Radiation Oncology Residency Program

2024

Julie Bloom, MD
Julie grew up in the Greater Chicago area. She received her undergraduate degree from Northwestern University where she studied Neuroscience and Environmental Policy, graduating cum laude. Julie subsequently attended Rush Medical School, and developed an interest in radiation oncology and interdisciplinary oncology care. In medical school, she was awarded the J. Zukowski Endowed Scholarship and Summer Research Fellowship to study expectation-actuality outcomes in relation to patient satisfaction for patients undergoing neurosurgery procedures. She pursued translational research looking at predictive biomarkers in non-small cell lung cancer, explored stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) dose-related toxicities in oligometastatic disease, and presented these outcomes at national conferences. She is passionate about exploring palliative radiation oncology, communication skills in oncology, and the evolving use of SBRT for primary and oligometastatic lung disease. Outside of the hospital, you might find her hiking in the Catskills, picnicking in Central Park or volunteering at NYC’s local beehives.

Alexandra Hotca‐Cho, MD
Alex grew up in Romania before moving to France for high school. Later, she moved to New York, where she received her bachelor degree in Biology from CUNY Hunter College. During this time, she worked on developing novel techniques for bone image processing for high resolution MR research and presented her work at international conferences. She then completed her medical education at Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia and conducted research on heart toxicity following radiation therapy in non-small cell lung cancer at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. She returned to New York to complete her internship in internal medicine at Lenox Hill Hospital before joining Mount Sinai's Radiology Oncology program. Outside of medicine, she enjoys running marathons, traveling the world, and eating good food in NYC. 

Carlos Rodriguez‐Russo, MD
Carlos was born in Colorado and grew up in Massachusetts. He received his bachelor’s degree in Developmental and Regenerative Biology from Harvard University and his medical degree from the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, where he was inducted into the Gold Humanism Honor Society and was the recipient of research fellowships from the Bray Center for Medical Humanities and the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society. He completed his internal medicine internship at George Washington University. During residency at Mount Sinai, his research interests include improving the biological understanding and treatment of adenoid cystic carcinoma, developing clinical trials for rare cancers, and improving radiotherapy for underserved ethnic, sexual and gender minorities. His research has been awarded a 2023 Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma Research Foundation Grant, as well as a 2023 American Radium Society Research Travel Grant. He is also active as Associate Vice Chair of Medical Student Pathways for the national ARRO Subcommittee for Equity and Inclusion, and his poetry has been featured in JAMA Oncology, The Annals of Internal Medicine, and Plexus Literary Review. His spare time is spent playing piano, singing tenor in a local chamber choir (which most recently performed at Carnegie Hall!), and exploring the outdoors with his wife, newborn daughter, and rambunctious pandemic pup Bear.

2025

Daniel Dickstein, MD
Daniel, originally from Westfield, NJ, attended Bowdoin College in Brunswick, ME, where he completed his undergraduate studies in mathematics and biochemistry. He earned his MD at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, where he completed a year of clinical research with Dr. Richard Bakst developing an investigator-initiated trial on hypofractionation for older adults with head and neck cancer. Before returning to Mount Sinai for residency, Daniel completed his internship at Greenwich Hospital, where he also continued his Mount Sinai research, developing another clinical trial with Dr. Bakst investigating the relationship between the oral microbiome and head and neck cancers. While a resident, Daniel became interested in sexual health and treatment-related toxicities in sexual and gender minorities with prostate cancer and general pelvic malignancies. He began working with Dr. Deborah Marshall in her NIH-funded STAR (Sexual Toxicity After Radiotherapy) lab to develop research to improve sexual health outcomes in all cancer survivors regardless of their sexual orientation, recorded sex at birth, and gender identity. He won an ASCO Young Investigator Award for a project that will evaluate the contribution of radiation to problematic receptive anal intercourse after prostate radiotherapy and help identify a dosimetric parameter to be used to prevent this toxicity. Daniel is grateful for the support and guidance he receives from his incredible mentors—it takes a village. Outside of science and medicine, Daniel enjoys watching Netlfix, eating ice cream (usually cookie dough), and talking. A lot.

Kristin Hsieh, MD
Kristin grew up in Taiwan and later in Massachusetts. She received her bachelor degree at Cornell University and medical degree at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, where she discovered her interest in radiation oncology through NIH-funded research. After completing her internship at Greenwich Hospital, she returned to New York to join Mount Sinai’s Radiation Oncology residency program. She has diverse clinical interests, including women's health, gynecologic cancers, brachytherapy, and the synergy between radiotherapy and immunotherapy. Through the 2023-2024 ASTRO-AstraZeneca Radiation Oncology Research Training Fellowship, she has not only learned about the fundamentals of drug development and incorporation into clinical practice, but also participated in scientific review and discussion of radiation oncology-driven research concept and protocol development. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, kayaking, museums/cultural sites, arts and crafts, and flute.

2026

Daniel Cherry, MD

Daniel was born in Somerset, Kentucky. He received his bachelor’s degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology and English Literature from Vanderbilt University. After college he served as a United States Peace Corps Volunteer and later Peace Corps Volunteer Leader in Mongolia. Before medical school he worked at the Food and Drug Administration and later as a staff scientist at the Environmental Protection Agency. He earned his medical degree from the University of California, San Diego. During medical school he was awarded a NIH TL1 grant to pursue research and a Masters’ in clinical research. His research has been published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, JAMA Network Open, Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, Cancer Research, International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics, and others. Daniel has also served as a reviewer for the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics. He enjoys traveling, movies, and making wheel-thrown pottery.

Juliana Runnels, MD

A native of New Mexico, Juliana received a B.S. in Economics and an M.D. from the University of New Mexico. She completed her preliminary medicine training at Yale Hospital in Greenwich, Connecticut. She is now in the second year of a four-year specialist training program in radiation oncology at Mount Sinai in New York City. The author of more than 20 peer-reviewed publications, she is a dedicated and impactful medical scholar alongside clinical practice. A thematic researcher, she is interested in applying emerging technology and optimizing available resources to inform treatment decisions and improve outcomes with radiotherapy. Currently, Juliana is collaborating with a multidisciplinary, international team to develop a deep-learning model to diagnose and characterize skin toxicity after radiation for breast cancer. She lives in Manhattan.

2027

Drishti Panse, MD

Drishti grew up in Jacksonville, Florida before moving to Chandler, Arizona for middle and high school. She graduated from a 7-year B.S./M.D. program where she received her bachelor’s degree in biology through Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and subsequently her M.D. with distinction in research through Albany Medical College. She conducted basic science research on the use of focused ultrasound as a treatment option for chronic migraines in a rodent model, which sparked her interest in CNS and radiation oncology. Later she investigated the optimal time interval between post-operative MRI and CT simulation for SRS planning. Outside of medicine she is also a certified life and wellness coach. In her free time, she enjoys playing racket sports, painting, traveling, dancing, and exploring new restaurants in the city.

Anuja Shah, MD

Anuja was born and raised on Long Island, NY. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in Cognitive Science with a focus on computational neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University. She worked on several projects on neural tube development and fMRI-based neural network mapping at Weill Cornell Medical Center, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Yale School of Medicine and Hackensack Meridian Health. During this time, she developed a passion for advocacy for victims of gender-based violence and pursued a Master’s of Health Science within the department of Mental Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, with a thesis on “Barriers to Help-Seeking for South Asian Immigrant Victims of Intimate Partner Violence.” She obtained her MD at the Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University, where she continued to pursue research within the field of gender-based violence. She disseminated her research with several oral and poster presentations including at the International Health Conference at University of Oxford, UK, and the Medical Women’s International Association Centennial Conference hosted by the American Medical Women’s Association, where she won first place internationally amongst medical students. She developed an interest in radiation oncology after recognizing that she could combine her passions for humanistic medicine and applied imaging. She completed her preliminary year in internal medicine at St. Vincent’s Medical Center at Quinnipiac University. She is interested in breast and gynecologic radiation oncology, with a focus on improving outcomes for survivors of GBV. Outside of medicine, she enjoys singing Hindustani classical music, hiking, being a (vegetarian) foodie and traveling.

Monica Wassel, MD

Monica grew up in Binghamton, NY, and obtained her bachelor's degree in Nutritional Sciences from Cornell University. She then completed her medical education at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx. She completed her intern year at Mather Hospital in Port Jefferson Long Island and has returned to the city to join Mount Sinai's Radiation Oncology program. In her free time, you can find her exploring new restaurants, spending time with her friends and family, and cuddling her dog.

2023

Brianna Jones, MD – Northwell Health, New Hyde Park, NY
Eric Lehrer, MD – Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN

2022

Anthony Nehlsen, MD – Mount Sinai West, New York, NY
Kunal Sindhu, MD – Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, NY
Andrew W. Smith, MD – Stamford Health, Stamford, CT
Jared Rowley, MD – Maimonides Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY

2021

Jalal Ahmed, MD, PhD – Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, NY
Deborah Marshall, MD – Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, NY
William Smith, MD – St. Luke’s University Health Network. Bethlehem, PA

2020

Oren Factor, MD – Mount Sinai South Nassau, Oceanside, NY
Lucas Resende Salgado, MD – Elmhurst Hospital, Elmhurst, NY

2019

Heather McGee, MD, PhD – Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, CA
Stanislav (Stas) Lazarev, MD – Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, NY
Marcher R. Thompson, MD – Adventist Health Hospital, Bakersfield, CA

2018

Zahra Ghiassi-Nejad, MD, PhD – Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY
Ava Golchin, MD – Medical Consultant

2017
Nisha Ohri, MD – Robert Wood Johnson/Rutgers Cancer Institute, New Bruswick, NJ
Ryan Rhome, MD, PhD – Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN

Patrick Navolanic, MD, PhD – Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital, Cooperstown, NY

2016
Miriam Knoll, MD – Montefiore Nyack Hospital, Nyack, NY
S. Yaseen Zia, MD – Pardee Hospital – UNC Health Care, Hendersonville, NC

2015
Todd J. Carpenter, MD – NYU Winthrop Hospital, New York/Mineola, NY
Jerry Liu, MD – Mount Sinai Beth Israel, New York, NY

2014
Florence Wright, MD – UCLA, Los Angeles, CA

2013
Michael Buckstein, MD, PhD – Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, NY
Eric Ko, MD, PhD – University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA

2012
David Andolino, MD – Advanced Radiation Oncology Associates, St. Lukes University, Easton, PA
Kevin Forsythe, MD – Advanced Oncology, Springfield, OR
Isaiah Friedman, MD – Flushing Radiation Oncology, Flushing, NY

2011
Seth Blacksburg, MD – NYU Winthrop Hospital, New York, NY
Kurt Snyder, MD – Northeast Radiation Oncology, Brewer, ME

2010
No graduates

2009
Ryan Burri, MD – Bay Pines-VA Medical Center, Bay Pines, FL
Amy Solan, MD – Nassau Radiologic Group, PC, Lake Success, NY

2008
Christopher Peters, MD – Northeast Radiation Oncology Center, Scranton, PA
Grace Fan, MD – St. Luke’s Hospital, Bethlehem, PA

2007
Alice Ho, MD – Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY
Kathy Lo, MD – Sparta Cancer Center, Sparta, NJ

2006
No graduates

2005
Karen Loeb-Borofsky, MD – Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Basking Ridge, NJ
Michael J. Smith, MD – NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, New York, NY

2004
Jamie Cesaretti, MD – Florida Physician Specialists, Jacksonville, FL
Marisa Kollmeier, MD – Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY

We seek applicants who are interested in radiation oncology. While we do not require prior experience in the field, we do look favorably on research and clinical rotations that indicate interest in radiation oncology.

We select fellows through the Medicine Subspecialty Match, which is part of the National Residency Match Program (NRMP). You must submit your application through the Electronic Residency Application System (ERAS), along with all supporting documents. We only consider applicants who are registered with the NRMP and only consider applications through ERAS. We require, in addition to the application form, the following materials:

• Up-to-date curriculum vitae
• Three letters of reference – at least one must be from a practicing radiation oncologist
• Dean’s letter
• Medical school transcript
• United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Step 1 and Step 2 (if available) scores
• A personal statement

We accept and review applicants from students of all accredited medical and osteopathic schools, located within the United States and abroad.

Please note that while we do not have a minimum USMLE score, applicants who match with our program frequently score above 200. We require only Step 1 at the time of application. Do not send additional information to ERAS or directly to us; we only review the above-mentioned documents.

We interview approximately 30 candidates a year and hold interviews in November, December, and January before the year when you would attend. Interviews take a full day (8 am to 4 pm) and include one-on-one meetings with various faculty members and lunch with our current residents. We interview approximately 30 candidates a year and accept two or three PGY-2 positions a year.