Medical Advisors

ProCure's medical advisors are leaders in the fields of radiation therapy, oncology and medical physics. Collectively they have decades of experience at the forefront of clinical research focused on the applications of proton therapy as a treatment for solid tumors.

Jay Flanz, PhD
Medical Advisor
Dr. Flanz is the project and technical director at Harvard's Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Francis H. Burr Proton Therapy Center, Boston. He joined MGH as it developed its successful proposal seeking funding from the National Cancer Institute to build a proton center, the second hospital-based proton center in the nation. As the proton center was being built, Dr. Flanz worked with the architects and the manufacturer of the proton system both in design and commissioning and in gaining FDA clearance. He also assisted in the installation and commissioning of the current generation of proton equipment, including proton beam scanning, and played a lead role in its system commissioning and FDA clearance. Dr. Flanz has spearheaded collaborations with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the areas of robotics and software development for the proton center. Prior to joining MGH, Dr. Flanz was at MIT working in nuclear physics and as the accelerator physics group leader. He designed and commissioned a variety of accelerator systems culminating in the MIT-Bates 1 GeV electron synchrotron/storage ring.

Dr. Flanz received his doctorate in nuclear physics from the University of Massachusetts.

Sameer Keole, MD
Medical Advisor
Dr. Keole, a board certified radiation oncologist, joined Radiation Medical Associates, Oklahoma, in 2009, coming from the University of Florida College of Medicine, where he served as a faculty member and physician, as it was developing the University of Florida Proton Therapy Institute (UFPTI). He treated the first pediatric patient at UFPTI a month after its August 2006 opening. He has since focused his clinical and research activities on pediatric, genitourinary and central nervous system malignancies. Dr. Keole previously served as a staff physician at Wayne State University's Detroit Medical Center, where he worked with neutron irradiation. This sparked his interest in hadron therapy, an emerging cancer therapy, particularly in the setting of pediatric and genitourinary malignancies. His interests include the application of image guidance in proton therapy related to pediatric central nervous system tumors and the role of protons for prostate cancer.

Dr. Keole received his MD from Ross University School of Medicine and served his residency at Wayne State University.

Jay S. Loeffler, MD, FACR
Medical Advisor
Dr. Loeffler is nationally recognized for his expertise in proton therapy and is an authority on the treatment of primary and malignant brain tumors. He has served on the faculty at Harvard Medical School since 1986, when he completed his residency and chief residency in radiation oncology, and is the Herman & Joan Suit Professor of Radiation Oncology at the medical school. He also is chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Loeffler has authored more than 170 peer reviewed publications and is the editor of nine textbooks. He served as the principal investigator on a proton therapy grant from the National Cancer Institute.

Dr. Loeffler, who is board certified in therapeutic radiology, is an honors graduate of Williams College and completed his medical degree at Brown University School of Medicine.

James M. Metz, MD
Medical Advisor
Dr. Metz, a board certified radiation oncologist, is an assistant professor of Radiation Oncology and Chief of Clinical Operations at the University of Pennsylvania, where he has been instrumental in the development of the University's Roberts Proton Therapy Center, expected to open in 2009. He serves as the editor-in-chief of OncoLink (http://www.oncolink.org), the first comprehensive cancer information resource on the internet. Dr. Metz specializes in the treatment of gastrointestinal malignancies with radiation therapy and in applications of brachytherapy and photodynamic therapy for a number of malignancies. His current research interests include the multidisciplinary management of gastrointestinal malignancies, use of the internet for patient education in oncology and the development of radioprotectors to reduce side effects in radiation therapy.

Dr. Metz received his medical degree from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

Carlos Vargas, MD
Medical Advisor
Dr. Vargas, a board certified radiation oncologist, is with Boca Radiation Oncology Associates (BROA) in Boca Raton, Florida, one of the leading radiation oncology practices in the state. Before joining BROA, Dr. Vargas was an assistant professor of radiation oncology at the University of Florida College of Medicine, where he focused on proton therapy. Dr. Vargas has been the principal investigator of several clinical trials for the treatment of prostate cancer with proton therapy and has pioneered the implementation of highly accurate targeting for image-guided proton therapy for prostate cancer. This includes the use of MRI and cine-MRI and PET-CT for the treatment and verification of prostate cancer with protons. He also has been involved in novel research using concurrent chemotherapy and proton therapy for high risk prostate cancer. In addition, Dr. Vargas has been the first to implement the use of image guided compatible proton therapy plans. Dr. Vargas has authored multiple articles on proton therapy, treatment delivery and image guidance applications, as well as clinical papers for various disease sites.

Dr. Vargas has held positions at the University of Florida, William Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, Michigan, and at universities and hospitals throughout Colombia, South America.

Michael Weiner, MD
Medical Advisor
Dr. Weiner, certified in pediatrics and pediatric hematology-oncology, is the Director of the Herbert Irving Child & Adolescent Oncology Center at the Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital of New York-Presbyterian, professor of Pediatrics at Columbia University Medical Center and the founder of the Hope & Heroes Children's Cancer Fund. He has devoted his career to children afflicted with cancer and their families. His particular interests include patients with Hodgkin's Disease and acute leukemia, and he has been a leading clinical investigator in the development of treatment regimens for patients with these diseases.

Dr. Weiner received his medical degree from the State University of New York Health Sciences Center in Syracuse, New York. His postgraduate training was at Montefiore Hospital and Medical Center of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York University and the Johns Hopkins University Hospital.