2021 BOD ELECTIONS

2021 BOD Elections

2021 RSS Board of Director Elections

It is the time of year when we announce the candidates for the upcoming 2021 RSS Board of Directors Election.

This year, there are two (2) open seats on the RSS Board of Directors (BOD). Professional Members of the RSS are hereby notified that as of January 27, 2021, four (4) candidates have been nominated to run for a seat on the BOD during the 2021 RSS Board of Directors Election.

All Professional Members of the RSS who are in good standing* as of January 31, 2021, will be eligible to vote. Online voting will commence on February 1, 2021, and will close at 5:00 pm Pacific Daylight Time (PDT) on March 22, 2021.

To verify your eligibility:

  • Log-in to your account on www.therss.org/login
  • Visit the My Profile Page
  • Check your membership type*
  • Check your renewal date and if past due, ensure your dues are paid

On February 1, 2021, ballots were emailed to all eligible RSS Members. If you did not receive your ballot, please contact us.

Meet the Candidates

Shalom Kalnicki, MD, FACRO, FASTRO

Dr. Kalnicki is chairman of the Department of Radiation Oncology at Montefiore and a professor of Radiation Oncology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Dr. Kalnicki received his medical degree at the University of Sao Paulo Medical School in Sao Paulo, Brazil. He completed his residency and fellowship in radiotherapy at Montefiore and Albert Einstein. He returned to Montefiore and Albert Einstein from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in Pennsylvania, where he was vice-chairman for Clinical Affairs and director of Radiation Oncology at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute.

Dr. Kalnicki is a member of many prominent professional societies and most recently served as President and Chairman of the Radiosurgery Society. He has authored numerous articles and abstracts during his career and is a recipient of several awards, including the Fellowship Award from the American College of Radiation Oncology. An active researcher, Dr. Kalnicki is currently investigating innovative methods of radiation planning and delivery, including IMRT, positron emission and computed tomography fusion for radiation planning, 4-D treatment planning, target-motion management, and frameless body stereotactic radiosurgery.

Percy Lee, MD

Dr. Lee is Professor and Section Chief of the Thoracic Radiation Oncology Section in the Department of Radiation Oncology at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. He is also the Associate Medical Director of the Thoracic Cancer Center. Prior to joining M.D. Anderson, Dr. Lee was Professor and Vice-Chair of Education for the Department of Radiation Oncology at UCLA. At UCLA, he served as Chief of Thoracic Radiation Oncology, Residency Training Program Director, and Director of the SBRT Program. Dr. Lee was the founding director of the SBRT program at UCLA and credited for building a patient-centered program of excellence that attracted patients from all over the U.S.

Dr. Lee has research interests in applying novel technologies such as MRI-guided radiation therapy in the clinic and led the clinical implementation of the MRI-guided radiation therapy program at UCLA as the 3rd site in the world with this innovation. He is a national PI for a number of cutting-edge trials using SBRT for thoracic and pancreatic cancer, some of which leverage the use of SBRT with novel immunotherapeutic agents. He has co-authored more than 150 peer-reviewed publications, many of them on the expanded role and evidence for SBRT in various clinical settings. He has served in various leadership roles within national organizations such as ASTRO, ABR, ARS, ACR, and RSS. With RSS, he has been an active member of the scientific meeting planning committee, invited for speaking and moderating roles at the scientific meetings as well as webinars. He believes that the RSS is a great conduit to wider adoption of radiosurgery in the community and fostering clinical and technical innovations to increase its reach.

Jing Li, MD, PhD

Dr. Li is an Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. She currently serves as Chief of the CNS/Pediatric section, Director of Gamma Knife Radiosurgery, and Co-Director of the Brain Metastasis Clinic. Dr. Li specializes in the treatment of primary and metastatic CNS malignancies in adult patients. She is passionate about refining radiation treatment and developing multidisciplinary care for patients with brain metastases, with the goal of preserving or improving cognitive outcomes and quality of life for these patients. She has been leading trials investigating the use of stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) (vs whole-brain radiation therapy [WBRT]) for patients with up to 15 brain metastases, and trials investigating the concurrent use of brain SRS (or WBRT) in combination with immunotherapy. Her interest in improving outcomes for patients with brain metastases has extended to managing side effects from SRS, including the accurate diagnosis of radiation necrosis vs tumor progression by using advanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET) imaging techniques, and the development of algorithms and new treatment strategies to better manage radiation necrosis, especially in the setting of immunotherapy.

Dr. Li is also an expert on spinal SRS (SSRS). With her colleagues in neurosurgery, she has successfully pioneered the combination use of SSRS and laser interstitial thermal therapy (LITT) for treatment of spine metastases with moderate epidural disease, with the goal of providing an effective treatment for these patients who would otherwise have to undergo resection or spinal SRS treatment alone, which is often of limited efficacy due to close proximity of the tumor to the spinal cord.

Jun Yang, PhD, DABR

Dr. Yang received his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from University of Miami in 2006. He currently serves as the director of cancer services at FoShan Chancheng Hospital in GuanDong, China and the chief physicist of JunXin oncology professional group. He also serves as the chief physicist at Philadelphia CyberKnife in Pennsylvania, adjunct clinical associate professor at Drexel University and clinical professor at Fudan University. Prior to joining Philadelphia CyberKnife, Dr. Yang practiced as a medical physicist at the University of Miami.

Dr. Yang has founded multiple SRS programs and managed thousands SRS/SBRT cases. He has authored and co-authored numerous publications on medical physics with emphasis on radiosurgery physics, radiobiology and clinical outcomes. Dr. Yang is a member of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) and American Society of Radiation Oncology (ASTRO). He participated in several task groups of AAPM related to radiosurgery and he has served the RSS Physics Committee since 2011.


* Members In Good Standing

Per the Bylaws, Section 2.05, Members in Good Standing are Professional Members (those who are in the following categories: Professional Physician, Professional Non-Physician, Member In Training) who have paid the required dues, fee, and assessments if any, and who are not suspended.

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