Message from the Chair
Dear UAB Community and Friends,
2025 was a year of change and opportunity, built on the remarkable legacy and daily dedication of the people who make UAB Radiation Oncology exceptional. This year also marks an important transition. I want to thank Dr. James A. Bonner for nearly three decades of extraordinary leadership as chair. Since 1998, he has expanded access to care, strengthened academic excellence, and built a lasting foundation of innovation and service. His visionary stewardship, alongside the efforts of our faculty, staff, and trainees, created the strong foundation we stand on today. I am grateful for this legacy and am inspired to carry it forward.
As this Annual Report reflects, our mission remains clear: deliver exceptional, patient-centered care; advance discovery that improves outcomes; and educate the next generation of leaders in radiation oncology and medical physics. 2025 demonstrated meaningful progress across each pillar.
I am proud of the excellence our teams deliver across our care sites—Hazelrig-Salter, The Kirklin Clinic at Acton Road, Russell Medical, and Infirmary. This year we saw continued clinical growth, including expanded radiosurgery volumes and timely access for patients needing specialized care. Equally important, we advanced the patient experience: both Hazelrig-Salter and Acton Road achieved Level 5 ratings in ambulatory patient experience, reflecting consistent teamwork and compassion. In October 2025, UAB opened the state’s first dedicated brachytherapy suite, improving efficiency and continuity of care. This exceptional work is the result of clear communication, safe workflows, and a culture where every team member contributes to better care.
Several clinical highlights illustrate our direction. Our annual review will spotlight growth areas such as radiosurgery volumes, total starts, quality initiatives, service upgrades, and program expansion. These operational achievements matter most because they provide timelier access, safer care, and a smoother patient journey. We also advanced evidence-based approaches that reduce treatment burden, including shorter-course radiation for breast cancer, pairing precision with practicality. Additionally, we expanded our impact through initiatives like the osteoarthritis program and reinforced quality as a core discipline through a comprehensive review of safety, standardization, and continuous improvement.
Our research enterprise also continued to grow in scope and relevance. The Annual Report outlines new grants, publications, and clinical trials that reflect both depth and diversity—from technology-forward efforts that leverage artificial intelligence and automation, to translational investigations that move discoveries from bench to bedside. A particularly exciting area of continued strength is tumor immunology and the effort to harness the immune system to improve cancer control—an arena where UAB is poised to make an outsized impact. I am also grateful for the recognition of our faculty and trainees whose work is being noticed nationally and internationally; these achievements are markers of excellence, but more importantly, they translate into better care for patients.
Education remains a defining strength of this department. We train outstanding physician residents and medical physics residents, and we also extend UAB’s influence through courses and programs that help clinical teams implement state-of-the-art treatments. This year’s educational highlights—including our Ethos Adaptive Radiotherapy Course and the HyperArc trainee observation experience—reflect our commitment to advancing the field through hands-on, practice-relevant learning. We also celebrated our residents, strengthened alumni engagement, and continued to build the kind of training culture that supports rigor, professionalism, and lifelong collaboration.
This year also reinforced a truth we do not take for granted: progress requires partnership. I am thankful for our philanthropic supporters and community advocates—particularly those who contribute through ROAR initiatives—whose generosity accelerates patient-centered programs and helps expand what is possible. I am equally grateful to our institutional colleagues across UAB Medicine and the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center, and to our community partners who help us broaden access and deliver high-quality care closer to home.
Looking ahead, I am optimistic—not because the work is easy, but because the direction is clear and the team is exceptional. We will continue to expand advanced clinical services, strengthen efficiency and quality, and scale capabilities such as adaptive radiotherapy, radiosurgery, and brachytherapy. We will invest in research that is bold, collaborative, and translational, including areas where UAB can lead the nation. And we will continue to recruit, develop, and support the faculty and staff whose talent and commitment are the most important assets we have.
To everyone who contributed to this year’s progress—thank you. To our patients and families—thank you for allowing us to walk alongside you. And to the UAB community—thank you for your partnership as we build the next chapter of a department with a remarkable legacy and an even more promising future. I hope you find this report engaging, and I hope it conveys both gratitude for what we have accomplished and confidence in what lies ahead. Thank you for your trust, your partnership, and your belief in the mission of UAB Radiation Oncology.
Sincerely,
Corey W. Speers, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor and Chair, Department of Radiation Oncology
Merle M. Salter Endowed Chair of Radiation Oncology
Read the 2025 UAB Radiation Oncology Annual Report
View the interactive reportFeatured Stories
Speers named second holder of the Merle M. Salter, M.D. Endowed Chair of Radiation Oncology
The UAB Heersink School of Medicine is pleased to announce the appointment of Corey Speers, M.D., Ph.D., as the second holder of the prestigious Merle M. Salter, M.D. Endowed Chair of Radiation Oncology. This appointment was formally approved by the Board of Trustees of The University of Alabama System in June 2025.
UAB opens first brachytherapy suite in the state, improving care for patients with cancer
UAB physicians say this type of cancer treatment is often associated with higher cure rates, longer life spans, better outcomes and fewer side effects.
UAB Radiation Oncology clinics earn top marks in patient experience
Two ambulatory clinics in the UAB Department of Radiation Oncology have achieved outstanding results in patient experience.
Less time, same results: Boggs explains how shorter-course radiation is transforming breast cancer care
In recent years, radiation oncology has seen remarkable progress in making cancer treatment more precise, efficient, and patient-centered. One of the most meaningful advances for breast cancer patients is the move toward shorter-course radiation therapy, reducing the number of treatments without compromising outcomes.
Read more 2025 Radiation Oncology news stories