Carolyn Eckrich competes in the national AAPM MedPhys Slam competition
July 21, 2024
After winning the local NCC-AAPM chapter MedPhys Slam competition in the spring, second year resident Carolyn Eckrich, MS then traveled to compete in the MedPhys Slam competition at the national AAPM meeting in Los Angeles, CA. The MedPhys Slam involves trying to explain your research to a lay audience in only 3 slides and in only 3 minutes. Carolyn presented on her project using novel imaging techniques to delineate active bone marrow.
Residents participate in the shielding survey and commissioning at the new EastPark Medical Center
July 15, 2024
Three new linacs are currently being installed at the brand new EastPark Medical Center which is set to open in fall 2024. All four residents had the unique opportunity to go to EastPark (which is still a construction zone!) and assist with the shielding survey and leakage head wrap. The two senior residents are also helping with the commissioning of the linacs as a part of their commissioning rotation.
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.
Celebrating Autumn and Steve’s graduation
June 10th, 2024
The Department of Human Oncology gathered at Cooper’s Tavern to celebrate the graduation of Autumn Walter-Denzin, PhD, and Steve Blum, MS, from the medical physics residency program. Both were praised for their numerous achievements, and everyone shared heartfelt and humorous memories from the past two years. Autumn will be joining the faculty at UW-Madison, while Steve will be joining the physics group at Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York. Both will specialize in brachytherapy, a testament to the excellent training they received during their residency. We wish them the best of luck in the next stage of their careers!
Alison Arnold named the 2022-2024 Physicist Educator of the Year
June 10th, 2024
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 Alison Arnold was the well-deserving recipient of the Physicist Educator of the Year award. Alison is not only the instructor and organizer for the radiation therapy student physics and the co-mentor for the physics resident commissioning 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 that Alison is an engaging teacher who actively involves residents in tasks. Outside of patient care, she provides wonderful advice and support with career decisions and life choices. Her warmth, friendliness, and deep knowledge of radiation therapy has significantly enhanced the resident’s education and development. Congrats, Alison!
Residents visit the UW Veterinary Radiation Oncology Department
June 9, 2024
The UW Veterinary school has a very large and technologically advanced Radiation Oncology department where pet and other animals can receive radiation therapy on a TomoTherapy machine. Our department has a very close relationship with the Veterinary Rad Onc team and collaborate on lots of educational initiatives. This summer our medical physics residents were able to take a half day trip to visit the Vet school and had a *paw-sitively* awesome time learning about the unique workflows and technologies used to treat animals. They also had a *ball* meeting this adorable patient waiting to be *treat-ed*.
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!
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.
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.
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!
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/
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!
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!
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.
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.
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