Reshma Jagsi, MD, DPhil, is joining Emory School of Medicine as chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology, effective Nov. 7, 2022. Dr. Jagsi is currently the Newman Family Professor, deputy chair and residency program director in the Department of Radiation Oncology and director of the Center for Bioethics and Social Sciences in Medicine at the University of Michigan.
“We look forward to Dr. Jagsi’s leadership as this department continues to drive discovery of innovative radiotherapy technologies and treatment options, provide advanced, personalized clinical care and train the next generation of radiation oncology specialists,” said Vikas P. Sukhatme, MD, PhD, dean of the Emory School of Medicine.
Before beginning her faculty career at the University of Michigan, Jagsi completed undergraduate and medical training at Harvard and her second doctorate in social policy at the University of Oxford as a Marshall Scholar.
Internationally recognized for her research in both breast cancer and bioethics, Jagsi is the author of more than 400 articles in peer-reviewed journals, including multiple high-impact studies in journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine, the Lancet and JAMA. Her research in both breast cancer and bioethics has been funded by R01 grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as well as large independent grants from numerous philanthropic foundations.
“Dr. Jagsi will be a tremendous asset to Winship Cancer Institute and Emory,” said Suresh Ramalingam, MD, executive director of Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University. “Her exceptional track record as a researcher, leader and mentor will help ensure high-quality radiation oncology care, research and training, and the communities we serve will benefit immensely from her expertise and experience.”
Jagsi has served on the Board of Directors of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and the Steering Committee of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Group on Women in Medicine in Science; she now serves as chair of both the Ethics Committee and the Women in Radiation Oncology Group for the American Society of Radiation Oncology (ASTRO), the NIH’s Board of Scientific Counselors and Advisory Committee for Research on Women’s Health, and the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine’s Committee on Women in Science, Engineering and Medicine.
In recognition of her contributions, Jagsi has been elected to the American Society of Clinical Investigation and Association of American Physicians, the Leadership Award of the AAMC’s Group on Women in Medicine and Science, LEAD Oncology’s Woman of the Year Award, the American Medical Women’s Association Woman in Science Award and the American Medical Students Association Women Leaders Award. She is a fellow of ASCO, ASTRO and the Hastings Center, and this year will be one of two recipients of ASTRO’s inaugural Mentorship Award.
“I could not be more excited about joining the extraordinary team at Emory and having the opportunity to build its department of radiation oncology from excellence to eminence,” said Jagsi.
Jeffrey D. Bradley, MD, FACR, FASTRO, James W. Keller Distinguished Professor, has been leading the department as interim chair since January 2021.
About Emory University School of Medicine:
“We are living at a unique time in biomedical history. We’ve seen a revolution in complementary forces that are helping us change the way we think of medicine.
For the first time, we have a complete “parts list” of genes and other building blocks, which means we can personalize therapies. At the same time, we have an IT revolution that lets us gather data, mine it and visualize it in sophisticated ways, and act on it in real time in the ICU or predict problems with anticipatory medicine. And new technology allows us to probe the human organism through imaging and other areas, to visualize what’s going on. Add to those the twenty-first century patients, who are well-informed, empowered, and incredible advocates for change.
These forces are converging to allow us to take on the big problems, and have a good chance of finding solutions to ones that have frustrated us for so long.”
About Reshma Jagsi, MD, DPhil:
Reshma Jagsi, M.D., D.Phil., is Newman Family Professor and Deputy Chair in the Department of Radiation Oncology and Director of the Center for Bioethics and Social Sciences in Medicine at the University of Michigan.
She graduated first in her class from Harvard College and then pursued her medical training at Harvard Medical School. She also served as a fellow in the Center for Ethics at Harvard University and completed her doctorate in Social Policy at Oxford University as a Marshall Scholar.
An internationally recognized clinical trialist and health services researcher, Dr. Jagsi’s medical research focuses on improving the quality of care received by breast cancer patients, both by advancing the ways in which breast cancer is treated with radiation and by advancing the understanding of patient decision-making, cost, and access to appropriate care. Her research in this area is funded by an NIH R01 grant to evaluate an intervention to help support women with breast cancer and their physicians to make high quality decisions. She is also supported by the Susan G. Komen Foundation to lead research on inflammatory breast cancer and innovative radiotherapy approaches to intensify treatment in that setting. She led the national IDEA trial to investigate approaches for radiation treatment de-escalation among patients with biologically favorable breast cancer, and she is active in the National Cancer Institute’s cooperative groups, including SWOG and NRG. She also serves on the NCI’s BOLD task force on locoregional management of breast cancer.
A substantial focus of her research considers issues of bioethics and gender equity in academic medicine. Her investigations of women’s under-representation in senior positions in academic medicine and the mechanisms that must be targeted to promote equity have been funded by an NIH R01 grant and grants from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, AMA, and other philanthropic funders. She leads the national program evaluation for the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation’s Fund to Retain Clinician Scientists, a large national intervention that was inspired in part by her own research. She also leads an NIH R01-funded investigation using deliberative democratic approaches to illuminate patients’ attitudes towards secondary use of data collected in routine clinical encounters and a current Greenwall Foundation-funded investigation of patient attitudes towards approaches used by hospitals to encourage donations from grateful patients.
Active in organized medicine, she has served on the Steering Committee of the AAMC’s Group on Women in Medicine in Science and now serves on the Board of Directors of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. She was part of the Lancet’s advisory committee for its theme issue on women in science, medicine, and global health.
Dr. Jagsi’s work is frequently featured in the popular media, including coverage by the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, NPR, and national network nightly news. Frequently invited as a keynote speaker, she has delivered invited talks at over 50 institutions and professional societies, including the AAMC, the NIH, and the National Academy of Medicine and National Academy of Sciences. Her contributions have been recognized with her election to the American Society of Clinical Investigation and the Leadership Award of the AAMC’s Group on Women in Medicine and Science. She has been elected fellow of ASTRO, ASCO, AAWR, and the Hastings Center.
Sources:
News: https://news.emory.edu/stories/2022/09/som_jagsi_new_chair_emory_radiation_oncology/story.html
School: https://www.med.emory.edu/about/mission/index.html
Reshma Jagsi, MD, DPhil: https://medicine.umich.edu/dept/radonc/reshma-jagsi-md-dphil