CURRENTLY WORKING ON:
  • Dual energy CT
  • Metal artifact reduction
  • Miscentered patients in CT
  • Lung cancer screening CT

PREVIOUS PRESENTATIONS

CT Protocol Optimization Using Cadavers

INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON SOLID STATE DOSIMETRY 
SEPTEMBER 2016- CHIAPAS, MEXICO

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!? For an entire month leading up to this conference, I searched my brain high and low for all things learned in high school Spanish classes, asked my husband to only speak to me in Spanish, and used Google translate to learn scientific terminology.

I met people from all over the world! Saudi Arabia, England, Brazil, Peru, Venezuela, Colombia, Mexico. Everyone was so friendly and bright, and I really got to practice my Portuguese and Spanish for an entire week!

After the conference, I had the chance to take a boat ride through the city's beautiful Canyon del Sumidero and its historic village Chiapas de Corzo.
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  • Barreto I. (2016, September). CT Protocol Optimization Using Cadavers. Magisterial oral presentation at the International Symposium on Solid State Dosimetry in Tuxtla Gutuierrez, Chiapas, Mexico.

Implementation and Optimization of a New Lung Cancer Screening CT Program

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF PHYSICISTS IN MEDICINE (AAPM)
SEPTEMBER 2016 - DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA

I was asked to give a 30 minute oral presentation at the FLAAPM 2016 Fall Meeting.

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. I also conducted retrospective patient dosimetry to verify whether the protocols were set accordingly, and conducted lower dose scans on cadavers and assessed clinical image quality with two thoracic radiologists.

I had a lot to share on lung cancer screening and thought this was the perfect arena to describe our efforts. I also met some diagnostic physicists from Florida and got to hear a little about their day to day duties.

​The Shores Resort & Spa was beautiful, with an ocean view bedroom and a classic lobby.

  • Barreto I. (2016, September). Implementation and Optimization of a New Lung Cancer Screening CT Program. Oral presentation at the Florida Chapter of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine, Daytona Beach, FL.

​In-Utero Dose Measurements Within Postmortem Subjects for Estimating Fetal Doses in Pregnant Patients Examined with Pulmonary Embolism, Trauma, and Appendicitis CT

Optimizing Dose Reduction in Adult Head CT Protocols While Maintaining Image Quality in Postmortem Head Scans

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF PHYSICISTS IN MEDICINE (AAPM)
​JULY 2016 - WASHINGTON DC

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

Our undergraduate research assistant, Catherine, also gave her first major presentation at a national conference (go Catherine!!). Several students from the University of Florida also presented their research. 

​Following the conference, I had the chance to visit all of the touristic stops and explore the beautiful streets of DC. I am looking forward to returning again someday.

  • ​I Lipnharski, C Carranza, N Quails, N Correa D Rajderkar, J Bennett, L Rill, M Arreola. (2016, July).  Optimizing Dose Reduction in Adult Head CT Protocols While Maintaining Image Quality in Postmortem Head Scans. Poster presentation at the Annual Meeting & Exhibition of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine, Washington, DC.
  • I Lipnharski, N Quails, C Carranza, N Correa, S Bidari, M Bickelhaup, L Rill, M Arreola. (2016, July).  In-Utero Dose Measurements Within Postmortem Subjects for Estimating Fetal Doses in Pregnant Patients Examined with Pulmonary Embolism, Trauma, and Appendicitis CT. Poster presentation at the Annual Meeting & Exhibition of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine, Washington, DC. 
  • C Carranza, I Lipnharski, N Quails, N Correa, L Rill, M Arreola. (2016, July). Direct Measurement of Organ Doses Resulting From Head and Cervical Spine Trauma CT Protocols. Poster presentation at the Annual Meeting & Exhibition of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine, Washington, DC.
  • E Olguin, S Flampouri,  I Lipnharski, W Bolch. (2016, July). Development of Proton Tissue Equivalent Materials for Calibration and Dosimetry Studies. Oral presentation at the Annual Meeting & Exhibition of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine, Washington, DC.

Clinical Optimization of CT Protocols Using PostMortem Subjects

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF PHYSICISTS IN MEDICINE (AAPM)
​APRIL 2016 - ORLANDO, FLORIDA

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.

Both of my  advisors (Dr. Arreola and Dr. Rill), both of the diagnostic physics residents (Dr. Hoerner and Dr. Huo), and some of our group's very own research assistants (Catherine and Nathan) had the opportunity to deliver presentations. I am so incredibly proud of our talented team! We also had several UF students give oral presentations, and one of my classmates, Heather, won 1st place in the student oral presentations!

PS: This conference was in my hometown of Orlando, Florida, and happened just 10 days after I returned from my wedding and honeymoon. That will definitely knock a girl back into work mode FAST!
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  • I Lipnharski. (2016, April). Clinical Optimization of CT Protocols Using PostMortem Subjects. Oral presentation at the Florida Chapter of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine, Orlando, FL.
  • C Carranza, I Lipnharski, N Quails, N Correa, B Cormack, S Bidari, L Rill, M Arreola. (2016, April). Direct Measurement of Organ Doses Resulting from Head and Cervical Spine Trauma CT Protocols. Oral presentation at the Florida Chapter of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine, Orlando, FL.
  • N Quails, I Lipnharski, C Carranza, N Correa, L Rill, M Arreola. (2016, April). Retrospective Analysis of Pediatric Head CT Scans. Poster presentation at the Florida Chapter of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine, Orlando, FL.

Dose Modulation in Low Dose Lung Cancer Screening: How Low Can We Go?

EUROPEAN CONGRESS OF RADIOLOGY (ECR)
​MARCH 2016 - VIENNA, AUSTRIA

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!). She recommended that I submit the abstract as first author, and if it were accepted, she would present on my behalf. So there you have it. This was my first international piece of work, presented by one of my favorite radiologists, Dr. Verma. 
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  • I Lipnharski, N Verma, R Lamoureux, C Carranza; L Rill, T. Mohammed, M. Arreola (2016, March). Dose Modulation in Low Dose Lung Cancer Screening: How Low Can We Go? Oral presentation at the European Congress of Radiology (ECR), Vienna, Austria​

Direct organ dose measurements and image quality analysis in low dose lung cancer screening CT scans

RADIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF NORTH AMERICA (RSNA)
NOVEMBER 2015 - CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

My first time at 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!).

A large team of diagnostic physicists from UF attended, including both of my research advisors and one of our residents. We also had several administrative people from Radiology attend, as this was the conference where we would interview vendors to consider which imaging equipment we would purchase for our new cardiovascular and neurological towers. We also met with various dose reporting vendors. It is so interesting to see how several companies have different approaches to answer the same question.

I also gave an electronic poster presentation in the chest imaging arena. This was so great, since all of my audience were actually thoracic radiologists! I was very happy to explain to them dosimetry and image quality of lung cancer screening, and to hear their feedback. Since a large part of our physics work supports radiologists, it is always a pleasure to speak to them, it really puts our clinical work into perspective. 

We also had a sit down meeting with the big guys (including the CEO) from Toshiba all the way from Japan! 

This was my first time in Chicago, I was able to explore the city with my husband and even saw snow for the first time!
  • ​I Lipnharski, R Lamoureux, C Carranza; A Mench, S Gyapong, L Rill, T. Mohammed, M. Arreola (2015, November). Direct organ dose measurements and image quality analysis in low dose lung cancer screening CT scans. Oral presentation at the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), Chicago, IL.

Direct Organ Dose Measurements in a Human Cadaver Scanned with Pediatric CT Protocols

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF PHYSICISTS IN MEDICINE (AAPM)
​JULY 2016 - ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA

This was my first annual conference of AAPM (and first time on the west coast)!

I delivered an oral presentation on pediatric CT dosimetry and protocol optimization (and was asked a question by one of my research idols!). Two of our researchers, Anna and Becky, also had oral presentations and did fantastic jobs delivering them. It was so great to see these ladies, Anna had just graduated and left for her big girl job in Portland.

We had a company dinner hosted by Toshiba where we learned about their novel upcoming technology. We also had a group diagnostic physics family dinner where I met several of the previous diagnostic physics residents and graduate students.

On my last day, I was able to explore Hollywood and Santa Monica.
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  • I. Lipnharski, R. Lamoureux, C. Carranza, B. Cormack, S. Bidari, L. Rill, M. Arreola. (2015, July). Direct Organ Dose Measurements in a Human Cadaver Scanned with Pediatric CT Protocols. Oral presentation at the Annual Meeting & Exhibition of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine, Anaheim, CA. 
  • ​A. Mench, I. Lipnharski, C. Carranza, L. Sinclair, R. Lamoureux, L. Smajdor, B. Cormack, T. Mohammed, L. Rill, M. Arreola. (2015, July). Use of Postmortem Subjects for Subjective Image Quality Assessment in Abdominal CT Protocols with Iterative Reconstruction. Oral presentation at the Annual Meeting & Exhibition of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine, Anaheim, CA.
  •  R. Lamoureux, I. Lipnharski, C. Carranza, A. Mench, L. Sinclair, B. Cormack, S. Bidari, L. Rill, M. Arreola. (2015, July). Investigation of Effects of Adipose Tissue Shielding On Organ Doses and Equation Modeling in Post-Mortem Subjects for CT. Oral presentation at the Annual Meeting & Exhibition of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine, Anaheim, CA.
  •  R. Lamoureux, L. Sinclair, A. Mench, I. Lipnharski, C. Carranza, B. Cormack, S. Bidari, L. Rill, M. Arreola. (2015, July). Introduction and Investigation of Effective Diameter Ratios as a New Patient Size Metric for Use in CT. Oral presentation at the Annual Meeting & Exhibition of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine, Anaheim, CA. 

Evaluation of Clinical Image Quality in Low-Dose Iterative CT Studies

UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA COLLEGE OF MEDICINE 
FEBRUARY 2015 - GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA

Lauren Smajdor, a bright medical student interested in specializing in radiology, chose to present on radiation dose reduction at our College of Medicine's Celebration of Research event. It was a joy to show her the differences between the filtered backprojection and iterative reconstrucion algorithms, teach her how to make region of interest (ROI) measurements to assess quantitative image quality, and show her the dose benefits of iterative reconstruction. I attended the event with Lauren and heard her give her 5 minute presentation. She even answered the physics questions well! A few days later, we found out our superstar scored 2nd place with this project. Go Lauren (and go physics)! 
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  • L. Smajdor, A. Mench, I. Lipnharski, C. Carranza, M. Arreola. (2015, February). Evaluation of Clinical Image Quality in Low-Dose Iterative CT Studies. Poster Presentation at The University of Florida’s College of Medicine Celebration of Research Event, Gainesville, FL. 2nd Place Award

Quantifying Organ Dose and Improving Image Quality in CT Exams of Subjects with Metal Implants Utilizing a Metal-Artifact Reduction Algorithm

Correlating Image Quality and Reduced Radiation Exposure From Low-Dose CT Scanning in a Lung Cancer Screening Program

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF PHYSICISTS IN MEDICINE (AAPM)
MARCH 2015 - ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI

Holy excitement. This was my first conference... ever.

I was the only student to attend from UF, and none of my research advisors were able to attend this one. Going alone without knowing anybody there forced me to mingle and meet new physicists. It was amazing. I sat at a table full of women with powerful experiences and backgrounds. I made a great friend from University Hospitals in Cleveland and had dinner with her a few nights.

To top it all off, on the last day of this conference, I found out that I won both of the first place prizes in the Young Investigators Symposium and Best Poster Presentation. The rush of emotions I felt were surreal. I was so proud of the work my team conducted. I was so happy to tell my advisors and parents and make them proud. Little did I know this would be the first conference of many where I would learn great things and meet brilliant people.

  • I. Lipnharski, C. Carranza , A. Mench , R. Lamoureux , B. Cormack, S. Bidari , L. Rill, M. Arreola. (2015, March). Quantifying Organ Dose and Improving Image Quality in CT Exams of Subjects with Metal Implants Utilizing a Metal-Artifact Reduction Algorithm. Oral Presentation at the Spring Clinical Meeting of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine, St. Louis, MO. 1st Place Award.
  •  I. Lipnharski, A. Mench , C. Carranza , R. Lamoureux , S. Gyapong , L. Rill , T. Mohammed , M. Arreola. (2015, March). Correlating Image Quality and Reduced Radiation Exposure From Low-Dose CT Scanning in a Lung Cancer Screening Program. Poster Presentation at the Spring Clinical Meeting of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine, St. Louis, MO. 1st Place Award.