Somu Suppiah, MD

Dr. Somu Suppiah is a board-certified radiation oncologist who works closely with medical oncologists, surgeons, other doctors, and the MRO Care Team to carefully develop cancer treatment programs for patients using state-of-the-art radiation therapy protocols. Dr. Suppiah joined MRO in 2018.

Drawing upon his expertise in treating patients who are battling a wide range of cancers, Dr. Suppiah uses his knowledge of MRO’s advanced radiation equipment to achieve the best possible outcomes. Dr. Suppiah has conversational ability in Spanish and Tamil. His technical expertise includes the following technology:

• External Beam Radiotherapy: Volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT), intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3DCRT), Tomotherapy, Orthovoltage.
• Linac-based Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy (SBRT): Lung, liver, spine
• Stereotactic Radiosurgery (SRS): Gamma Knife.
• Brachytherapy: Prostate seed implant (low dose-rate), gynecologic (high dose-rate, MR based), ocular (low dose-rate plaque).
• Radiopharmaceuticals: Radium-223, Iodine-131.
• Simulation: CT-based, MR-based. Treatment Planning Systems: MIM, Monaco, XiO, Tomotherapy. Image-Guidance Systems and Motion Management: cone-beam CT, four dimensional CT (4D CT) for gated plans, CT-on-rails.

Dr. Suppiah’s interests include tennis, cycling, coffee, exploring new restaurants, farmer’s markets, orchestra, neuroscience, global health and economics, and current events.

Learn more about what to expect from radiation treatment.

 

Dr. Suppiah on FAN Dad’s Podcast

 

Leadership and Recognition

2016-2017 Medical College of Wisconsin Department of Radiation Oncology: Safety/QA Subcommittee

2017-2018 Medical College of Wisconsin Department of Radiation Oncology: Education Subcommittee

2017 ABS Prostate LDR/HDR Scholarship

2017 ACRO Travel Grant Award Winner

2016 Medical College of Wisconsin and Affiliated Hospitals Research Award Winner

2008 Summer Undergraduate Research Program at Emory (SURE Fellow)

Professional Memberships

American College of Radiology (ACR)

American Brachytherapy Society (ABS)

American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)

Radiological Society of North America (RSNA)

Association of Residents in Radiation Oncology (ARRO)

American College of Radiation Oncology (ACRO)

American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO)

Research

Case Western Reserve University‒Retrospective project correlating stereotactic radiosurgery dose and latent GI toxicity after SBRT for metastatic abdominopelvic gynecologic cancer.

6/2010-8/2010: Otolaryngology Research

Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine‒Performed experiments under Jianxin Bao, Ph.D. to determine whether over expression of Nrg-1 can delay presbycusis.

5/2008 – 5/2009: Summer Undergraduate Research Program at Emory University (SURE Fellow).

Research under Subhabrata Sanyal Ph.D. in the Department of Cell Biology, Emory University School of Medicine. Assessed the effects of the transcription factor Adf-1 in regulating dendritic plasticity in Drosophila. Poster received 3rd place in competition.

6/2006 – 8/2006: Pharmacology/Neuroscience Research

Worked with pharmacological and physiological sciences professor Dr. Michael Panneton. Studied the mammalian diving response to elucidate the brainstem circuit involved.

Publications

Mislmani, M., Frasure, H., Suppiah, S., Fabien, J., Lo, S. S., Debernardo, R., & Kunos, C. A. (2014). “Acute gastrointestinal toxicity after robotic stereotactic ablative radiotherapy for treatment of metastatic gynecological malignancies.” Future Oncology, 10(2), 241-248. doi:10.2217/fon.13.215

Suppiah, S., Linden, P., Robke, J., Schroeder, C., Yao, M., Machtay, M., & Lo, S. S. (2012). “Sublobar/wedge resection or stereotactic body radiation therapy for stage I marginally operable non-small-cell lung cancer.” Expert Review of Anticancer Therapy, 12(11), 1375-1377. doi:10.1586/era.12.123 7/2012 – 9/2012: