Russell Hales, MD

Russell Hales, M.D., is an assistant professor of radiation oncology and molecular radiation sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He also is director of the thoracic multidisciplinary clinic.  His research focuses on reconstructing health delivery models to enhance value and improve clinical outcomes. He also studies the effect of immunotherapy and RT in thoracic tumors. Dr. Hales was awarded an R21 grant to study the use of dynamic MRI in predicting tumor motion in patient with lung cancer. Taken together, his research focuses on optimizing patient outcomes using resources from physics, engineering, biology and health delivery systems.

Dr. Hales’ efforts extend beyond radiation oncology and clinical management. He has helped to lead in the thoracic oncology program, which includes 20 faculty members and nearly 50 staff, to help chart a vision for this program’s future. In the last four years, the program has gradually transitioned from The Johns Hopkins Hospital campus to Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. Dr. Hales was tasked to head the building and design committee that worked with architects to create a structure conducive to 21st century oncology care. His work extends beyond the bricks and mortar of the new cancer center today to team development within the thoracic oncology program. Simply put, the thoracic oncology move was designed to conceptualize the transition of care from department-based to disease-based medicine. As such, Dr. Hales has worked to integrate the efforts of specialists in medical oncology, thoracic surgery, interventional pulmonology, pathology and radiology. These experts share a clinical space focused on thoracic malignancies and bring a patient-centered model of care to their group.

Dr. Hales graduated from Brigham Young University Summa Cum Laude and Valedictorian in 2001. He attended Johns Hopkins Medicine and graduated with an M.D. in 2005. He trained on the Osler Medical Service and attended residency at Johns Hopkins. He joined the faculty at Hopkins in 2010. 

Dr. Hales focus in program building, research and clinical endeavors is robust, but he understands the key role of academia in training future leaders in medicine. He has been awarded Teacher of the Year in the department of radiation oncology at Hopkins for three of the last six years. He is a well-respected lecturer and travels nationally to speak at conferences and educational workshops about novel therapies in lung and esophagus cancer.

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