The UAB Department of Radiation Oncology welcomed four new residents, including three radiation oncology trainees and one medical physics trainee, on July 1, 2024.

Samuel Chen, M.D.; Reza Djavadian, M.D., Ph.D.; and Kayla Steed, M.D., Ph.D. join nine current residents in the Radiation Oncology Residency Program.

Samuel Chen, M.D., (PGY2) is from Buffalo, New York. He received his Bachelor of Science in bioinformatics at St. Bonaventure University and earned his medical degree from SUNY Update Medical University in Syracuse. Chen completed his internship year at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio.

Reza Djavadian, M.D., Ph.D., (PGY2) of Ann Arbor, Michigan, received his Bachelor of Science in chemistry at the University of Michigan. He then earned his Ph.D. in cancer biology from the University of Wisconsin before returning to Michigan to attend medical school at Wayne State University. Djavadian completed his internship at Brookwood Baptist Health in Birmingham, Alabama.

Originally from Charleston South Carolina, Kayla Steed, M.D., Ph.D., (PGY2) earned her Bachelor of Science in microbiology at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. She earned her Ph.D. in biology and her medical degree from UAB. After medical school, Steed remained in Birmingham where she completed her internship at Brookwood Baptist Health.

Blessing Awe, Ph.D., (PGY1) joins one current trainee in the Medical Physics Residency Program.

Awe grew up in Nigeria and earned her Bachelor of Science in physics at Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife, Osun, Nigeria. She then received her master’s degree and Ph.D. in environmental health physics at Federal University of Technology Akure, Ondo, Nigeria. Awe went on to complete a graduate certificate in medical physics from the University of Tennessee.

Learn more about the UAB Radiation Oncology Residency program.

Learn more about the Medical Physics Residency Program.