Rongxiao Zhang, Ph.D., DABR, began his journey in medical physics during his doctoral studies, focusing on groundbreaking work such as imaging the first veterinary and human images of Cherenkov in external beam radiation therapy. Subsequent acceptance into a medical physics residency program provided comprehensive training in radiation therapy, including proton therapy. Research endeavors included projects on single-imager proton radiography, proton CT, surface-guided radiation therapy, and addressing proton range uncertainty with dual-energy CT planning. Dr. Zhang's career path led him to Emory University as a proton therapy medical physicist, where he played a pivotal role in the acceptance of the proton center and the commissioning of various imaging modalities. At Dartmouth, Dr. Zhang led programs in MRI-guided adaptive radiation therapy, Cherenkov imaging, and the FLASH research program.

Currently, Dr. Zhang is dedicated to advancing clinical care, academic research, and education. His diverse research interests span innovative imaging guidance, molecular imaging, radiation transport modeling, treatment planning technologies, and AI-driven informatics, particularly in adaptive radiation therapy.

Dr. Zhang's lab's contributions include more than 180 national/international conference abstracts, 80+ peer-reviewed journal papers, and involvement in institution, agency, and federal funded projects, SBIR grant-funded startups, and commercialized products. As a faculty member, he has mentored more than 10 Ph.D. graduate students and is responsible for the academic training of medical/medical physics residents, as well as mentoring and teaching lectures on various core curriculums. Diversity, equity and inclusion are integral to Dr. Zhang's vision. He actively contributes to initiatives addressing global inequities in cancer care and prioritize diversity in research projects. Mentorship, teaching, and advocacy for diversity are key elements of Dr. Zhang's professional focus, evidenced by involvement in programs like AAPM DREAM and mentoring junior faculty.

Looking ahead, Dr. Zhang's commitment is unwavering—to advance clinical care, academic research, and education in medical physics to our institution and the wider community, driving scientific discovery into clinical practice to elevate the quality of healthcare.

Areas of Expertise

• Medical Physics
• Medical Imaging
• Biomedical optics
• Radiation/Particle therapy
• UHDR FLASH RT
• MR-guided adaptive RT
• AI applications in medical imaging and RT
• Monte Carlo Methods
• Radiation Transport

Education

• Ph.D., Physics, Dartmouth College
• Residency, Medical Physics, Harvard Medical School

Publications

• Sunnerberg JP, Tavakkoli AD, Petusseau AF, et. al. "Oxygen Consumption In Vivo by Ultra-High Dose Rate Electron Irradiation Depends Upon Baseline Tissue Oxygenation." International journal of radiation oncology, biology, physics, (), (2024) . pii: S0360-3016(24)03510-7. doi: 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2024.10.018
• Decker SM, Matous AL, Zhang R, et. al. "Cherenkov imaging combined with scintillation dosimetry provides real-time positional and dose monitoring for radiotherapy patients with cardiac implanted electronic devices." Physics and imaging in radiation oncology, 32(), (2024) 100642. doi: 10.1016/j.phro.2024.100642
• Wang S, Chen Y, Jarvis LA, et. al. "Robust Real-time Segmentation of Bio-Morphological Features in Human Cherenkov Imaging during Radiotherapy via Deep Learning." ArXiv, (), (2024) .
• Decker SM, Bruza P, Zhang R, et. al. "Visual Dose Monitoring for Whole Breast Radiation Therapy Treatments via Combined Cherenkov Imaging and Scintillation Dosimetry." International journal of radiation oncology, biology, physics, (), (2024) . pii: S0360-3016(24)03291-7. doi: 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2024.08.033
• Dai T, Sloop AM, Ashraf MR, et. al. "Commissioning an ultra-high-dose-rate electron linac with end-to-end tests." Physics in medicine and biology, 69(16), (2024) . doi: 10.1088/1361-6560/ad69fc
• Clark M, Harms J, Vasyltsiv R, et. al. "Quantitative, real-time scintillation imaging for experimental comparison of different dose and dose rate estimations in UHDR proton pencil beams." Medical physics, 51(9), (2024) 6402-6411. doi: 10.1002/mp.17247
• Dai T, Sloop AM, Schönfeld A, et. al. "Electron beam response corrections for an ultra-high-dose-rate capable diode dosimeter." Medical physics, 51(8), (2024) 5738-5745. doi: 10.1002/mp.17121

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Memberships and Affiliations

• American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM)
• American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO)
• Radiation Research Society (RADRES)
• Radiological Society of North America (RSNA)

Teaching Responsibilities

• Medical Imaging
• Radiation Transport
• Medical Physics
• Medical student and resident rotations