Phillip Beron

Phillip J. Beron, MD is a board-certified radiation oncologist with more than three decades of clinical, academic, and leadership experience in radiation oncology. He maintains active clinical practice in Arizona and previously held senior academic appointments at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, where he served as Associate Clinical Professor and held multiple service chief and departmental quality leadership roles. His career includes experience across major academic medical centers, comprehensive cancer programs, and community-based oncology practices, providing a broad, real-world perspective on radiation oncology decision-making. Dr. Beron has extensive experience in quality assurance, patient safety, and clinical governance within radiation oncology. At UCLA, he served as Chief Quality Officer for the Department of Radiation Oncology and chaired departmental quality and safety committees for many years. Nationally, he has held leadership roles within the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO), including Chair of the Multidisciplinary Quality Assurance Subcommittee, and has participated in national clinical and safety initiatives focused on standards of care and quality improvement. He is also an ASTRO APEx (Accreditation Program for Excellence) surveyor, evaluating radiation oncology practices nationwide for compliance with accepted professional standards. Dr. Beron’s academic career includes extensive teaching, mentoring, and scholarly activity. He has lectured nationally on radiation oncology practice, quality improvement, and the clinical application of evolving technologies, and has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications, book chapters, and abstracts. His work reflects sustained engagement with evidence-based medicine and the evolution of radiation therapy standards over time. In the medical-legal arena, Dr. Beron provides expert opinions on radiation oncology standard of care and medical causation. His work includes analysis of treatment decision-making, appropriateness of radiation therapy, interpretation of medical records, and evaluation of alleged departures from accepted practice. He is retained in malpractice, product liability, and toxic-exposure matters, and has experience working on behalf of both plaintiff and defense counsel. Dr. Beron has served as an expert in environmental and occupational exposure cases and other complex, high-stakes oncology disputes. These matters commonly involve evaluation of alleged cancer causation, exposure scenarios, competing risk factors, and whether the clinical presentation and disease course are consistent with the claimed exposure.

Dr. Beron approaches expert work using the same structured, evidence-based methodology he applies in clinical practice and academic review. Each matter begins with a comprehensive review of the medical record, including clinical notes, imaging reports, pathology, treatment plans, and relevant timelines, with attention to what information was available to treating clinicians at the time decisions were made. His analysis is grounded in accepted principles of radiation oncology, including contemporaneous professional guidelines, peer-reviewed medical literature, and prevailing clinical practices during the relevant time period. When assessing standard of care, Dr. Beron evaluates whether the care provided fell within the range of reasonable and accepted medical judgment, recognizing that more than one appropriate clinical approach may exist. In matters involving causation, Dr. Beron assesses medical plausibility, alternative explanations, and the consistency of the clinical presentation and disease course with the alleged cause. This includes consideration of known risk factors, competing etiologies, and the natural history of the disease, rather than reliance on temporal association alone. Dr. Beron’s opinions are developed independently of the retaining party and are offered to a reasonable degree of medical certainty. He is routinely retained by both plaintiff and defense counsel and limits his testimony to areas within his training, experience, and expertise. His goal is to provide clear, balanced, and clinically grounded opinions that assist the trier of fact in understanding complex medical issues.

My expert witness work includes product liability, environmental exposure, and radiation-induced cancer claims, as well as medical malpractice matters involving cancer diagnosis and treatment. I am retained to evaluate issues of general and specific causation, including whether an alleged malignancy is medically and biologically consistent with the type, magnitude, and timing of an alleged ionizing radiation exposure. This work commonly includes assessment of dose, exposure pathways, latency, competing risk factors, and the appropriate interpretation of epidemiologic and mechanistic literature. I also routinely evaluate standard-of-care issues in radiation oncology, including treatment planning, delivery, quality assurance, peer review, and complication assessment. My experience includes review of hospital safety programs, radiation oncology workflows, and peer review systems. Additionally, I assess causation in most cases. I have served as an expert witness for both plaintiff and defense in state and federal matters, including depositions and trial testimony. My opinions are developed using established medical and scientific principles and are informed by how I evaluate patients and treatment decisions in clinical practice. I place particular emphasis on clarity, methodological transparency, and consistency with peer-reviewed evidence when explaining complex oncologic and radiation-related issues to attorneys, judges, and juries.

B.S. Michigan State University 1982 – 1986 East Lansing, MI M.D. Wayne State University School of Medicine 1986 – 1990 Detroit, MI Post-Graduate Training Internship Rotating Medical/Surgical, William Beaumont Hospital 1990 – 1991 Royal Oak, MI Residency Radiation Oncology, William Beaumont Hospital 1991 – 1994 Royal Oak, MI Chief Resident Radiation Oncology, William Beaumont Hospital 1994 – 1995 Royal Oak, MI

Diplomat American Board of Radiology (Therapeutic Radiology, Initial Cert.) 1995 Diplomat American Board of Radiology (Radiation Oncology, Recertification) 2005, 2014 Currently Board Certified Gamma Knife Certification University of Pennsylvania 2003 Radiosurgery Certification UCLA 2010 Mammosite Certification Mammosite Training Las Vegas, NV 2002