The Dartmouth Health Board of Trustees and the Dartmouth College Board of Trustees have formally elevated Radiation Oncology from a section within the Department of Medicine at Dartmouth Health’s Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) and Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine, to full department status. The new department, which will be known as the Department of Radiation Oncology and Applied Sciences, will be under the leadership of inaugural chair Charles R. Thomas, Jr., MD.
Thomas has served as the section chief of Radiation Oncology since September 2021, when he joined Dartmouth Health from Oregon Health & Science University, where he was chair of the Department of Radiation Medicine. He has provided strategic vision and leadership for the growth and expansion of clinical services, as well as the section’s education and research activities, successfully stewarding it to full department status.
This change brings DHMC into alignment with other academic medical centers with National Cancer Institute-designated cancer centers. It will raise the visibility of DHMC’s programs, drive technical innovation, attract research dollars and improve, treatment outcomes for cancer patients and their families.
About Dartmouth Health
Dartmouth Health, New Hampshire's only academic health system and the state's largest private employer, serves patients across northern New England. Dartmouth Health provides access to more than 2,000 providers in almost every area of medicine, delivering care at its flagship hospital, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) in Lebanon, NH, as well as across its wide network of hospitals, clinics and care facilities. DHMC is consistently named the #1 hospital in New Hampshire by U.S. News & World Report, and recognized for high performance in numerous clinical specialties and procedures. Dartmouth Health includes Dartmouth Cancer Center, one of only 56 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the nation, and the only such center in northern New England; Dartmouth Health Children’s, which includes Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, the state’s only children’s hospital, and multiple clinic locations around the region; member hospitals in Lebanon, Keene and New London, NH, and Bennington and Windsor, VT; Visiting Nurse and Hospice for Vermont and New Hampshire; and more than 24 clinics that provide ambulatory services across New Hampshire and Vermont. Through its historical partnership with Dartmouth and the Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth Health trains nearly 400 medical residents and fellows annually, and performs cutting-edge research and clinical trials recognized across the globe with Geisel and the White River Junction VA Medical Center in White River Junction, VT. Dartmouth Health and its more than 13,000 employees are deeply committed to serving the healthcare needs of everyone in our communities, and to providing each of our patients with exceptional, personal care.