Physics Residents News and Highlights

DHO’s incoming 2024 Medical Physics Residents

Congratulations to the incoming Department of Human Oncology Physics Residents: Elissa Khoudary from the University of Pennsylvania, Laura Bennett from the University of Iowa, and Nicholas Lynch from Dalhousie University.

Residents attend the 2023 NCC-AAPM chapter meeting and compete in the Early Career Investigator Competition

October 19th, 2023

This October the residents attended the NCC-AAPM chapter meeting held in the Wisconsin Dells. This was a special meeting celebrating the 50th anniversary of the chapter. The second-year residents also competed in the Early Career Investigator Competition. Steve Blum presented on the “Dosimetric impact of interfraction adaptive template-based interstitial brachytherapy for gynecological malignancies” and Autumn Walter presented on the “Development of a ring-based compensator system for intensity modulated small animal irradiations.” Congrats to Autumn who came in first place in the competition! Great work!

Two images: left image Autumn with her poster and two other attendees. right: Carolyn, Steve, Autumn, and Eric in front of pumpkins

Presentation on the development of the residency away rotation selected as a finalist in the AAPM Arthur Boyer Award for Innovation in Medical Physics Education competition

July 24th

The University of Wisconsin and University of Colorado team collaborated to submit an AAPM abstract based on their work developing the resident away rotation titled “Implementation of cross-institutional medical physics residency training: A logistical framework and RACI matrix for program directors.” The abstract was selected to be presented in the “Arthur Boyer Award for Innovation in Medical Physics Education” session at the 2023 AAPM meeting along with five other finalists.

Photo of the finalists in the AAPM Arthur Boyer Award

Steve Blum competes in the national AAPM MedPhys Slam competition

July 23rd

After winning the local NCC-AAPM MedPhys Slam competition in the spring, first year resident Steve Blum then traveled to Houston to compete in the MedPhys Slam competition at the national AAPM meeting. Steve did an excellent job explaining his research on adaptive planning for Syed brachytherapy to a lay audience.

Steve Blum on stage with presentation

Gemma Davies named the 2022-2023 Clinical Physicist Educator of the Year

June 12th, 2023

Each year, the physics and physician residents nominate a physicist who has gone above and beyond to help teach and educate residents. At the resident graduation dinner, it was announced that Gemma Davies was the well-deserving recipient of the Clinical Physicist Educator of the Year award for 2022-2023. Gemma is not only the instructor and organizer for the physics course for the physician residents and the co-mentor for the physics resident basic planning rotation, but she also consistently takes time out of her busy clinical days to allow residents to shadow and join her for various clinical tasks. The residents shared several heartfelt speeches thanking Gemma for her dedication and unbridled excitement for teaching and mentoring residents. Congrats, Gemma!

Two images. Left image of Gemma Davies and all DHO graduating residents. Right: Gemma with only Physics Residents

Celebrating Lindsay’s and Christina’s graduation

June 12th, 2023

The Department of Human Oncology recently celebrated three incredibly talented resident graduates at Cooper’s Tavern to honor completion of their training programs in June 2023. Christina Breeze, Emily Merfeld and Lindsay Bodart were lavished with praise and certificates commemorating their milestone achievements. Read more here: https://www.humonc.wisc.edu/dho-graduating-residents-farewell-2023/

 

Two images. Left: Graduates Christina, Emily, and Lindsay. Right: Physics Residents Autumn, Christina, Lindsay, and Steve

Residents compete in the 2023 NCC-AAPM chapter MedPhys Slam competition

April 28th, 2023

First year residents Autumn Walter and Steve Blum both competed in the MedPhys Slam competition at the Spring NCC-AAPM chapter meeting. This is a competition where trainees present 3 slides in 3 minutes describing their research to a non-scientific audience and their presentations are scored by 3 non-scientist judges from the community. Autumn presented on “Measuring metal needles for prostate brachytherapy” while Steve presented on “The Benefit of Adapting Syed Interstitial Brachytherapy.” Steve was selected as the first place winner in the competition and will go on to compete at the MedPhys Slam competition at the National AAPM meeting this summer. Good luck Steve!

Headshots of Autumn Walters (left) and Steve Blum (right)

Celebrating our awesome program coordinator on Administrative Professionals Day

April 26th,2023

The physics group showered our awesome department admin and residency program coordinator, Jami Wood, with gifts and praise to celebrate Administrative Professionals Day! Jami is the glue that holds everything together and is such an essential resource for residents in our program. We don’t know what we would do without her!

Image of Physics Administrative Assistant, Jami Wood holding baloon and basket of goodies

Senior resident Christina Breeze completes the program’s first away rotation at the University of Colorado

December 16th, 2022

This December, senior resident Christina Breeze was able to participate in our program’s very first away rotation! Christina, who is passionate about Radiosurgery, spent a week at the University of Colorado participating in GammaKnife post-source exchange QA measurements. Christina was able to take a very active role in the QA and got great hands-on experience with this unique treatment modality. We look forward to hearing all about everything she learned during her upcoming department seminar.

Two images of Christina with mask in office

Residents participate in a new “Multi-Institutional Career Development Program”

September 1st, 2022

This year our program is participating in a new “Multi-Institutional Career Development Program” where our residents meet monthly with residents from several other programs to learn about topics related to networking, applying for jobs, interviewing, career development, etc. The meetings feature discussions with expert faculty physicists from all across the country and interactive workshops where residents can participate in mock interviews and get immediate feedback on CVs and cover letters.

Image of presentation slide with bullet points and virtual meeting