostate cancer and his research focus is studying markers
of response and prognosis as well as offering novel therapies through clinical trials.
PANKIT VACHHANI, M.D., is an assistant professor in the Division of Hematology and Oncology and
associate scientist in the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB. He came to UAB from Roswell Park
Comprehensive Cancer Center, where he completed his hematology and medical oncology fellowship. His
clinical focus is the management of patients with myeloid and lymphoid malignancies as well as associated
disorders of the blood. His research interests include novel drug development and clinical trials for myeloid
malignancies.
three-story building to house the proton therapy system,
manufactured by Varian, a longtime partner with UAB in
the delivery of radiation therapy.
Planning and pre-treatment will continue to be done at
UAB’s Hazelrig-Salter Radiation Oncology Center. The
medical staff, including radiation oncologists, cancer
physicians, medical physicists, dosimetrists, radiation
therapy technologists and nurses, will be exclusively
from UAB.
“Proton therapy will allow us to treat deep-seeded
cancers and minimize the radiation dose delivered to
surrounding normal structures,” says James A. Bonner,
M.D., the Merle M. Salter Endowed Professor and
chair of the UAB Department of Radiation Oncology
and senior advisor to the director in the O’Neal
Comprehensive Cancer Center. “It can be particularly
efficacious in the treatment of children, who are
particularly sensitive to the effects of radiation therapy.
Because of its precision, proton therapy greatly reduces
damage to nearby healthy tissue, which is the cause of
most short- and long-term side effects, including cancer
recurrence later in life.”
UAB.EDU/CANCER
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