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Dr. Yom is a radiation oncologist who specializes in the treatment of head and neck and lung cancers. She received her M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 2002 and completed her residency training at the prestigious M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. In 2007, she joined the UCSF faculty as an Assistant Professor of Clinical Radiation Oncology.
Dr. Yom is particularly interested in emerging radiotherapeutic and biologic techniques aimed at reducing the toxicities of treatment. In head and neck cancer, she has studied a variety of issues related to chemoradiation and combined modality treatments, technical aspects of radiation delivery, and radiation-related prognostic factors and post-treatment management. Specifically in lung cancer, she has been involved in efforts to quantify the risks of pneumonitis and esophagitis resulting from concurrent treatment with chemotherapy and radiation and helped to establish intensity-modulated radiation therapy in the treatment of locoregionally advanced lung cancers.
Evidencing her commitment to patient care and patient-oriented research, Dr. Yom has been the recipient of numerous awards including the ASTRO Fellowship from the Korean American Society for Therapeutic Radiology & Oncology, the Jesse H. Jones Fellowship in Cancer Education for excellence in cancer education at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, an award from the A. Lavoy Moore Endowment Fund for excellence in lung cancer research, and the Eleanor Montague Distinguished Resident Award in Radiation Oncology from the American Association of Women Radiologists. She has authored numerous peer-reviewed articles and is a regularly invited speaker to fellow professionals in the field.
In lung cancer, Dr. Yom has conducted research quantifying the risks of pneumonitis and esophagitis when chemotherapy and radiation are given simultaneously. Her research findings were important in establishing the early use of intensity-modulated radiation therapy for lung cancer in combination with 4-dimensional CT-based planning. She has particular expertise in the delivery of chemoradiation therapy for advanced-stage lung cancer, and also the delivery of non-invasive stereotactic CyberKnife radiation for early-stage lung cancer. Her hope is that better understanding of radiation toxicities will permit higher treatment doses, increase the rate of cure and improve patient quality of life. She is strongly committed to research that will lead to more effective, less toxic, and more highly individualized therapy for patients.
Dr. Yom is an investigator on many research studies in head and neck and lung cancer at UCSF, including trials related to to image-guided radiation, head and neck patients' quality of life, and combinations of novel systemic agents with radiation therapy. She is especially interested in improved clinical and translational prognostic models in order to provide more effective and individualized therapy. It is hoped that the reduction of toxicities, both through technical and biologic means, will improve patients' quality of life and potentially enable physicians to deliver more intelligently targeted radiation and chemotherapy doses in search of a better chance of cure. She believes in multidisciplinary management and a unified, team-oriented approach to patient care