The Maryland Proton Treatment Center, the only proton therapy cancer treatment center in the state, has added nationally recognized radiation oncologist Isabelle Choi, M.D., to its roster of expert physicians in Baltimore.

Choi, who brings her previous experience delivering proton therapy for breast, lung, pediatric, and other cancers in California, will continue that work at the Maryland Proton Treatment Center (MPTC) and its affiliated hospitals in the University of Maryland system.

“MPTC sees in Dr. Choi someone who shares our commitment to patient care, who has the in-depth training to use radiation therapy effectively and the scientific rigor to advance it in the future,” said MPTC Executive Director William F. Regine, M.D., FACR, FACRO, the Isadore and Fannie Schneider Foxman Chair and Professor of Radiation Oncology at University of Maryland School of Medicine.

“Dr. Choi’s expertise adds to the 30-plus years of proton therapy experience that the faculty at MPTC bring daily in the care of patients,” said Dr. Charles B. Simone, Medical Director of MPTC and Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology, University of Maryland School of Medicine.

MPTC is the first and only center to offer proton therapy in Maryland and has pioneered advanced forms of the technique, including pencil-beam scanning and the use of thermal therapy to enhance proton therapy’s effectiveness.

“I am very proud to be joining a team of world-class experts who are committed to providing the best treatments available to patients and to advancing the range of possible therapies through technological breakthroughs,” Dr. Choi said.

In addition to her role at MPTC, Dr. Choi will serve on the clinical faculty of the University of Maryland Department of Radiation Oncology and will see patients at the Patricia D. and M. Scott Kaufman Cancer Center at Upper Chesapeake Hospital.

Dr. Choi most recently served as Clinical Director at California Protons Cancer Therapy Center in San Diego, one of only two proton centers in California. A graduate of Harvard University, she received her medical degree and internedat the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio’s School of Medicine. She completed an oncology residency at the Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center in California.

In May, Dr. Choi was named to the board of directors of the prominent National Association for Proton Therapy. She also chairs the Publications Committee forthe prestigious Proton Collaborative Group, the largest proton therapy research collaboration worldwide.

About the Maryland Proton Treatment Center

The Maryland Proton Treatment Center offers proton therapy – a highly advanced and precise form of radiation therapy that can increase radiation dose to tumor while decreasing dose to healthy, surrounding tissues – to the Baltimore/Washington region and beyond. Proton therapy is a highly effective treatment that can reduce treatment side effects for a wide range of solid tumors such as those found in the base of skull, brain, breast, esophagus, eyes, head and neck, liver, lungs and thorax, pancreas, prostate, pelvis, spine, as well as lymphomas. It is also a very important treatment option for children with cancer and for patients whose tumor came back in an area that was previously treated with radiation therapy.