Meet the Team

The Hoag Radiation Oncology Team consists of many members, some of which our patients become very familiar with on a daily basis, and others who are hard at work behind the scenes.

Our main goal is to provide patients with the best care possible, using the latest technologies, in a safe and proven manner. Hoag’s expert radiation oncology team consists of several very specialized individuals who are specially trained, licensed and/or certified to aide in your care.

Radiation Oncologists

The following physicians are part of the radiation oncology team at Hoag Family Cancer Institute (from left to right):

Peter Chen, M.D., Brian Kim, M.D., Shane Lloyd, M.D., Ph.D., Craig Cox, M.D. & Kevin Lin, M.D.

A radiation oncologist is a physician with specific training in radiation oncology. At Hoag, all of our radiation oncologists are board-certified by the American Board of Radiology. They meet with patients in consultation to discuss the role of radiation therapy as part of a patient’s treatment plan.

Hoag’s radiation oncologists direct each patient’s radiation course, and work closely with a patient’s medical oncologist, surgical oncologist and other physicians to ensure the best possible outcome.

Although many individuals are involved in the delivery of a patient’s radiation treatment, the radiation oncologist is the “leader” directing each patient’s care. Hoag’s radiation oncologists meet frequently with patients during the course of their treatment to answer questions and meet any needs as they arise.

• Peter Chen, M.D.
• Craig Cox, M.D.
• Brian Kim, M.D.
• Kevin Lin, M.D.
• Shane Lloyd, M.D., Ph.D.

Medical Physicists

The following physicists are part of the radiation oncology team at Hoag Family Cancer Institute (from left to right):

Zhifei Wen, John Huang, Ben Rusk, Annamarie Minion, Jay Zheng

Hoag Family Cancer Institute has five medical physicists dedicated to supporting the Radiation Oncology department. At Hoag, each of our Medical Physicists is board certified by the American Board of Radiology.

The Medical physicist works directly with radiation oncologists and medical dosimetrists in the planning phase of a patient’s treatment. The physicist provides the technical information needed to understand how each of the treatment machines work, how much and what type of radiation they produce, and performs regular quality assurance checks to ensure the safe, accurate delivery of the patient’s treatment.

These highly trained professionals are critical to implementing and maintaining the sophisticated technology of a highly advanced radiation oncology program. In addition, Hoag’s medical physicists meet directly with patients to answer questions regarding the physics of radiation, or the complex equipment used in a patient’s treatment plan.

The following medical physicists are part of the radiation oncology team at Hoag Family Cancer Institute:

• Jay Zheng, Ph.D., D.A.B.R. – Dr. Zheng is an American Board of Radiology Certified Medical Physicist and a member of American Board of Medical Specialties. He serves as the Manager and Chief Medical Physicist overseeing the quality and safety of the radiation treatment program which have been always his highest priority. He obtained his Ph.D. in computational physics at the University of Nevada and completed additional clinical training in radiological medical physics at the University of Kentucky Medical Center. Through his career of over 20 years in radiation oncology as a medical physicist, Dr. Zheng has established numerous radiation therapy programs using the State-of-the-Art equipment, more noticeably the modern linear accelerator-based IMRT/IGRT programs, TomoTherapy, GammaKnife and CyberKnife Stereotactic Radiosurgery. Stereotactic Body RadioSurgery (SBRT) using ViewRay MRIdian Adaptive Treatment Delivery System is his new focus for continuous improvement of radiation treatment with better clinical outcomes.
• Annamarie Minion, M.S., D.A.B.R. – Annamarie is an American Board of Radiology Certified Medical Physicist and a member of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine. She received her Masters degree from East Carolina University in 1997. Prior to coming to Hoag in 2002, she was a consulting physicist in the Chicago area and then southern California. Her clinical interests are MR-guided radiation therapy (MRgRT), image-guided intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IG-IMRT), stereotactic radiation therapy (SRT/SBRT), high dose rate brachytherapy (HDR), and intraoperative radiation therapy (IORT).
• Ben Rusk, M.S., D.A.B.R. – Ben is an American Board of Radiology Certified Medical Physicist and a member of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine. He received his Masters degree from Louisiana State University in 2014 and completed a clinical residency in Radiation Oncology Medical Physics at The Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center in 2016. Ben has been board certified in Therapeutic Medical Physics since 2017. His clinical interests include Gamma Knife stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), surface-guided radiation therapy (SGRT), and advanced radiotherapy treatment planning systems including Monte Carlo.
• Zhong (John) Huang, M.S., DABR – John is an American Board of Radiology Certified Medical Physicist with 18 years of experience in Medical Physics. He received his Master’s degree in radiological physics from Wayne State University in 2003. Prior to coming to Hoag in 2019, he was a physicist in Washington State and then Southern California. His clinical interests are stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT), image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT), MR-guided radiation therapy (MRgRT), Surface Guided Radiation Therapy (SGRT), and high dose-rate brachytherapy(HDR).
• Zhifei Wen, Ph.D., DABR – Dr. Wen is an American Board of Radiology Certified Medical Physicist. He acquired his Ph.D. in physics from Stanford University, integrating an x-ray imaging system into an interventional MRI to improved imaging guidance for minimally invasive procedures. He then went on to conduct research in MRI perfusion at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, before he completed a clinical residency in therapy physics from the University of Chicago. In 2010, Dr. Wen joined the University of Texas – MD Anderson Cancer Center, where he worked for ten years, gaining clinical experience in proton therapy, IORT, SRS/SBRT, GammaKnife, and MR-Linac. In 2020, Dr. Wen joined Hoag to utilize his extensive knowledge and expertise in both imaging and therapy physics to provide first-class patient care. His clinical interests are broad and driven by patient needs. In particular, Dr. Wen is motivated to promote MR applications in radiation oncology, including MR guided therapy (ViewRay) and treatment response assessment.

Medical Dosimetrists

In addition to medical physicists, the physics staff at Hoag also includes medical dosimetrists – each is certified by the Medical Dosimetrist Certification Board.

Hoag dosimetrists work together with the radiation oncologists and medical physicists to prepare a custom treatment plan designed specifically for each patient. They utilize specialized computer systems and programs with each patient’s image studies to plan the delivery of radiation. The Medical Dosimetrists also work closely with the radiation therapists to ensure that each treatment plan is clearly defined for accurate delivery on a daily basis.

Radiation Oncology Nurses

The Hoag Radiation Oncology nursing staff is composed of registered nurses (RNs) licensed in the state of California. The nursing staff is highly skilled in the field of oncology with a minimum of five years of clinical oncology experience prior to working in Hoag Radiation Oncology. Most are members of the Oncology Nursing Society and are credentialed as Oncology Certified Nurses by this national organization.

Hoag nurses are an integral part of the radiation oncology treatment team and work very closely with the radiation oncologists to manage patient care. They meet with patients weekly to discuss concerns and answer any questions, as well as provide the highest level of patient-centered care.

Radiation Therapists

Our Radiation Therapists are certified by the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists (ARRT), licensed by the state of California (CRT) and are required to comply with continuing education requirements. The radiation therapists administer treatment to the patients on a daily basis. Consequently, they provide the most immediate link to the treatment team. The therapists are caring and compassionate and are focused on the successful outcome of each patient’s treatment plan.