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.