INDIANAPOLIS — Richard C. Zellars, M.D., from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine has been named professor and chair of radiation oncology at the Indiana University School of Medicine, pending approval by the IU trustees. He will begin his new duties in January.
A breast cancer researcher, Dr. Zellars is an associate professor of radiation oncology at Johns Hopkins and assistant director of clinical trial accrual at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Zellars holds a medical degree from Johns Hopkins and completed his residency training in radiation oncology at the University of Michigan. He held faculty positions at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and Georgetown University before returning to practice at his alma mater in 2001.
Dr. Zellars’ research focuses on the safety and efficacy of radiation for the treatment of breast cancer. He also does research into health care disparities in African-American women who typically have more severe radiation toxicities.
Outside his research role at Johns Hopkins, Dr. Zellars founded the Cancer in the Under-Privileged, Indigent or Disadvantaged Summer Fellowship, which exposes first-year medical students who have a demonstrated interest in serving disadvantaged populations to the specialty of oncology. This popular program hosts medical students from across the country, including an IU School of Medicine student in 2011.
Dr. Zellars is a member of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology and the American Society of Clinical Oncology and serves on the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Breast Cancer Panel.