Bryan Bednarz, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Medical Physics and Human Oncology

Department Affiliations

Medical Physics

Human Oncology

Education

B.S.E. University of Michigan, Nuclear Engineering and Science, 2004

M.S. University of Michigan, Nuclear Engineering and Science, 2005

Ph.D.  Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Nuclear Engineering and Science, 2008

Research Interests

Monte Carlo methods

Proton therapy

Radiation protection

Positions

• Assistant Professor, Departments of Medical Physics and Human Oncology, University of Wisconsin-School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI.
• 2008-2010, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Radiation Oncology,
  Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA

Awards and Honors

• Physics in Medicine and Biology Highlights, Top 25 Paper of 2008

Memberships

• American Association of Physicists in Medicine
• American Nuclear Society
• Health Physics Society

Publications

• B. Bednarz, J. Daartz, H. Paganetti, "Dosimetric accuracy of planning and delivering small proton therapy fields," Phys. Med. Biol. (2010) in print
• B. Bednarz, G.T.Y. Chen, B. Han, A. Ding, and X.G. Xu, “Comparison of particle tracking features in Geant4 and MCNPX codes for applications in mapping of proton range uncertainty,” Nuclear Technology (2010) in print

• B. Bednarz, B. Athar, X.G. Xu, "A comparative study on the risk of second primary cancers in out-of-field organs associated with radiotherapy of localized prostate carcinoma using Monte Carlo-based accelerator and patient models," Med. Phys. 37 (5), 1987-1994 (2010)

• H. Paganetti, B. Athar, B. Bednarz, “Dose rate effects when estimating risks for second malignancies: In regard to Fontenot et al (Int. J. Radiat. Oncol. Biol. Phys. 2009;74:616-22),” Int. J. Radiat. Oncol. Biol. Phys. 75 (5) 1623-1625 (2009)

• B. Athar, B. Bednarz, J. Seco, C. Hancox, and H. Paganetti, "Comparison of out-of-field photon doses in 6-MV IMRT and neutron doses in proton therapy for adult and pediatric patients," Phys. Med. Biol. 55, 2879-2891 (2010)

• B. Bednarz, C. Hancox, X. G. Xu, "Calculated organ doses from selected prostate treatment plans using Monte Carlo simulations and an anatomically realistic computational phantom," Phys. Med. Biol. 54, 5271-5286 (2009)

• B. Han, X.G. Xu, and B. Bednarz, “Applications of a Monte Carlo computational framework of a medical accelerator used for radiation treatment,” Proceedings of the International Conference on Mathematics, Computational Methods and Reactor Physics, Saratoga Springs, May 3-7, on CD-ROM, (2009)

• B. Bednarz and X.G. Xu, “Monte Carlo modeling of a 6- and 18-MV Varian Clinac medical accelerator for in-field and out-of-field dose calculations: development and validation,” Phys. Med. Biol. 54, N43-N57 (2009)

• J. Gu, B. Bednarz, P. Carracappa, X.G. Xu, “The development, validation and application of a multidetector CT (MDCT) scanner model for assessing pregnant patient organs doses using Monte Carlo methods,” Phys. Med. Biol. 54, 2699-2717 (2009)

• B. Han, B. Bednarz, X.G. Xu, “A study of the shielding used to reduce leakage and scattered radiation in a pregnant patient treated with a 6-MV external x-ray beam,” Health Physics Journal (revised January 2009)

• B. Bednarz, B. Han, and X.G. Xu, “Comparison of photoneutron yields in MCNPX using different photonuclear cross section data for typical radiation therapy energy ranges,” Proceedings in Nuclear Technology, 168, 270-273 (2009)

• B. Han, B. Bednarz, Y. Danon, R. Block, and X.G. Xu, “Evaluation of the Nuclear Activation of Tungsten Plates for Future Modeling of a Medical Accelerator Target,” Proceedings in Nuclear Technology, 168, 576-579 (2009)

• J. Gu, B. Bednarz, X.G. Xu, and S. Jiang, Organ Doses Calculated from Selected Image-Guided Radiation Treatment Procedures Using a Whole-Body Patient Models and Monte Carlo Simulations,” Radiat. Prot. Dosim. Advanced Access, 1-13 (2008)

• B. Bednarz and X.G. Xu, “A Monte Carlo procedure for assessing fetal exposures from radiation treatment of pregnant patients using a set of anatomically realistic phantoms,” Med. Phys. 35, 3054-3061 (2008)

• X.G. Xu, B. Bednarz, and H. Paganetti, “A review of dosimetry studies on external-beam radiation treatments with respect to second cancer induction,” invited review article for Phys. Med. Biol. 53, R1-R49 (2008)

• J. Zhang, B. Bednarz, and X.G. Xu, “An investigation of voxel geometries for MCNP-based radiation dose calculations,” Operational Radiation Safety, 91 Suppl. 2, S59-S65 (2006)

• P. Charland, I. Chetty, L. Paniak, B. Bednarz, and B. Fraass, “Enhanced spectral discrimination through the exploitation of interface effects in photon dose data,” Med. Phys. 31, 264-276, (2004)