Jeffrey Siewerdsen,
Johns Hopkins Univ

In announcing this fall's Seminars in Medical Physics schedule, co-instructor Joseph Lo said, "This will be our 9th consecutive semester as part of the program... These weekly gatherings showcase cutting edge research, panel debates on hot topics in the field, overviews of special topics not covered in core courses such as biostatistics and frontiers in medical science, previews/reviews of conference talks, and small group workshops on medical physics as a profession. Every semester includes talks from clinicians, clinical physicists, and notable visiting faculty invited especially for this seminar. We will kick off the fall with our Doctoral Research Showcase, which was very well received last year. Our invited speaker is Jeff Siewerdsen from Hopkins (picture on left), who will share his latest research bridging the gap between radiology and radiation oncology. Other notable physics speakers include Ron Jaszczak, Al Johnson, Tim Turkington, Gina Tourassi, Joe Izatt, and Shiva Das. We have 3 separate sessions devoted to clinical interests. Ehsan Samei will offer our first ever showcase of clinical imaging physics, while Rendon Nelson and David Kirsch will present their clinical research. We will devote a seminar to this year's MS Summer Research Scholarship recipients, who are Adam Brooks, Kelly McGrady, Michael Pierquet, and Scott Senick. Mark Oldham will also moderate an AAPM reprise session featuring 4 Duke speakers: Jim Chang, Sua Yoo, Quiwen Wu, and Andrew Thomas."

Check out the results from the National Opinion Survey on Doctorate of Medical Physics Degree Program, a major national effort which was initiated by our students. The survey contacted over 1100 students, residents, faculty, and directors, and received an unprecedented 52% response rate! You can view the final report in a Powerpoint format along with verbatim comments at the above website. Integral players included program director Jim Dobbins and director of graduate studies Ehsan Samei, who are also co-chairs of the Society of Directors of Academic Medical Physics Programs (SDAMPP), and members of our Student Advisory Board: Vorakarn Chanyavanich, Ashley Manzoor, Latoya Crayton, Irina Vergalasova, Lauren Courlas, Adam Brooks, and Paco Robles. In an email to program members, Dr Samei said, "I am particularly proud of the fact that the survey was initiated by our students at Duke. Here is an example of how something that was started here has reached national prominence and exposure."

Nancy Andrews MD PhD, Dean of the School of Medicine, announced today that Thaddeus Samulski, Ph.D., professor of Radiation Oncology, died on July 29 2009. Dr Samulski joined the Department of Radiation Oncology in 1986, and subsequently directed the physics and engineering components of the hyperthermia treatment program. He also served as director of the Physics Division from 1992 to 2004. An engineer, Thaddeus designed and developed equipment used in the treatment of cancer, including a one-of-a kind treatment table through which he delivered radio frequency energy to heat breast tumors via a pool of salt water. The water helps distribute the heat evenly around the breast to avoid burning and helps direct the radio frequency energy into the breast. Program director Jim Dobbins remarked, "It is with sadness that I learned today of the passing of Thad Samulski, PhD. Thad was a long-time faculty member in the department of radiation oncology, and also one of the original members of the steering committee that developed the proposal for the medical physics graduate program." A memorial service is planned for 11AM Friday August 28 in the Duke Chapel.