Kara D Romano, MD
Radiation Oncology
Additional Locations
Bio & Overview
Kara Romano, MD, received her undergraduate degree and completed her residency at UVA before joining the faculty in 2018.
Passionate about being involved in a patient’s care from the beginning, throughout treatment and follow-up care. Romano specializes in treating a variety of gynecologic cancers, including endometrial cancer and a prospective trial of combination EBRT and MRI-guided, dose-differentiated HDR prostate brachytherapy boost for unfavorable-intermediate, high, and very high-risk prostate cancer. She is one of three providers at UVA trained to perform image-guided brachytherapy for gynecologic cancers. This novel approach to care was pioneered at UVA and it allows doctors to tailor the radiation dose after one application based on MRI results that reveal a tumor’s response.
In addition to clinical care, Romano is an enthusiastic mentor and teacher for residents and medical students. She is also an active researcher, focusing primarily on clinical outcomes. In addition, Romano is part of a UVA investigator-initiated trial to determine the efficacy of vaginal cuff brachytherapy to treat endometrial cancer.
In her free time, Romano enjoys yoga, exercise, exploring the Blue Ridge mountains and being with her family.
Academic Information
- Department
- Radiation Oncology
- Academic Role
- Associate Professor
- Division
- Radiation Oncology
- Research Interests
- Dr. Romano is interested in enhancing patient outcomes through investigating techniques for improving the delivery of radiation therapy, exploring the interaction with systematic therapy, and focusing on quality of life throughout cancer treatment. She has a strong interest in medical student and resident education.
Conditions & Treatments
- Brachytherapy
- Cancer
- High dose gynecologic brachytherapy
- Gender
- Female
- Languages
- English
- Age Groups Seen
- Adults (21-65)
Older Adults (65+)
- Primary Education
- George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences
- Residency
- UVA Health Medical Center
- Certification
- American Board of Radiology (Radiation Oncology)
Highlights
Meet Radiation Oncologist Kara Romano, MD
My name is Kara Romano, and I'm a physician in the Department of Radiation Oncology here at the University of Virginia. I was initially interested in medicine because I loved learning and understanding the human body. And I was really interested in how I could do that in a way that directly benefits patients. So as a radiation oncologist, one of the things I like best is that we're trained to treat cancers literally from head to toe. As a clinical focus and a research focus, my primary interest is gynecologic cancers, so for example, endometrial cancer and cervical cancer. In the Department of Radiation Oncology, we have a couple different ways to use radiation and treat patients. The vast majority is with the technique called external beam radiation therapy. But a percentage of our patients come for brachytherapy, and those are procedures where we place applicators to deliver radioactive sources right into or next to what we're trying to treat. In radiation oncology, patients oftentimes come to us already with pathology, already with imaging. And so I really love our first visits, because it allows us an opportunity to sit down and look at everything together. I think that patients should come to UVA because it's a really special place. Not only do we have advanced technologies and access to clinical trials that are providing the new and exciting treatments, but we have an incredible team of people. It's really the people that make this collaborative, comprehensive cancer center in Virginia one of the very best in the world.
Reviews
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