Dr. Jerry Barker, MD

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Dr. Barker’s early childhood was spent in Houston, Texas, where his dad worked at MD Anderson Cancer Center. “Some of my very first memories involve visits to see dad at the radiation office,” he says. “I remember seeing patients with huge cancers, and markings on their faces or bodies for radiation therapy. Those scenes were really fascinating to a four-year-old.” After his family moved to Dallas, he would often come home from school to hear his dad tell stories about cancer patients around the dinner table. So it was no surprise when Dr. Barker chose to become a doctor and specialize in radiation oncology. “Oncology is genetic in my family,” he jokes. Dr. Barker’s genetic connection to oncology runs deep in more ways than one. His paternal grandmother died from leukemia, his maternal grandmother was treated for colon cancer, he lost an uncle to melanoma, and his mom is a survivor of both breast cancer and colon cancer. “The entire cancer experience is really different when you are a patient or relative than when you are the doctor,” he explains. “When I meet a patient who has just been diagnosed with cancer, I remember that even though I have seen this problem a thousand times, for that person it is the first and likely only time they will be diagnosed with cancer. It is a unique, humbling and frightening time in their life—and they deserve to be treated with special dignity.” Dr. Barker believes his patients deserve the absolute best, highest-quality cancer treatment available. He also feels blessed to have trained at some of the world’s most respected institutions during his medical education. He attended UT Southwestern Medical School, then completed his residency in radiation oncology at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics and the University of Washington Medical Center. Afterward, Dr. Barker was one of the very few radiation oncologists to also complete a year-long fellowship in radiation oncology at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.