Teaching interests

Medical physics; anatomy and physiology; bio-physical science; secondary school physics.

Topic Coordinator:

• HLTH1004  Human Bioscience
• NURS1102  Anatomy and Physiology 1

Research interests

Dosimetry of diagnostic radiological procedures (especially for children); construction of voxel tomographic computational models for dosimetry. Calculating and reducing radiation dose to children from diagnostic radiology using voxel-based computational models. Little accurate data exists for organ or effective doses that children receive from computed tomography (CT) or conventional radiography. Existing CT dose data, calculated using models with unrealistic approximate anatomy and for CT scanners installed before 1991, are for adult patients. We have developed a voxel computational model from the anatomy of a 14 year old female patient to calculate organ and effective doses by Monte Carlo methods. We can calculate organ and effective doses to female children from 11-15 year olds using CT scanners' physical data to define the quality of the x-ray beam. We wish to extend our program to calculate doses to children of other ages by developing voxel models from images of other children. From these models we will generalise dose calculations to different makes and models of CT scanners. The organ and effective doses so calculated will provide the first available extensive range of organ dose factors, the first step in achieving a reduction of dose from CT. Automating the segmentation of computed tomography scans for making voxel computational models of human anatomy.  For a whole body the number of CT scans is large, manual segmentation is a laborious and time consuming process. Automating the process reduces the time and the reliance on the operator's judgement.

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Member: Australian Institute of Physics; Institute of Physics (UK);
Member: Australasian College of Physical Scientists and Engineers in Medicine
Member: Australian Radiation Protection Society 
Member: Australian Institute of Physics
Member: Bellberry Human Research Ethics Committee

Editor in Chief: Australasian Physical & Engineering Sciences in Medicine (Journal of the Australasian College of Physical Scientists and Engineers in Medicine) http://www.springer.com/biomed/journal/13246
Referee for:
Medical Physics
Physics in Medicine and Biology
Radiation and Environmental Biophysics
Journal of Medical Imaging and Radiation Oncology