Newswise — SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) and University of Utah Health (U of U Health) welcome Amit Maity, MD, PhD. Maity will serve as professor and chair of the department of radiation oncology for the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine at University of Utah. Maity is a physician-scientist who currently serves as professor and executive vice chair of radiation oncology at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine where he holds the Morton L. Kligerman, MD, Professorship.

Maity cares for patients with hematologic malignancies using radiation therapy, a type of treatment that delivers precise beams of energy to shrink or kill tumors within the body. His laboratory focuses on ways to improve the efficacy of radiation therapy through research in new therapeutics that may enhance the sensitivity of tumor cells to radiation.

“Dr. Maity is a national leader in his field,” said Michael L. Good, MD, CEO of University of Utah Health. “His expertise, experience, and leadership will help bring an already exceptional department to even greater heights in caring for our patients, advancing research, and training the next generation of clinicians and scientists.”
As chair, Maity will oversee all radiation oncology clinical care, research, and training programs at U of U Health. The department is located at Huntsman Cancer Institute, the only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center in the Mountain West. The department provides radiation oncology care to adults and children in one of the largest services areas in the country, an area that includes Utah, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, and Wyoming, and comprises 17 percent of the landmass of the continental United States. As home to the region’s first and only center for proton therapy among all other state-of-the-art radiation therapy modalities, the department is broadly recognized for expertise in medical physics with sophisticated technologies for precision-guided delivery of radiation therapy. Clinical trials evaluating new methods of radiation therapy for cancer patients is a priority of the department. A major focus of its clinical research efforts is evaluation of methods that reduce the number of radiation therapy doses required to treat a tumor, an effort to meet unique needs of HCI’s rural service area where many patients must travel significant distances for such treatment.

“We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Maity to Huntsman Cancer Institute,” said Sachin Apte, MD, chief clinical officer of HCI. “Approximately half of all cancer patients receive radiation therapy as part of their treatment. Radiation therapy is a critical area of focus for Huntsman Cancer Institute in terms of advancing compassionate, science-based medicine and training the next generation of radiation therapy care providers.”

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