Our Team

Nataliya Kovalchuk, PhD, DABR

Founder and President

Dr. Nataliya Kovalchuk, is a Clinical Associate Professor at Stanford Radiation Oncology department. Dr. Kovalchuk received her therapeutic medical physics training at Mayo Clinic and worked at Massachusetts General Hospital/Boston Medical Center and Harvard Medical School. In 2015, she joined Stanford Radiation Oncology department and is currently employed as and Clinical Associate Professor at Stanford and Adjunct Associate Professor at MD Anderson. Nataliya is a lead on Head and Neck NRG physics committee and is a member of Children Oncology Group Total Body Irradiation physics committee. Her research work is concentrated on improving outcomes and lives for pediatric patients by modernizing conventional Total Body Irradiation (TBI) and Cranio-Spinal Irradiation (CSI) techniques, automating radiotherapy treatment planning for TBI and CSI, and investigating and implementing the novel biology-guided radiotherapy techniques. Since the full-scale russian invasion of Ukraine, Nataliya directed her efforts to helping Ukraine as a founder of Help Ukraine Group. In 2022, she received the Richard Hoppe Leadership Award from Stanford Radiation Oncology department for her work on supporting Ukrainian cancer centers during the war. In 2023, Dr. Kovalchuk received the Parliament of Ukraine Certificate of Merit for the Service to the People of Ukraine (Грамота від Верховної Ради України).

Andriy Beznosenko, MD, PhD, MBA

Co-Founder, Director of Ukrainian Oncology Outreach

Dr. Andriy Beznosenko is a President of the Ukrainian Society of Medical Oncology, Chief of Division of thoraco-abdominal oncology at National Cancer Institute, Kyiv, Ukraine. Dr. Beznosenko is a surgeon-oncologist of the highest category, Honored Doctor of Ukraine and the member of the scientific advisory board of Harvard Medical School. He is also a National representative of the European Association of Coloproctologists (EACP) and the expert of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine in the field of Oncology. With the full-scale russian invasion of Ukraine, Dr. Beznosenko co-founded HUG soliciting for support of Ukrainian oncology practitioners and patients from abroad. He initiated many projects with HUG and is an invaluable source for HUG’s inspiration.

Ruslan Zelinskyi, MS

Co-Founder, Director of Ukrainian Medical Physics Outreach

Ruslan Zelinskyi is a head of the Medical Physics Department in the Spizhenko Clinic and the inaugural President of the Ukrainian Association of Medical Physicists (UAMP). After obtaining his BSc degree in pedagogical education and an MSc in Nuclear and Elementary Particle Physics he began his career in radiotherapy medical physics. In parallel with clinical activities, Ruslan has actively pursued the development of the medical physics profession in Ukraine. In particular, he co-founded the Ukrainian Association of Medical Physicists and the annual Scientific and Practical meeting, “Forum of Medical Physicists of Ukraine”. Ruslan represents the medical physics profession as an expert on the Working Group of the State Inspectorate for Nuclear Regulation of Ukraine and to the Ministry of Health of Ukraine.

Natalka Suchowerska, PhD

Vice President, Director of Australia Outreach

Dr. Natalka Suchowerska is an Associate Professor at the University of Sydney. She uses emerging technologies and fundamental science to improve cancer treatments, patient outcomes and quality of life. Natalka’s career spans clinical practice, research and education. Dr. Suchowerska holds a patent portfolio and has published 192 papers, an h-index of 54. The quality of Natalka’s work has been recognized with The Marshall and Warren Award for 2019 (NHMRC) for the most innovative research; the Roberts Prize for 2007 for the best paper published in PMB; the David Robinson Prize in 2018 and in 2020 for innovation. In 2016 she was named in the 100 Women of Influence by AFR. Natalka has mentored numerous students across several medical professions and has served as the Chief Examiner (Physics) of Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists. Natalka is a Vice President of Help Ukraine Group (HUG) providing invaluable support for Ukrainian cancer centers from Australia.

Nelya Melnitchouk, MD, MS, FACS

Member

Dr. Nelya Melnitchouk is a board-certified practicing surgeon specializing in the field of colorectal surgery at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI) in Boston, USA, as well as an Assistant Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School. She is the Program Director for the Colorectal Surgery Fellowship leading the Program in Peritoneal Surface Malignancy at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Dana Farber Cancer Institute. In 2017, Nelya founded Global Medical Knowledge Alliance (GMKA) to provide translated educational materials to Ukrainian doctors of various specialties. After the full-scale invasion, GMKA is supporting the operating rooms in Ukraine with much-needed surgical supplies. Nelya also initiated a HealUA app to provide peer-to-peer consultations from doctors abroad to Ukrainian doctors. GMKA and Heal Ukraine Group she is a member of also secure training positions for Ukrainian doctors abroad. In 2023, she was selected for Statnews 2023 STATUSList in recognition of her work in helping Ukrainian medicine during the war.

Yuliia Lozko, MD

Member

Dr. Yuliia Lozko is a radiation oncologist at the National Cancer Institute in Kyiv.

Viktor Iakovenko, PhD, MCPPM

Co-Founder, Director of Canada Outreach

Dr. Viktor Iakovenko is an Assistant Professor at University of Texas Southwestern.

He received his B.Sc. in physics and his M.Sc. in nuclear and particle physics at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv in Ukraine. He subsequently received his Ph.D. in particle physics at Paris-Saclay University in Orsay, France, developing novel detector systems within one of the Large Hadron Collider experiments at the European Organization for Nuclear Research in Switzerland.

Viktor went on to complete his postdoctoral fellowship at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre within the University Health Network in Toronto, Canada. Before joining UT Southwestern Medical Center, he completed a radiation oncology physics residency within the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Toronto and worked as a staff medical physicist in Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.

His research interests include MR-guided adaptive radiation therapy, global oncology, development of novel detector systems for radiation therapy, dosimetry for emerging treatment modalities, and stereotactic radiotherapy. In 2022, he started volunteering together with Help Ukraine Group members to solicit support for Ukrainian radiation oncology centers during the war.

Serhii Brovchuk, PhD

Member, Director of Software Deployment

Dr. Serhii Brovchuk is a Chief Medical Physicist at Kyiv Regional Cancer Center. Serhii received BSc in Physics and MSc in Solid State Physics from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Ukraine; continued his research in Solid State Physics and got a PhD at G.V. Kurdyumov institute for metal physics of National Academy for Science of Ukraine, but decided to become a clinical medical physicist. He received Master of Advanced Studies in Medical Physics program (ICTP & University of Trieste) and had one year of residency on this program at San Bortolo Ospedale (Vicenza, Italy). During his residency he also worked on the thesis on “Verification of the physics model of the treatment planning system Pinnacle3 through Monte Carlo simulations”. With 8 years of experience and international training in medical physics, he is an excellent teacher and trainer for his colleagues in Ukraine organizing and leading numerous workshops.

In 2022, he started volunteering together with Help Ukraine Group members to solicit support for Ukrainian radiation oncology centers during the war. He is helped deploy Limbus AI and Radformation software to many clinics in Ukraine. Serhii also leads the project on translating the medical physics textbook into Ukrainian.

Oleh Duda, MD

Member

Dr. Oleh Duda is a Deputy Head of Surgery Department, Lviv Regional Cancer Center, Lviv.

Andriy Hanych, MD

Member

Dr. Andriy Hanych is a Chair of Radiation Oncology Department, Mariupol Cancer Dispensary, Mariupol

Yuliia Severyn, MD

Member

Dr. Yuliia Severyn is an Assistant Professor at Shupyk National Healthcare University of Ukraine and Radiation Oncologist at Lisod Clinic, Kyiv, Ukraine

Roman Kowalchuk, MD

Member

Dr. Roman Kowalchuk is a Radiation Oncology resident, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA

Zoia Shepil, MD

Member

Dr. Zoia Shepil is a Radiation Oncologist, Kyiv Regional Cancer Center, Kyiv, Ukraine