Doctor of Philosophy in Mechanical Engineering - Medical Physics

Medical physics is a newly evolved profession involving the application of physical principles (of mostly ionizing radiations) to medicine, particularly in the diagnosis and treatment of human disease. There are presently five broad medical physics research areas at Georgia Tech: new radiation therapy modalities, new diagnostic imaging techniques, computational medical dosimetry, new methods for improving radiotherapy treatment planning, and radiation protection dosimetry at medical accelerator facilities.Research in new radiation therapy modalities encompasses the development of neutron brachytherapy using 252Cf, neutron capture therapy, targeted therapy using gold nanoparticles, and biophysical modeling of radiation-induced cell death.