Medical Physics Seminar – Monday, March 15, 2021
Function and Utility Guided Treatment Planning for Lung Radiotherapy
Martha Matuszak, PhD
Associate Professor and the Director of Advanced Treatment Planning in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Michigan.
Medical physics innovation has led to a number of advancements in radiation therapy and improvements in outcomes for lung cancer patients. However, tumor progression and toxicity remain large hurdles to overcome. In this talk, we will cover some novel new paradigms that can potentially lead to improvements in outcomes for lung patients including functional image guided planning using SPECT and CT imaging to reduce toxicity risk and the use of utility-based treatment plan optimization to balance the risks of tumor progression with the risks of various modeled toxicities for advanced stage lung cancer patients.
Dr. Matuszak also serves as the Director of Clinical Physics at the Brighton Center for Specialty Care. Dr. Matuszak has a joint faculty appointment in the Department of Nuclear Engineering & Radiological Sciences and directs their Medical Physics Certificate Program. Dr. Matuszak is extremely involved in national and in-house clinical trials, especially for lung cancer, and is the physics lead for the NRG Oncology Lung Committee. She is also the chair of the AAPM working group on clinical trials. Dr. Matuszak's clinical and research interests include novel treatment planning and optimization strategies and incorporation of functional imaging into treatment planning.