Ryan P. Smith, MD is a board certified radiation oncologist. He is the clinical medical director of the radiation oncology department at UPMC St. Margaret, with an academic appointment as clinical professor in the University of Pittsburgh medical school. Though he sees patients with all types of cancer, he has a special interest in head and neck cancers and prostate cancer, with research interests in these sites, with a concentration in prostate brachytherapy.
Teaching Activities:
Director of the radiation oncology residency program at UPMC, preceptor to radiation oncology residents, as well as multiple medical students
Education & Training
- Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University, MD
- Residency: University of Pennsylvania Radiation Oncology
Representative Publications
Benoit RM, Smith RP, Beriwal S. Five Year Prostate-specific Antigen Outcomes after Caesium Prostate Brachytherapy. Clin Oncol (R Coll Radiol). 2014 Dec;26(12):776-80.. Epub 2014 Sep 15. PMID: 25213299
Champ CE, Smith RP. Images in clinical medicine. Radiation recall and woody fibrosis. N Engl J. Med 2015 May 14; 372(20). PMID: 25970071
Champ CE, Beriwal S, Smith RP. Physician Burnout and Physician Health: Three Simple Suggestions for a complex Problem. Pract Radiat Oncol. Sept-Oct 2019;9(5):297-299. PMID: 31077886
Patel AK, Houser C, Benoit R, Smith RP, Beriwal S. Acute patient-reported bowel quality of life and rectal bleeding with the combination of prostate external beam radiation, low-dose-rate brachytherapy boost, and SpaceOAR. Brachytherapy. July-Aug 2020; 19(4);477-483. PMID: 32331976
Schad MD, Patel AK, Ling DC, Smith RP, Beriwal S. Hypofractionated Prostate Radiation Therapy: Adoption and Dosimetric Adherence Through Clinical Pathways in an Integrated Oncology Network. JCO Oncol Pract. 2021 April: 18(4)e537-e547. PMID: 33095692
Research Grants
Research grants and/or contract activity:
Academic grant (along with Dr. Ronald Benoit and Dr. Sushil Beriwal) through Isoray, Inc of $150,000 to conduct research in prostate brachytherapy
Summary of research:
Dr. Smith has on-going projects looking at various aspects of prostate brachytherapy, with special attention to the use of the Cs-131 isotope and its comparison to I-125. He has many manuscripts have been published on dosimetry, toxicity and 5 year outcomes of Cs-131 brachytherapy.
In addition, he has an investigator initiated protocol studying focal brachytherapy using Cs-131 for patients with low risk prostate cancer.
He is co-PI on a study assessing activity levels in cancer patients.