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Gus Iversen, Editor in Chief | May 30, 2025
A study from the Department of Radiation Oncology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai suggests that recent graduates in radiation oncology are overwhelmingly choosing jobs in large cities over rural areas, raising concerns about access to cancer care in underserved regions.
The research, published in the
International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics, found that just 4.3% of new radiation oncologists took their first jobs in nonmetropolitan counties between 2015 and 2022. Most of those rural placements were in areas adjacent to metropolitan centers.
“Cancer affects people everywhere, not just in big cities,” said Dr. Kunal Sindhu, assistant professor of radiation oncology at Mount Sinai and the study’s lead author. “We need to make sure that patients in rural areas can get high-quality care without having to travel long distances.”
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The study analyzed employment data from nearly a decade of radiation oncology residency graduates and identified several key factors influencing job choice. New physicians were more likely to accept positions in counties with higher populations, greater median household income, more health care infrastructure, and a higher concentration of primary care physicians.
These preferences point to a continued trend of medical professionals gravitating toward regions with established health care ecosystems, which may leave rural communities without adequate specialist coverage. Mount Sinai medical student Catherine Yu co-authored the study.
The team plans to expand their research to include all practicing radiation oncologists, not just recent graduates, in order to better understand who chooses to work in rural settings and what factors support that decision. The findings could inform policy efforts aimed at improving recruitment and retention of oncology specialists in less populated areas.
The Mount Sinai-based researchers warn that without intervention, rural cancer patients may face increasing barriers to timely and local radiation therapy.
