Alumni Spotlight

Jay Brooks

Jamison Brooks - PhD '21

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

Samuel Drehmel - MS '21

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 is currently the senior medical physics resident at the University of Minnesota and plans to pursue a career in clinical therapeutic medical physics after completion of residency. 

Sam Einstein

Samuel Einstein - PhD '16

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.

 

Ryan Kalmoe

Ryan Kalmoe - MS '18

Ryan Kalmoe started his masters studies at the University of Minnesota in September of 2014. His research focused on the application of free induction decay navigators to magnetic resonance spectroscopy in the prostate. He also worked on the development of a quantitative anthropomorphic prostate phantom as part of Dr. Greg Metzger's group at the Center for Magnetic Resonance Research. Following graduation, he completed a residency at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. He has since taken a position in Fargo, North Dakota working for Sanford Health as a diagnostic imaging physicist specializing in computed tomography. Ryan achieved board certification in August 2021.

 

Brent Rogers

Brent Rogers - PhD '20

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 slated to start his career as a medical physicist in Kansas.

Myung K Woo

Myung K Woo - PhD '21

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.

Izzy

Nur Izzati Huda Zulkarnain - MS '20

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.