Jasmine Graham

I am currently a Faculty Medical Physicist in the Department of Radiation Oncology at H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center (MCC) in Tampa, FL. My physics journey began at South Carolina State University, an HBCU in Orangeburg, SC, where I was first introduced to the field of medical physics. At SCSU I was a member of the Society of Physics Students and was inducted into Sigma Pi Sigma Physics Honor Society. I graduated from SCSU in 2011 with a B.S. Degree in Physics with Medical Physics Option. I then transitioned to the joint Ph.D. program in Applied Physics with Medical Physics Concentration at the University of South Florida Department of Physics and the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center Department of Radiation Oncology. In June of 2014, I was a participant of the 64th annual Lindau Meeting of the Nobel Laureates in Physiology/Medicine in Lindau, Germany. I was one of 20 participants selected for full travel support from the United States. My participation enabled me to receive mentoring from some of the most distinguished scientists worldwide; the Nobel Laureates. I was also able to interact with top graduate students in medicine from the US and around the globe. From both the scientists and students, I received insight on current medical research as well as learn about their career paths. This incredible experience has positively impacted my research and reinforced my enthusiasm and zeal for medical research.

My Ph.D. research, “Increasing 18F-FDG PET/CT Capabilities in Radiotherapy for Lung and Esophageal Cancer via Image Feature Analysis”, was focused on developing tools that extract cancer stage and genetic information from images of moving tumors to increase the reliability and usage of Positron Emission Tomography (PET) as a medical imaging modality for cancer diagnosis and treatment (i.e., image feature analysis/radiomics). In 2016 I successfully defended my dissertation research and graduated with a Ph.D. in Applied Physics with Medical Physics concentration from the University of South Florida.

Following graduation, I transitioned into a medical physics postdoctoral fellowship at the Orlando Health UF Health Cancer Center (OH UFHCC) where I continued my work in clinical imaging and adaptive radiation therapy. I assessed collision-free space and localization accuracy for orthogonal image pairs (kV-kV or kV/MV) and OSMS compared with CBCT for non-coplanar beams for stereotactic radiosurgery on the Varian Edge Radiosurgery System. I also characterized and commissioned the image quality, localization accuracy, and CT calibration curve of the AIRO mobile CT System (Mobius, Brainlab) for use in a compact proton therapy unit. This was the first application of a mobile CT scanner in compact proton therapy system for image-guided and/or adaptive proton therapy.

Following the completion of my postdoctoral fellowship, I spent 2 years in a rigorous clinical medical physics residency program at OH UFHCC in preparation for the American Board of Radiology Therapeutic Radiologic Physics examination. Upon successful completion of the residency program, I transitioned into my current position as a Faculty Medical Physicist at Moffitt Cancer Center. I am interested in joining the Alumni Engagement Program to share both my experience and knowledge with current and future physics students.