Duke Medical Physics

The official Twitter feed of the Duke University Medical Physics Graduate Program.

[Duke Medical Physics @DukeMedPhys]

On April 18th, we held our Spring Social at Frush Farm! We had so much to celebrate, as our students have accomplished a lot this year. We celebrated students' finalized defenses, their Matches, as well as the successful completion of our Spring Open House.

[Duke Medical Physics @DukeMedPhys]

As we approach graduation, it’s time for the Duke tradition to climb to the top of the Chapel… our program’s graduates are gearing up for this feat on May 7. Meantime, here’s a teaser from Aidan Baydush, Pratt Class of 2026 (https://t.co/kvUPLKDcTa and IG @aidan_baydush)!

[Duke Medical Physics @DukeMedPhys]

Mingyue Chen, MS, successfully defended her Scholarship Project titled “Reinforcement Learning for Automated IMRT Treatment Planning: Mathematical Formulation for Optimized Reward Function Design” on April 10, 2026. Guided by Jackie Wu, PhD and Yang Sheng, PhD. Congratulations!

[Duke Medical Physics @DukeMedPhys]

Congratulations Roberto Carrascosa, MS (Advisor: Scott Robertson, PhD) on defending your thesis on March 31, 2026, titled: “Development and Validation of Tools for Virtual Imaging Trials of Ultrafast Breast MRI.” This accomplishment reflects his hard work, well done!

[Duke Medical Physics @DukeMedPhys]

We are excited to share that Justin Simmons, MS (Advisor: Timothy Turkington, PhD) has successfully defended his Master’s thesis titled “Analysis of PET Image Quality Using 2D vs 3D ROIs in Small Spheres” on March 31, 2026. Congratulations to Justin!

[Duke Medical Physics @DukeMedPhys]

We are delighted to celebrate Katherine Moeser, MS (Advisor: Timothy Turkington, PhD), on the successful defense of her master’s thesis on March 30, 2026, titled “Respiration-Related Attenuation Artifacts in PET/CT.” Congratulations on this outstanding achievement!

[Duke Medical Physics @DukeMedPhys]

Congratulations to Jingtong Zhao, PhD (Advisors: Chunhao Wang, PhD and Deshan Yang, PhD), on the successful defense of her Doctoral dissertation on March 30, 2026, titled “Explainable AI and Advanced Mathematical Modeling for Radiotherapy Outcome Assessment.” Great job!

[Duke Medical Physics @DukeMedPhys]

Please join us in celebrating Yakun Zhang, PhD (Advisor: Ehsan Samei, PhD), who successfully defended her PhD dissertation on March 27, 2026. Her dissertation, “Systemic Integration of Retrospective Analysis for Optimizing CT Imaging Practice,” Well done Dr. Zhang.

[Duke Medical Physics @DukeMedPhys]

Warm congratulations to Runhe Tan, MS (Advisor: Kyle Lafata, PhD) on successfully defending his Master’s thesis on March 27, 2026. His thesis, “Investigating Intra-tumoral Heterogenity Driven by Nutrient Dynamics and Radiotherapy Using an In-silico Avascular Tumor Growth Model”

[Duke Medical Physics @DukeMedPhys]

We are pleased to announce that Xin Wu, PhD (mentored by Jackie Wu, PhD and Qiuwen Wu, PhD), has successfully defended their dissertation, " From Dose Engine to Machine Learning in Radiation Therapy: Frameworks, Insights, and Clinical Applications," on March 27, 2026. Well done!

[Duke Medical Physics @DukeMedPhys]

On March 27, 2026, Em Harkness, MS (Advisors: Ehsan Samei, PhD and Francesco Ria, PhD) successfully defended their master’s thesis titled “A Framework for Uncertainty Propagation in Risk-to-Risk Assessment of Clinical and Radiation Risks in CT Across Patient Demographics.”

[Duke Medical Physics @DukeMedPhys]

On March 26, 2026, Caleb Smith, MS (Advisor: Justus Adamson, PhD) successfully defended his master’s thesis titled “Quantifying the Potential Benefit of Applying Remote Magnetic Navigation Systems to Abdominal SBRT.” Congratulations to Caleb on this important milestone!

[Duke Medical Physics @DukeMedPhys]

On March 25, 2026, Gwynne Aull, MS (Advisor: Timothy Turkington, PhD) successfully defended her MS thesis, “PET Image Quality in the Vicinity of the Bladder.” We congratulate her on this achievement.

[Duke Medical Physics @DukeMedPhys]

Madison Allen, MS (Advisor: Timothy Turkington, PhD) successfully defended her masters thesis on March 25, 2026. Her thesis, “Detrimental Effects of Recent Radionuclide Therapy and SPECT Radionuclide Activities on Subsequent PET Imaging due to Detector Pulse Pile-Up and Deadtime"

[Duke Medical Physics @DukeMedPhys]

Congratulations Gianna Hatheway, MS (Advisors: Yang Sheng, PhD, Julie Raffi, PhD), for defending her doctoral dissertation titled “Development of a Reinforcement Learning Framework for Interstitial Needle Placement and Adaptation of a Training Phantom for HDR GYN Brachytherapy.”

[Duke Medical Physics @DukeMedPhys]

Congratulations to Njood Alsaihati, PhD (Advisor: Ehsan Samei, PhD) on the successful defense of her PhD dissertation on March 24, 2026, titled “The Influence of Categorization, Metrology, and Analysis Methods on the Quality and Variability Characterization of Clinical Imaging.”

[Duke Medical Physics @DukeMedPhys]

On March 24, 2026, Zhuoyun Huang, MS (Advisor: Chunhao Wang, PhD) successfully defended her thesis titled “Unified Machine Learning Model for Predicting Normal Brain Toxicity in Single-Isocenter-Multi-Target Stereotactic Radiosurgery.” Congratulations Zhuoyun!

[Duke Medical Physics @DukeMedPhys]

Please join us in congratulating Cindy McCabe, PhD (Advisor: Ehsan Samei, PhD) on the successful defense of her doctoral dissertation on March 23, 2026, titled “The Interplay of Patient and Imaging Variabilities on Quantitative Imaging Outcomes Through Virtual Imaging Trials.”

[Duke Medical Physics @DukeMedPhys]

We are delighted to announce Barry Andricks, MS (Advisor: Mark Oldham, PhD), has completed the defense of their Master's thesis, titled " An Investigation of C. Elegans as a Model Organism for FLASH Research Utilizing TUNL FEL" on March 20, 2026. Congratulations!

[Duke Medical Physics @DukeMedPhys]

Seth Wilcox, MS (Advisor: Mark Oldham, PhD), congratulations on the completion of your Master thesis defense, titled “A Comprehensive Characterization of Dosimetry Methods and Beam Quality for In-Vivo Applications of FLASH Radiation Therapy " on March 20, 2026. Congratulations!