Alumni Spotlight

Abdullah Alshreef began his doctoral studies at the University of Minnesota in September 2019. Abdullah’s research was focused on brachytherapy techniques, especially those related to low energy dosimetry of Cs-131.  In his research, he used Monte Carlo GAMOS (GEANT4) to simulate dose in water and in different materials to accurately determine dose deposition. Abdullah will be pursuing a clinical therapeutic medical physics residency at Loma Linda University Medical Center and after Residency will be going back to Saudia Arabia to work at King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre to work as Medical Physicist. 

Lin WU started his doctoral studies at the University of Minnesota in 2016. His research focused on advanced methodologies for neuromodulation and quantitative MRI with MB-SWIFT. Together with colleagues at CMRR, He completed several fMRI projects utilizing a novel Orientation-Selective Deep Brain Stimulation (OS-DBS) technique in rodent models. He made significant contributions to a pioneering project that combined spinal cord and brain with dual FOV fMRI in rodents. He also developed and implemented a novel method that significantly accelerates MRI acquisitions that enables the detection of both rotating frame and free precession T1 relaxation maps in a single acquisition. Lin is currently a postdoctoral research associate at CMRR.
 

Taylor Froelich began his doctoral studies at the University of Minnesota in 2017, focusing on developing cutting-edge hardware and software solutions for MRI under the guidance of Prof. Michael Garwood. His dissertation, "Realizing the Applications of Nonlinear Encoding in MRI," led to groundbreaking innovations in image reconstruction, simulation, and hardware development. After completing his Ph.D. in 2023, Taylor continues his research at the Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, where he leads the development of a portable 1.5T MRI scanner. Recognized with the prestigious 2023 Young Investigator I.I. Rabi Award, Taylor is paving the way for accessible, high-resolution MRI solutions.
 

Courtney Oare began her doctoral studies at the University of Minnesota in September 2017. With Drs. Bruce Gerbi and Clara Ferreira as her advisors,  research was focused on an application of magnetic nanoparticle shielding for eye plaque brachytherapy. Her additional areas of interest include 3D printing in brachytherapy and Monte Carlo dosimetry for low energy sources. Courtney is completing a residency in therapeutic medical physics at the University of Utah and will be returning to the University of Minnesota at the Lakes Radiation Therapy Center. She is an active member of the AAPM and ABS.

Jay Brooks started his doctoral studies at the University of Minnesota in September of 2015. His research work focused on developing novel PET and fluorescent preclinical imaging techniques for radiation biology, radiation therapy, and vascular biology in Dr. Susanta Hui’s lab. His PhD thesis is titled “Preclinical Dynamic Contrast Enhanced Imaging for Longitudinal Biophysical Assessments of the Healthy and Malignant Vasculature after Radiotherapy”. Jay is currently pursuing a clinical therapeutic residency at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota and plans to pursue clinical and academic medical physics after completion of residency.

Sam Drehmel started his masters studies at the University of Minnesota in September of 2019.  He began working alongside Dr. Jessica Lawrence at the Veterinary Medical Center analyzing CBCT shifts on the first fraction for patients to better improve treatment accuracy.  His masters project focused on characterizing phosphorescent strontium aluminate as a potential real-time dosimeter and QA tool under the supervision of Dr. Eric Ehler.  Sam completed his residency at the University of Minnesota and is currently working as a medical physicist at Minneapolis Radiation Oncology. 

Myung K Woo started his doctoral studies at the University of Minnesota in January of 2016. His main research subject for dissertation was 10.5 tesla (T) human head arrays with parallel transmit system (Title: Optimized Human Head Array Design for 10.5 T MRI). In each of these four years, he had an abstract accepted for oral presentations (general Oral talk and Power pitch) at International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM). He is currently a post-doctoral associate at CMRR supported by R01 and U01 grants awarded to Dr. Kamil Ugurbil. He invented a new type of RF coil, which can be called “sleeve antenna” for ultra-high fields MRI. He is building this new type of coil as a 32-channel transmit and receive array for 10.5 T.

Brent Rogers started his doctoral studies at the University of Minnesota in September of 2016. Under the guidance of Dr. Clara Ferreira, Brent’s main research focus was on the design and dosimetry of a novel multi-source superficial brachytherapy device using the beta emitter, Yttrium-90 (Title: Development and Characterization of a Multi-Source Conformal Superficial Brachytherapy Device). Brent has been an active member of the AAPM, presenting at both chapter and national conferences. He has completed his medical physics residency at the University of Minnesota and is currently a clinical assistant professor at the Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Kansas.

Nur Izzati Huda Zulkarnain started her Masters study at the University of Minnesota in September of 2018. Under Dr. Yoichi Watanabe’s supervision, her master’s project focused on studying the feasibility of RTappTM, a daily dose evaluation software developed by ©SegAna LLC. Izzy is currently pursuing her doctoral studies at the Center for Magnetic Resonance Research where she is working on implant heating and radiofrequency safety research under the guidance of Dr. Yigitcan Eryaman. Upon graduation, she plans to apply for residency training and hopes to pursue a clinical and academic career in therapeutic medical physics.

Samuel Einstein started his doctoral studies at the University of Minnesota in January of 2010. Under the guidance of Profs. Klearchos Papas, Michael Garwood, and Bruce Hammer, his research focused on applying non-proton MRS to organ and cell transplantation (dissertation: "Development and Validation of a Multinuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy Toolkit for Bioartificial Pancreas Assessment."). Sam completed a residency and fellowship at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. After spending 2 years at a community hospital in South-Central Pennsylvania, he is now at Penn State Health Hershey Medical Center. He is board-certified and an active member of the AAPM and ACR.