Category: Research

Low-Dose Radiation Research: Relevance to the Practice of Radiology

12/1/2023

I'm thrilled to say our article on "Proposed Priorities for Low-Dose Radiation Research and Their Relevance to the Practice of Radiology" was published in Radiology! What a pleasure working with a stellar team of national experts.

This study explores the impact of low-dose radiation, which is commonly used in medical imaging and various industries, and assesses a strategic plan's recommendations for national multidisciplinary research program on low-dose radiation's health effects.

what do medical physicists do?

8/1/2020

A physicist? In medicine? What is that? Some people think I just solve physics equations for the doctors. Thankfully, it is far from that! A career in medical physics is suited for people with a physics or engineering background who desire to work in a clinical environment as a scientist rather than a medical practitioner. This unique mix of medicine, technology, science, and the different tasks involved are extremely exciting and motivate me to come to work every day.

what is Dual energy CT?

7/1/2020

Dual Energy CT (DECT) is a useful modern technology that expands the clinical utility of CT exams. By transmitting two different x-ray energy spectras through the patient's body, due to differential x-ray photon attenuation by your body's tissues as a function of energy, we can separate materials that previously looked identical in traditional CT scanning due to having similar attenuation at one energy.

functional mri

6/1/2018

Today I volunteered to have my brain scanned in our newest clinical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner equipped with functional MRI (fMRI) and Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI)! These technologies are SO cool! I almost cried when the radiologist was teaching me this, absolutely amazed and in love with medicine and technology (all over again!)

fisica en espanol

9/30/2016

I was an invited speaker for this conference, where I had the pleasure to describe our country's efforts to exercise ALARA, the fantastic support from our radiologists, and how our hospital tackles protocol optimization with image quality and dosimetry analysis using cadavers. Did I mention... I had to give the whole 45 minute presentation in... Spanish!?

Implementing a new lung screening ct program

8/30/2016

I was asked to give a 30 minute oral presentation at the Fall Meeting of the Florida Chapter of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (FLAAPM). Over the past year, I was involved in implementing the low dose lung cancer screening CT protocols to meet the requirements by CMS and recommendations by AAPM.

optimizing image quality in adult head ct

7/29/2016

I gave two presentations at the annual AAPM meeting in our nation's beautiful capitol, Washington DC. I also heard amazing presentations from leaders in CT research and met with clinical scientists from Toshiba to discuss our ongoing research.

CT optimization with cadavers

4/30/2016

This was my first major lengthy presentation! I had the fantastic opportunity to give a 45 minute presentation summarizing how the medical physics research group utilizes cadavers in the Department of Radiology. We conduct direct organ dosimetry measurements and clinical image quality assessment for the purposes of developing new CT protocols and improving existing CT protocols.

Dose modulation in lung screening

3/30/2016

Let me tell you about a spectacular radiologist: Dr. Nupur Verma. We collaborated on this research together, and she recommended we submit it to the European Congress of Radiology. I told her I would probably not be able to attend, since it was located in Vienna and took place just 15 days before my wedding (and we can imagine what happens in those critical 15 days!).

presenting physics to radiologists

11/30/2015

My first time at the Annual Meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) was a great one! The vendor display area was by far my favorite. We were able to see several scanners (how do they transport these things?) and new technologies. It was also great to see multiple 2 and 3 story vendor displays with couches and meeting rooms on top of their displays. I won't lie and say I didn't have a ton of free cappuccinos as we cruised around the vendor area (for the love of physics!).