February 2026 Newsletter

February 2026

Happy new year on behalf of the KASTRO organizing committee!

We had a truly groundbreaking ASTRO experience in San Francisco a few months ago. We had our first joint KASTRO/KOSRO educational session on the treatment of benign conditions during ASTRO with standing room turnout. It was a proud moment for us to highlight the work that’s being done in both Korea and in the US. We are so thankful to the organizers, Drs. Henry Park and Jun Won Kim as well as our expert panel speakers. We’re looking forward to more sessions in the future where we can engage with the greater ASTRO community. 

Our annual 2025 KASTRO meeting at the American Bookbinders Museum was a wonderful time with catered Korean food and drinks. As always, we are so grateful for the support from Varian for the success of this event. This was preceded earlier in the week by the 3rd annual KASTRO Dynamic Wedge golf tournament at the Presidio Golf course where we had 22 participants. 

Our leadership team is working hard to bring value to your KASTRO membership with more opportunities for scholarship, travel and mentorship. We want to welcome our new scientific chair Dr. Dominic Moon to the organizing committee and look forward to his contributions. Finally, words cannot express the gratitude we have for outgoing president and vice president extraordinaries Drs. Yong Cha and Nathan Kim who have pushed this organization beyond what we even thought was possible.

If your department is hiring, please contact us as we continue to serve as an additional resource for graduating seniors looking to land their dream jobs! 

Best,

W. Warren Suh, MD, MPH, FACR
KASTRO President

Newsletter Contents

  • KASTRO 2025 Annual Meeting Recap

  • 3rd Annual Dynamic Wedge Golf Tournament Recap

  • KASTRO/KOSRO 2025 Joint Session Recap

  • Membership Dues

  • Connect with us

  • Merchandise

  • Mentorship

  • New Members and Current Member News

  • Job Opportunities

  • KASTRO Leadership 2026 & Changes

KASTRO 2025 Annual Meeting Recap

The 2025 KASTRO Annual Meeting was held on Tuesday, September 30, 2025, at the American Bookbinders Museum in San Francisco, CA. We had welcome remarks from KASTRO President Dr. Yong Cha and KOSRO President Dr. Hee Chul Park, followed by a Varian sponsored session presented by Dr. Deepak Khuntia. Other members of the Varian team present included Hideaki Mori, Jeff Han, Dr. Sasa Mutic, and Min-Joo Kim.

Congratulations to the 2025 KOSRO/KASTRO Research Award winners, Dr. Joseph Kwon (UTSW), Dr. Shawn Kim (UCSD) and Dr. Elaine Cha (MDACC). The future is bright with the work our young investigators are doing to improve outcomes for our patients!

3rd Annual Dynamic Wedge Golf Tournament Recap

KASTRO held the 3rd Dynamic Wedge Golf Tournament at the Presidio Golf Course on Sunday, September 28, 2025 with 22 total players. The winning team included Drs. Loren Mell, Nick Leeper, Ryan Morse, and James Price. Congratulations!!

Thank you to all the participants and we look forward to having everyone back this fall for the 4th Dynamic Wedge Golf Tournament. Please contact Dr. Yong Cha with any questions at yong.cha@nortonhealthcare.org.

KASTRO/KOSRO 2025 Joint Session

This year, we were thrilled to share the ASTRO podium with KOSRO for our joint educational session thanks to the tireless efforts of our Scientific Chair Dr. Henry Park and the KOSRO Scientific Chair Dr. Jun Won Kim. The session was held on Tuesday, September 30th on the topic of “Radiation Therapy for Nonmalignant Disease: Transcontinental Perspectives on Newer Indications from Korea and the United States.” We believe this is just the beginning of our engagement with the larger ASTRO community and are excited about future programming.

8am Introductions
Speaker: Stella Yoo, MD- LA General Medical Center, Los Angeles

8am KASTRO/KOSRO Joint Session: Radiation Therapy for Nonmalignant Disease: Transcontinental Perspectives on Newer Indications from Korea and the United States
Speaker: Stella Yoo, MD- LA General Medical Center, Los Angeles

8:02am Low-dose Irradiation for Neurodegenerative Disease
Speaker: Weon Kuu Chung, MD, PhD- Kyung Hee University Hospital at Gandong, Seoul

8:17am Radiation Therapy for the Treatment of Osteoarthritis
Speaker: James Yu, MD, FASTRO, MHS- Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon

8:32am Cardiac Radioablation for Ventricular Tachycardia
Speaker: Ji Hyun Chang, MD, PhD- Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul

8:47am Questions & Answers
Speaker: Stella Yoo, MD- LA General Medical Center, Los Angeles

Membership Dues

We would like to invite you to pay your annual KASTRO membership 2026 dues of $150 before ASTRO begins ($175 after the KASTRO Annual Meeting begins). 

Your membership dues will help support the KASTRO program and KASTRO Research Awards. We can all fondly remember our days as radiation oncology residents, and this is an important way for each of us to continue to foster our relationship with the next generation. KASTRO does not currently charge radiation oncology residents a membership fee due to the generosity of its members. 

Over the years, KASTRO has been an excellent organization in providing scholarships to deserving U.S. and Korean residents, mentorship of residents and young attending physicians, and fostering fellowship among the Korean radiation oncology community. It is a unique organization that has served its members well. We look forward to making this organization grow and continuing to meet the needs of its members.

You can pay your dues online (https://www.koreanastro.org/membership). You could also bring a check for the annual dues to the KASTRO dinner. If you need to mail a check, need a receipt for tax purposes, or have any other questions regarding dues payments, please email Dr. Stella Yoo at stellakimyoo@gmail.com. 

Details

  • Residents, fellows, medical students: Free 

  • Member: $150 (tax-deductible) prior to the beginning of the 2026 KASTRO Annual Meeting; $175 after September 28, 2026.

  • Board Member and Executive Committee Members: $200 (tax deductible)

  • Donations: flexible (tax-deductible) 

  • Note: Because we are a 501(c)3 organization, even membership fees are fully tax-deductible! Please email Dr. Stella Yoo at stellakimyoo@gmail.com with any questions about this.

https://www.koreanastro.org/membership

Survey

The KASTRO leadership team would like to hear from you! Please respond to this brief survey so we can better serve you: 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdFjqZqbQimLyCH89_YenYGCYvx8tt4_QGJV6MSxHmroQs9ww/viewform?usp=dialog 

Connect with us

@KoreanASTRO is on X/Twitter. Follow us and we can follow you back and help to amplify the voices of KASTRO members! https://twitter.com/KoreanASTRO 

We’re also still on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/groups/koreanastro 

Merchandise

Guess what? We have merch! Thanks to Dr. Hye Ri Han for working with a vendor and developing our offerings. We look forward to seeing folks proudly displaying their KASTRO merch this year!

Purchase shirts, hats, fleeces, bags, and other items with the KASTRO logo here. If you don’t meet the free shipping minimum, select “Allens Group Delivery” and order by 8/28/26 you can pick it up at the KASTRO dinner in Boston. 

Mentorship

Are you interested in being a mentee or a mentor? Please email Dr. Hye Ri Han at hyeri.han@med.usc.edu so we can connect you. 

New Members and Current Member News

Please continue to tell your colleagues and trainees about KASTRO and our upcoming Annual Meeting! If you have graduated or moved to a new job, you can update your information with the annual dues form: https://www.koreanastro.org/membership.

Also, if you have news to share with everyone, please submit to Dr. Anna Lee at alee13@mdanderson.org and we will include it in the next newsletter.

Job Opportunities

One of the primary missions of KASTRO is to provide a network of support for our residents and attendings throughout their career journeys. To that end, if you are aware of any available job positions, please email Dr. Ellen Kim at ekim64@bwh.harvard.edu for distribution to the appropriate list. 

KASTRO Leadership 2025-2026

As a reminder, we have made changes to the leadership and board of directors structure. We will no longer have the Executive Committee and will keep the Board of Directors (BOD) for those who have been long-standing members and are active due-paying members and play an advisory role. Emeritus members will be those who may be retired and have been long-standing members and supporters of the organization.

KASTRO Officers

President: W. Warren Suh, MD, MPH, FACR
Vice President: Henry Park, MD, MPH
Secretary: Anna Lee, MD, MPH
Treasurer: Stella Yoo, MD
Membership Director & Webmaster: Ellen Kim, MD, MPH, MBI
Public Relations Chair: Joseph Kim, MD
Scientific Chair: Dominic Moon, MD
Early Career/Education: Patrick Oh, MD
International Relations: Yong Cha, MD, PhD, & Hye Ri Han, MD
Board Member-at-Large: Nathan Kim, MD, PhD
Social Chair: Robert Kwon, MD
Resident Representatives: Jino Park, MD, & Justin Park, MD

The 2025-26 Leadership Team would like to express sincere gratitude to our Board of Directors and Emeritus Members for your service to KASTRO! 

Board of Directors

  • Chul S. Ha, MD

  • J. Isabelle Choi, MD

  • John Suh, MD

  • Joseph Song, MD

  • Julia Oh, MD

  • Sara Kim, MD

  • Seung Shin Hahn, MD

  • Song Kang, MD

  • Sung Kim, MD

  • Samuel Ryu, MD

Emeritus Members

  • Chung-Taik Chung, MD

  • Hak Choy, MD

  • Robert Y. Kim, MD

  • Song-Chu Arthur Ko, MD, PhD