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Ramin Abolfath
Faculty
Faculty

Ramin Abolfath, PhD

Assistant Professor

  • Physics and Astronomy
  • College of Arts & Sciences

Education & Expertise

Education

PhD

Theoretical Physics - Topological States of Matter
Sharif University of Technology

Medical Physics Residency


Yale University

Medical Physics


U. Florida

Research Fellow


U. Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Research Fellow


U. Pennsylvania




Expertise

Computational physicist, developing stochastic and predictive multi-scale models (Monte Carlo - Molecular Dynamics, ...) for radiotherapy of cancer

I am interested in multi-scale modeling of radiation-matter interaction spanning over atto- to milli-seconds, and hours to years post-radiation, with spatial scales from fermi (dimension of nuclei, proton/neutron) to nano-meter (dimension of DNA) and micro-meter (dimension of a cell, normal or cancerous) and finally to human tissues. I dig into fundamental principles in nature from high to low energies including processes involving QCD, QED, that allow calculating Klein-Nishina, Moller, Bhabha, ... scattering processes, ... the weak nuclear interactions responsible for electron capture, positron emission, ... down to condensed matter, complex systems, fractal geometry of tumor cells, and classical description of charged particle energy deposition (e.g., Bethe-Bloch stopping power) to understand the underlying collective phenomenon interplaying optimization and control of clinical outcomes in nuclear medicine, therapeutic, and medical imaging techniques. A variety of phenomena that span over E&M or nuclear couplings to the hydrodynamics of shock-waves and non-equilibrium plasma physics. Along this path, we may discover some non-trivial phenomena such as the super-critical state of nano-cavities and spontaneous emission of Cherenkov photons due to the sudden collapse of cavities (see my recent publications), as at this stage, the experimentalists in the medical physics community are capable of detecting these effects. To this end, my research tends to be translational medicine and requires multi-disciplinary synergy with chemists, biologists, clinicians, and computer scientists (e.g., to develop machine learning and artificial intelligence, AI, techniques). Currently, I am working on several topics on developing radiobiological and radiochemical models for FLASH-radiotherapy and you are more than welcome to join me in these exciting projects.   

Clinical Medical Physicist

Several years of experience working as a clinical medical physicist in radiation oncology departments in CT and NJ.

Academics

Academics

Radiation Physics and Dosimetry - MP 501

Heath Physics MP 503

Radiobiology - MP 601

Research

Research

Specialty

Radiotherapy / FLASH