John Austin Vargo IV, MD, is a board certified radiation oncologist specializing in breast cancer and gynecologic malignancies, including image-based brachytherapy and stereotactic radiotherapy, at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital.
Teaching Activities:
Co-director of the radiation oncology residency program at UPMC. He is actively involved in medical student and resident education and a variety of clinical research efforts.
Education & Training
- Undergraduate: University of California Berkeley
- Medical School: West Virginia University School of Medicine
- Residency: University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Radiation Oncology
Representative Publications
Golden DW, Kauffman GE, McKillip RP, Farnan JM, Schwartz A, Hirsch AE, Warren LE, Spektor A, Rudra S, Jimenez RB, Colbert LE, Gunther JR, Das P, Wu AJ, Du K, Kruser TJ, Nabavizadeh N, Thomas CR Jr, Hara W, McDonald A, Chang EM, Braunstein S, Chmura SJ, Amsbaugh MJ, Yechieli R, Takita C, Dean M, Asher D, Taunk NK, Vargo JA, Beriwal S, Ye JC, Ballas L, Ballo MT, Brower JV, Bradley KA, Rao YJ, Stahl JM, Higgins SA. Objective Evaluation of a Didactic Curriculum for the Radiation Oncology Medical Student Clerkship. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 2018; 101:1039-45.
Singh R, Ansinelli H, Jenkins J, David J, Sharma S, Vargo JA. Stereotactic Radiosurgery and Hypofractionated Stereotactic Radiotherapy for Vestibular Schwannomas: A Comparison of Clinical Outcomes from the RSSearch Patient Registry. Submitted to Journal of Stereotactic Radiosurgery and SBRT 2019;6(1);19-26. PMID: 30775071
Starke RM, McCarthy D, Chen CJ, Kano H, McSahne B, Lee J, Mathieu D, Vasas LT, Kaufmann AM, Wang WG, Grills IS, Cifarelli CP, Paisan G, Vargo JA, Chytka T, Januoskova L, Feliciano CE, Rodriguez-Mercado R, Tonetti DA, Lunsford LD, Sheehan JP. Hemorrhage Risk of Cerebral Dural Ateriovenous Fistulas before and After Gamma Knife Radiosurgery in a Multicenter International Consortium. Submitted to J of Neurosurg 2019. Mar 15:1-9. PMID: 30875690
Gebhardt BJ, Vargo JA, Kim H, Houser CJ, Glaser SM, Sukumvanich P, Olawaiye AB, Kelley JL, Edward RP, Comerci JT, Courtney-Brooks M, Beriwal S. Image-based Multichannel Vaginal Cylinder Brachytherapy for the Definitive Treatment of Vaginal Cancers. Gynecol Oncol 2018;150:293-99. PMID: 29929925
Vargo JA, Moiseenko V, Grimm J, Cauddell J, Clump DA, York E, Xue J, Vinogradskiy Y, Moros EG, Mavroidis P, Jain S, El Naqa I, Marks LB, Heron DE. Head and Neck Tumor Control Probability: Radiation Dose-Volume Effects in SBRT for Locally-Recurrent Previously-Irradiated Head and Neck Cancer. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 2018 Jan 31. PMID: 29477291
Ling DC, Vargo JA, Beriwal S. Breast, Prostate, and Rectal Cancer: Should 5-5-5 Be a New Standard of Care? Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 2020 Oct 1:108(2):390-393. PMID: 32890517
Schad MD, Patel AK, Glaser SM, Balasubramani GK, Showalter TN, Beriwal S, Vargo JA. Declining brachytherapy utilization for cervical cancer patients - Have we reversed the trend? Gynecol Oncol 2020 Mat;156(3):583-590. PMID: 31924333
Patel S, Vargo JA, Olson A, Mahajan A. Supportive care for toxicities in children undergoing radiation therapy. Pediatr Blood Cancer. 2021 May:68 Suppl 2:e28597. PMID: 33818886
Rodriguez-Lopez JL, Patel A, Balasubramani GK, Glaser SM, Beriwal S, Vargo JA. Treatment selection and survival outcomes in Early-Stage peripheral T-cell lymphomas: does anaplastic lymphoma kinase mutation impact the benefit of consolidative radiotherapy? Leuk Lymphoma. 2021 Mar;62(3):538-548. PMID 33251899
Research Interests
Dr. Vargo's research interests include 3D image-based brachytherapy, stereotactic radio surgery, stereotactic radio surgery, and national disparities in cancer care. He also serves as a member of the American Board of Radiology written board exam writing committee and several other national committees related to the use of modern radiotherapy, including HyTEC and PENTEC.