Our Team

Radiation Oncology Team - Physicists

Meet the physicists in the Department of Radiation Oncology.

Physics Leadership

Nilendu Gupta, PhD, DABR, FAAPM

Professor, Radiation Oncology, Chief of Clinical Medical Physics – Photons, Radiation Oncology, Director, Medical Physics Residency Training Program, Radiation Oncology, Professor, Health & Rehabilitation Sciences, Professor, Material Science & Engineering

B.Tech.(Hons): Indian Institute of Technology: Electrical Engineering, 1987
MS: The Ohio State University: Biomedical Engineering, 1990
PhD: The Ohio State University: Biomedical Engineering, 1995
Specialty Training: Medical Physics
Specialty Interests:
- Medical Physics Education and Training
- FLASH Radiotherapy
- Boron Neutron Capture Therapy
- State of the art radiotherapy delivery methods and objective ways of creating an image and knowledge-guided target for Radiosurgery, 3D Treatment Planning, Conformal Radiation Therapy, and Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy
- Development of radiation measurement systems in biology and medicine and in the simulation and modeling of radiation doses through radiation transport to better characterize normal tissue tolerance to different radiation fields
- Clinical Trials Development
Appointment: 1995

Ahmet Ayan, PhD, DABR

Professor, Radiation Oncology Chief of Proton Physics, Radiation Oncology

BS: Middle East Technical University: Physics, 1991
MS: Middle East Technical University: Physics, 1996
PhD: University of Iowa: Physics, 2004
Specialty Training:
- Post-Doctoral Research Scientist: Department of Radiology at the University of Pennsylvania (2005-2009)
- Medical Physics Residency: Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Pennsylvania (2009-2011)
- American Board of Radiology – Board certification in Therapeutic Medical Physics 2012
Specialty Interests:
- Proton Radiotherapy
- Stereotactic Radiation Therapy
- FLASH Radiotherapy
- Radiation Measurement & Detectors
- Informatics and Information Management in Radiation Oncology
Research Interests::
- FLASH Radiation Therapy
- Development of Radiation Measurement Detectors for High-Dose-Rate Environments
- Normal Tissue Complication Probability Modelling
Appointment: 2011

More about Ahmet Ayan, PhD, DABR

Dominic DiCostanzo, PhD, MS, DABR

Assistant Professor, Radiation Oncology Director of the Proton Center

BS: St. Vincent College: Physics, 2008
MS: Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 2010
PhD: The Ohio State University, Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, 2023
Specialty Training:
- Resident, Health Quest Medical Systems (2010-2011)
- Chief Resident, Health Quest Medical Systems (2011-2012)
Specialty Interests: External Beam Radiation and Treatment Planning, Automation, Artificial Intelligence and Big Data
Research Interests: Novel Treatment Planning Techniques, Bioinformatics, Radiation Safety, Automation and AI including machine learning, deep learning, and reinforcement learning
Appointment:
- Clinical Medical Physicist: 2012
- Faculty Appointment: 2023

Physics Faculty

Ashley Cetnar, PhD, MS, DABR

Medical Physicist - Associate Professor

BS: Grove City College: Physics, 2011
MS: Vanderbilt University, Medical Physics, 2013
PhD: The Ohio State University, Education – Teaching and Learning, 2020
Specialty Training:
- Resident, Medical Physics at the University of Louisville, James Graham Brown Cancer Center (2013-2015)
- Graduate Certificate in Health Professions Education, University of Louisville, 2015
- American Board of Radiology – Board certification in Therapeutic Medical Physics 2016
- Graduate Certificate in Public Management, The Ohio State University, 2022
Specialty Interests: Motion management, stereotactic radiation therapy, pediatric treatment, implementation of new technology in the clinic, diversity and equity, and teaching and mentoring
Research Interests:
- Ultra-high dose rate (FLASH) radiation therapy
- Clinical implementation and assessment projects within medical physics
- Education research
Appointment:
- Hired as clinical medical physicist in 2015
- Began faculty medical physics position in 2021

Austin Faught, PhD, DABR

Associate Professor, Radiation Oncology

BS: Kenyon College, Physics, 2009
PhD:The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Medical Physics, 2014
Specialty Training:
- Residency – Duke University, 2014-2016
- Postdoctoral Fellowship – University of Colorado School of Medicine, 2017
Specialty Interests: Proton therapy and Pediatric radiation oncology
Research Interests:
- Normal tissue toxicity modelling
- Linear energy transfer in proton therapy
- Automation and software development
Appointment: 2023

Eunsin Lee, PhD, DABR

Associate Professor, Radiation Oncology

BS: Korea University: Physics, 2000
MS: Texas A&M University: Physics, 2005
PhD: Texas A&M University: Physics, 2010
Specialty Training:
- Post-Doctoral Research Associate: Department of Radiology at University of Pennsylvania (2010-2012)
- Post-Doctoral Research Associate: Department of Radiation Oncology at University of Pennsylvania (2012-2014)
- Medical Physics Resident: Department of Radiation Oncology at University of Washington (2014-2016)
- American Board of Radiology: Board Certification in Therapeutic Medical Physics 2020
Specialty Interests:
- Radiation Oncology, Pediatric Radiation Oncology
- Proton Therapy Treatment Planning, Quality Assurance and Image Guidance
- Linear Energy Transfer (LET) Based Intensity Modulated Proton Therapy Treatment Plan Optimization and Evaluation
- Proton FLASH Clinical Trial
Research Interests:
- Proton Minibeam Radiation Therapy and Radiobiology
- Proton FLASH Radiation Therapy and Radiobiology
- Ultra-High Dose Rate Proton Beam Dosimetry, Detector Development and Monte Carlo Simulation
- Variable Proton Relative Biological Effectiveness (RBE) modeling using Monte Carlo Simulation
Appointment: 2023

Hyeri Lee-Poprocki, PhD, DABR

Assistant Professor, Radiation Oncology

BS: Sogang University: Physics, 2011
MS: Cornell University, Physics, 2014
PhD: Cornell University, Physics, 2017
Specialty Training:
- Resident, Harvard Medical Physics residency program (2017-2020)
- American Board of Radiology – Board certification in Therapeutic Medical Physics 2021
Specialty Interests:
- Proton therapy, IGRT, Automation, Motion Management and Monte Carlo simulation
Appointment:
- Hired as clinical medical physicist in 2020
- Began faculty medical physics position in 2023

Lanchun Lu, PhD, DABR

Associate Professor, Radiation Oncology

BS: Central China Normal University, Physics, 1986
MS: Central China Normal University, Nuclear Physics, 1989
PhD: Peking University, Nuclear Physics, 1995
Specialty Training: Post-doctoral Research Associate: Department of Radiation Oncology at Virginia Commonwealth University (2004-2006)
Specialty Interests: Radiosurgery, Stereotactic Radiotherapy, Brachytherapy, Image-guided radiation therapy
Research Interests: Radioresistance, Radiation Biology, Image-guided radiation therapy, Imaging techniques include Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT), MRI, CT and ultrasound
Appointment: 2008

More about Lanchun Lu, PhD, DABR

Allison Palmiero, PhD

Assistant Professor, Radiation Oncology

BS: University of Kentucky, Biology (2016)
PhD: University of Kentucky, Radiation and Radiological Sciences (2021)
Specialty Training:
- Physics Assistant, University of Kentucky (2018-2021)
- Resident, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center (2021-2023)
Research Interests:
- FLASH Radiation Therapy
- Special treatment planning techniques
- Development of novel QA devices
Appointment: 2023

Diana Shvydka, PhD, DABR

Associate Professor, Radiation Oncology

MS: Kiev State (Taras Shevchenko National) University, Physics (1992)
PhD:University of Toledo, Physics (2002)
Specialty Training:
- Post-Doctoral Research Associate: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Toledo (2002-2004)
- Post-Doctoral Research Associate: Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Toledo (2006-2009)
Research Interests:
- Radiation detectors, thin-film and multilayer structures
- Nanoparticle-aided radiation therapy
- Effects at high-low Z interfaces
- Monte Carlo modeling of radiation transport
- Medical Physics Education
Appointment: 2023

Jeffrey Woollard, PhD, DABR

Assistant Professor, Radiation Oncology Physics Residency Associate Program Director

BS: Eastern Illinois University: Physics, 1987
MS: The Ohio State University: Nuclear Engineering, 1990
PhD: The Ohio State University: Biomedical Engineering, 1997
Specialty Training: Resident, Medical Physics at The Ohio State University, 1995
Specialty Interests: Medical Physics Education and Training, Stereotactic Radiation Therapy, and Brachytherapy
Research Interests: Computational radiation transport for application in biology and medicine
Appointment: 2010