Imran Zoberi, M.D., has been named medical director of radiation oncology at the Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital in Creve Coeur, Mo. Zoberi is assistant professor of radiation oncology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
As medical director, Zoberi will manage medical support staff and oversee patient care in radiation oncology at Siteman’s West County location. “When cancer patients at our West County facility need radiation therapy, we ensure they receive care from a Washington University radiation oncologist specializing in their particular kind of cancer — to give them that extra level of expertise Siteman is known for,” Zoberi says. “They will also have access to multidisciplinary specialists such as surgeons and medical oncologists.”
The West County location’s first linear accelerator for radiation delivery will be installed beginning in December 2008 with the first radiation treatments starting in March 2009. In the meantime, cancer patients at the West County site can be referred to the radiation oncology department at Siteman’s Washington University Medical Center facility.
Zoberi specializes in radiation oncology for treatment of breast cancer. He also performs gamma knife surgery, which uses gamma radiation instead of a scalpel to get rid of tumors of the central nervous system. In addition, Zoberi directs the residency program for the Department of Radiation Oncology, planning and overseeing the training of all the department’s residents.
A 1996 graduate of Washington University School of Medicine, Zoberi was a resident in the radiation oncology department and became an attending physician in 2001. Zoberi conducts research in radiation therapy and recently completed a trial of accelerated partial breast radiation therapy, which treats just the breast tumor area instead of the whole breast after a lumpectomy for early stage breast cancer. He is also principal investigator on a trial testing treatment of women with locally advanced breast cancer using tomotherapy — image-guided, intensity-modulated radiation therapy that can precisely target tumors. He is co-author of numerous scientific articles and book chapters covering aspects of radiation for the treatment of cancer.
The Siteman Cancer Center has three locations in the St. Louis metropolitan area. Its main campus is located at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine in the Central West End of St. Louis. Siteman has operated a facility on the campus of Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital since 2001 and in July 2008 opened a newly expanded facility there. The Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish St. Peters Hospital opened in 2005.
Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital was established in 1989. In 2008, Washington University Physicians expanded its practice bringing more than 160 specialists to the professional buildings and assuming responsibility for several key clinical departments of the hospital. Also this year, the emergency department at the hospital came under the management of Washington University physicians.
Washington University School of Medicine’s 2,100 employed and volunteer faculty physicians also are the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children’s hospitals. The School of Medicine is one of the leading medical research, teaching and patient care institutions in the nation, currently ranked third in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children’s hospitals, the School of Medicine is linked to BJC HealthCare.
Siteman Cancer Center is the only federally designated Comprehensive Cancer Center within a 240-mile radius of St. Louis. Siteman Cancer Center is composed of the combined cancer research and treatment programs of Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine. Siteman has satellite locations in West County and St. Peters, in addition to its full-service facility at Washington University Medical Center on South Kingshighway.