Imran Zoberi, M.D., has been named medical director of radiation oncology at the Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital. Zoberi is assistant professor of radiation oncology at the School of Medicine.
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 said. “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 the 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 also is 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.
Siteman has three locations: at the Washington University Medical Center, at Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital and at Barnes-Jewish St. Peters Hospital.