School of Medicine
Showing 61-79 of 79 Results
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Elham Rahimy, MD
Clinical Assistant Professor, Radiation Oncology - Radiation Therapy
BioDr. Rahimy is a radiation oncologist who treats patients with brain, spine, gastrointestinal, and metastatic tumors. She received her medical training at Yale, followed by residency at Stanford. She is a Clinical Assistant Professor with the Stanford Department of Radiation Oncology.
Dr. Rahimy's technical expertise includes CyberKnife Radiosurgery and MRI-guided adaptive planning. She is also actively involved in radiation oncology research and clinical trials. Her interests include improving patient and resident education, and enhancing patient quality of life and survivorship. She leads quality initiatives as a Quality Physician Improvement Leader, and serves as the Medical Student Clerkship Director. -
Yuan James Rao, MD
Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology (Radiation Therapy)
BioDr. Yuan James Rao is an Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology, and Co-Director of Proton Therapy at Stanford University. In 2026, Dr. Rao co-led the team at Stanford that treated the world’s first pediatric and adult patients with ultra-compact upright proton therapy. Dr. Rao’s professional goal is to develop the world’s most advanced proton therapy program at Stanford University.
Proton therapy is a remarkable form of radiation treatment that uses heavy charged particles (protons) accelerated to approximately two-thirds the speed of light. The unique physics of protons allows the radiation to stop within a defined distance in the body, whereas standard x-ray therapy continues to deposit radiation after treating the tumor (known as “exit dose”). By reducing exit dose, protons may reduce normal tissue exposure to radiation, which is particularly beneficial for children and young adults with cancer, and patients requiring a second course of radiation. Dr. Rao currently coordinates the Stanford Radiation Oncology Department’s clinical, research, and education efforts related to proton therapy.
Dr. Rao’s clinical practice focuses on the care of patients with Head and Neck cancer, and Thoracic cancers. His goal is to provide the highest quality care to his patients, using the most appropriate technology. This may include proton therapy but also potentially other techniques such as intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), stereotactic body radiation (SBRT), MR-guided radiotherapy, 3D conformal radiotherapy, or other technologies. Nearly all radiation technologies are available at Stanford University, and thus Dr. Rao and his Radiation Oncology colleagues are well positioned to choose the best treatment for every patient.
Dr. Rao trained at the prestigious Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology at Washington University in St. Louis, and during residency was among the first physicians in the world to use the Mevion S250 proton therapy device and the ViewRay MRI-guided radiotherapy device. Dr. Rao has traveled to UCSF, MD Anderson, Johns Hopkins University, University of Pennsylvania, Medical University of Vienna, and University Medical Center Utrecht to learn about various advanced radiotherapy techniques including MR-guided radiotherapy, brachytherapy, and proton therapy.
Prior to his role at Stanford, Dr. Rao was a physician at George Washington University in Washington, DC and held the positions of Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology and Biomedical Engineering (by courtesy), and Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery (by courtesy). He was also the founding Director of Brachytherapy, and implemented programs for gyn, head and neck, prostate, and skin radiation implants using high dose rate (HDR) techniques. He was honored as a Washingtonian Top Doctor for each of the years that he practiced in DC, and Dr. Rao has treated members of Congress with radiotherapy (public information).
Dr. Rao is a prolific researcher with more than 50 peer-reviewed publications. He is an expert in proton therapy, head and neck cancer, thorax cancers, gyn cancers, GU cancers, brachytherapy, artificial intelligence, machine learning, image analysis and large database "big data." He is co-author of the ‘Endometrial Cancer’ chapter of the 8th edition of Perez and Brady’s Principles and Practice of Radiation Oncology, the world’s most widely used reference textbook in the field. He regularly gives invited talks nationally and internationally. Dr. Rao has been grant funded by the American Cancer Society.
Dr. Rao is a respected educator and mentor, and has taught numerous engineering/physics students, medical students and residents; many of whom have gone on to become successful physicists, scientists, entrepreneurs, and physicians. -
Jason B. Ross, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology (Radiation Therapy)
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMy laboratory studies studying normal, dysfunctional, and malignant stem cells in the context of aging, cancer, and cancer therapies.
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Mrinmoy Sanyal
Casual - Non-Exempt, Radiation Oncology - Radiation Therapy
BioMrinmoy Sanyal obtained his undergraduate and master's degree in Human Physiology at the University of Calcutta. He did his Ph.D. in Biochemistry at All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, working on reproductive immunology, with the focus on trophoblast invasion and differentiation and their role in human blastocyst implantation. Then, he moved to Stanford University for a postdoctoral fellowship on the role of transcription factor Pbx1, a leukemia proto-oncogene, on B cell development. Currently, he is Research Scientist at Department of Biochemistry, Stanford University. His work covers various topics, including B cell responses to viral infection and vaccination, human primary immunodeficiency, and biology of lymphocyte development and function and to elucidate etiology of immunological disorders.
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Scott G. Soltys, MD
Professor of Radiation Oncology (Radiation Therapy) and, by courtesy, of Neurosurgery
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMy clinical and research interests focus on the development of new radiation techniques involving stereotactic radiosurgery and radiotherapy for the treatment of malignant and benign tumors of the brain and spine, as well as functional disorders such as trigeminal neuralgia.
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Nicholas Trakul, MD, PhD
Clinical Professor, Radiation Oncology - Radiation Therapy
BioDr. Nicholas Trakul is a radiation oncologist with Stanford Medicine Cancer Center and clinical associate professor of Radiation Oncology-Radiation Therapy with Stanford School of Medicine. Dr. Trakul serves as Medical Director for Stanford Medicine Radiation Oncology in Pleasanton and for the Stanford Medicine I Sutter Health Cancer Collaborative in Castro Valley.
Dr. Trakul completed residency training at Stanford in 2013 and then joined the faculty at the University of Southern California, where he specialized in head and neck and central nervous system malignancies, with an emphasis on stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) and stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR/SBRT). He is widely published as first author in peer-reviewed journals. His research focus involves the creation of novel clinical databases as well as outcomes in the treatment of head and neck, gastrointestinal and thoracic malignancies. In 2017, Dr. Trakul returned to Stanford Medicine, becoming the Medical Director of Stanford Medicine Radiation Oncology in Pleasanton. In 2020, he was named Medical Director of Stanford Radiation Oncology Network Sites. Dr. Trakul served as medical directorship of Eden Radiation Oncology Center from 2022 to 2023, the first site to become operation under the Stanford/Sutter Cancer Collaborative. In 2024, he was named Vice Chair and Director of the Radiation Oncology Network. In November of 2024, Dr. Trakul was named Medical Director of Alta Bates Herrick Radiation Oncology. He is focused on providing access to high quality radiation therapy, collaboration with community health care systems and creating/maintaining productive and high engagement workplace culture. He believes in providing personalized, high-quality care, and bringing new technology to the East Bay, allowing patients to access cancer care while staying connected to their communities and support networks. -
Ziwei Wang
Postdoctoral Scholar, Radiation Therapy
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMy current work focuses on establishing preclinical platforms to rapidly validate the functional impact of genetic alterations in tumors using both cell and genetically engineered mouse models. We hope this system can accelerate the discovery and translation of novel cancer therapies to patients.
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Sandra Zaky
Clinical Associate Professor, Radiation Oncology - Radiation Therapy
BioDr. Zaky is a board certified Radiation Oncologist. She received a Bachelor’s of Science in Biomedical/Electrical Engineering at Marquette University. She worked in research and development as an Engineer, and eventually received a Masters of Science in Immunology from Albany Medical College. Her research thesis focused on a novel therapy to treat hormone-receptor positive breast cancer. She continued to study breast cancer with her research during her Radiation Oncology residency; she integrated her research in the laboratory with her clinical research in triple-negative breast cancer. Since completing residency, she has worked as a general radiation oncologist, and her special interests include breast cancer, skin cancer, CNS tumors and stereotactic radiotherapy.
