Theodore L. DeWeese MD

Dr. DeWeese is the Sidney Kimmel Professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology and Molecular Radiation Sciences at Johns Hopkins and is the Vice Dean and President of the Clinical Practice Association, for Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine. He is Professor of Radiation Oncology, Urology, and Oncology. He received his medical degree from the University of Colorado, School of Medicine in 1990, graduating with Honors, and completed his residency in Radiation Oncology at Johns Hopkins. He served as Chief Resident and then undertook study as a laboratory research fellow in urologic oncology at Johns Hopkins. In 1995, Dr. DeWeese joined the faculty in the Department of Oncology, Division of Radiation Oncology, and in the Department of Urology.  Following the Board of Trustee decision in 2003 to create a new Department of Radiation Oncology at Johns Hopkins, Dr. DeWeese was asked to serve as the founding Chair and Professor of the Department.

Dr. DeWeese built the department into one of the most successful and highly ranked in the United States. Throughout his tenure, he oversaw substantial growth in the clinical, research and training aspects of the department. He recognized the strategic importance of the National Capital Region for the growth of Johns Hopkins Medicine and was the first department to integrate at both Sibley Memorial Hospital and Suburban Hospital beginning in 2011.

Dr. DeWeese is considered an international expert in the management of men with prostate cancer and has conducted multiple clinical trials that have sought to improve the quality and quantity of the lives of men with the disease. This has included several “first-in-man” clinical translation of novel therapies.

Dr. DeWeese also manages a research laboratory that focuses on DNA damage and repair in cancer cells with the goal of devising new ways to enhance the effects of radiation and chemotherapy to kill cancer.

His research has been funded since 1995 and he has published over 200 peer-reviewed papers, authored numerous book chapters, edited a book on the molecular determinants of radiation response, given more than 130 invited national and international lectures and visiting professorship talks, mentored 40 trainees in his lab and too numerous to count medical students and residents in reaching their professional goals. He is the recipient of numerous awards including the Doris Duke Research Scientist Award and is a Fellow of the American Society for Radiation Oncology.

Dr. DeWeese also has multiple leadership roles inside and outside the institution. He has served on numerous committees and councils at Johns Hopkins, including serving as the Chair of the Medical Board and President of the medical staff for the Johns Hopkins Hospital. He recently finished his term as President and Chair of the Board for the American Society for Radiation Oncology. Dr. DeWeese was also appointed by the National Academy of Sciences to serve as the Chair of the Radiation Effects Research Foundation (RERF), based in Hiroshima, Japan, to review and help guide the organization’s research that focuses on biologic effects of atomic bomb radiation.