Peer-Reviewed Publication

Hunter Tillery, Cheyann Windsor, Christopher Aguilera17 March 2025 https://doi.org/10.1002/acm2.70048

Fagerstrom JM, Bry VN, Colbert CM and Windsor CFront. Young Minds. 12:1349460. doi: 10.3389/frym.2024.1349460 23, 4 (2024). In this article, we will explore the way radiation can be used to treat cancer. Radiation for cancer therapy consists of high-energy particles or light that can damage living cells, including cancer cells. Radiation beams can be generated using a…

Susan L. Richardson, Ivan M. Buzurovic, Gil’ad N. Cohen, Wesley S. Culberson, Claire Dempsey, Bruce Libby, Christopher S. Melhus, Robin A. Miller, Daniel J. Scanderbeg, Samantha J. Simiele Journal of Applied Clinical Medical Physics (2023). The American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) is a nonprofit professional society whose primary purposes are to advance the…

Per H. Halvorsen, Alan H. Baydush, Courtney R. Buckey, Navneeth Hariharan, Mary A. Keenan, Jeffrey P. Limmer, Kate E. Lofton, Robin A. Miller, Jeffrey M. Moirano, Joseph Och, Douglas E. Pfeiffer Journal of Applied Clinical Medical Physics (2023). The American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) is a nonprofit professional society whose primary purposes are…

Jessica M. Fagerstrom,1 Thomas A. D. Brown,2 Darryl G. L. Kaurin,3 Saikanth Mahendra,3 M. Miron Zaini31University of Washington, Seattle, WA; 2Maine Medical Center, Portland, ME; 3Northwest Medical Physics Center, Lynnwood, WA Journal of Applied Clinical Medical Physics (2023). Northwest Medical Physics Center (NMPC) is a nonprofit organization that provides clinical physics support to over 35 radiation therapy facilities concentrated in the…

Jessica M. Fagerstrom,1 Cheyann Windsor,2 Daniel Zaks21University of Washington, Seattle, WA; 2Northwest Medical Physics Center, Lynnwood, WA Journal of Applied Clinical Medical Physics (2023). A journal club program was initiated in a clinically focused, geographically distributed medical physics therapy residency program. This program currently supports two residents at different clinical sites, who regularly present at the new journal…

Mehran Miron Zaini,1 Jessica M. Fagerstrom,1 Edward I. Marshall,1 Kathryn M. Hedrick,1 Daniel Zaks,1 Hung Tran,1 Trevor M. Fitzgerald11Northwest Medical Physics Center, Lynnwood, WA  Journal of Applied Clinical Medical Physics (2023). Over the past several decades, a medical physics service group covering 35 clinical sites has provided routine monthly output and energy quality assurance for over 75 linear accelerators. Based on…

Thomas A. D. Brown,1 Jessica M. Fagerstrom,1 Caleb Beck,1 Connor Holloway,1 Krista Burton,1 Darryl G. L. Kaurin,1 Saikanth Mahendra,1 Marcus Luckstead,1 Kayla Kielar,2 James Kerns21Northwest Medical Physics Center, Lynnwood, WA; 2Varian Medical Systems, Palo Alto, CA Journal of Applied Clinical Medical Physics, 23, 4 (2022). An anthropomorphic phantom has been developed by Varian Medical Systems for commissioning multileaf-collimator (MLC), stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) treatments on Varian TrueBeam and…

Thomas A. D. Brown,1 Rex G. Ayers,1 Richard A. Popple21Northwest Medical Physics Center, Lynnwood, WA; 2University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL Journal of Applied Clinical Medical Physics, 23, 4 (2022). A multileaf collimator (MLC), virtual-cone treatment technique has been commissioned for trigeminal neuralgia (TGN) at Tri-Cities Cancer Center (TCCC). This novel technique was initially developed at the University of…

Jessica M. Fagerstrom1 1Northwest Medical Physics Center, Lynnwood, WA  Practical Radiation Oncology, 11, 6 (2021). A community education art project was undertaken as a partnership between Northwest Medical Physics Center and student artists at Franklin High School in Seattle, Washington, to celebrate community resilience in the face of challenges during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Franklin…

Jessica M. Fagerstrom,1 Edward I. Marshall,1 Matthew J. Nyflot,2 Jessica R. Miller3 1Northwest Medical Physics Center, Lynnwood, WA; 2University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA; 3University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI The Physics Teacher, 59, 3 (2021). As part of a public education outreach effort, an introduction to the health effects of ionizing radiation and the…

Karla D. Thrall,1 Saikanth Mahendra,2 Keven Jackson1 1Altasciences Preclinical Seattle, Everett, WA; 2Northwest Medical Physics Center, Lynnwood, WA International Journal of Radiation Biology, 96, 12 (2020). Purpose:  Total body irradiation of the Gottingen minipig results in a characteristic hematopoietic response, including anemia, neutropenia, lymphocytopenia, and thrombocytopenia. Currently, there are no well-characterized large or small animal models for radiation-induced thrombocytopenia. The study…

Jessica M. Fagerstrom,1,2 Sukhjit Kaur1 1Northwest Medical Physics Center, Lynnwood, WA; 2Kaiser Permanente, Seattle, WA Journal of Applied Clinical Medical Physics, 21, 11 (2020). A new high dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy program was initiated in a community hospital setting, with the goal of using magnetic resonance (MR) images with the implant in place during the planning process. Physics acceptance…

Jessica M. Fagerstrom11Northwest Medical Physics Center, Lynnwood, WA Physics Education, 55, 3 (2020). As part of an undergraduate introductory survey course on medical physics, x-ray computed tomography (CT) was used to illustrate fundamental principles and mathematics in imaging science. A qualitative description of sinograms was presented to students through a hands-on activity involving simple classroom materials, then the…

Jessica M. Fagerstrom11Northwest Medical Physics Center, Lynnwood, WA Health Physics, 118, 1 (2020). A hands-on learning activity was developed to introduce young learners to concepts and careers in health and medical physics. Inexpensive materials were used to create a work station with learning tools that were designed to be approachable and accessible for this audience. Visitors to a…

Karla D. Thrall,1 S. Mahendra,2 M. K. Jackson,1 William Jackson III,3 Ann M. Farese,4 Thomas J. MacVittie4 1SNBL USA, Ltd, Everett, WA; 2Northwest Medical Physics Center, Lynnwood, WA; 3Statistician, Rockville, MD; 4University of Maryland, School of Medicine, Department of Radiation Oncology, Baltimore, MD Health Physics, 116, 3 (2019). Radiation-induced lung injury is a characteristic, dose- and time-dependent sequela of potentially lethal, delayed effects of acute…

Jessica M. Fagerstrom,1 Wendy Gao,2 Gene E. Robertson1 1Northwest Medical Physics Center, Lynnwood, WA; 2Tacoma Valley Radiation Oncology Centers, Puyallup, WA Journal of Applied Clinical Medical Physics, 20, 4 (2019). Lesson plans were developed to present concepts of medical physics and radiation therapy to a middle school audience. These workshop learning units relied on hands‐on participation and collaboration within student…

Jessica M. Fagerstrom1,2 1Northwest Medical Physics Center, Lynnwood, WA; 2Kaiser Permanente, Seattle, WA Medical Dosimetry, 44, 4 (2019). A dosimetric analysis of a commercially available thermoplastic sheet bolus, Klarity EZ BolusTM, was completed. Attenuation characteristics were evaluated using different configurations of a rectilinear water-mimicking plastic phantom irradiated by a high-energy linear accelerator using three photon energies, five electron…

Ehsan Samei,1 Todd Pawlicki,2 Daniel Bourland,3 Erika Chin,4 Shiva Das,5 Mary Fox,6 D. Jay Freedman,7 Nicholas Hangiandreou,8 David Jordan,9 Melissa Martin,10 Robin Miller,11 William Pavlicek,12 Daniel Pavord,13 Lisa Schober,14 Bruce Thomadsen,15 Brendan Whelan16 1Duke University, Durham, NC; 2University of California, San Diego, CA; 3Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC; 4British Columbia Cancer Agency, Vancouver Island Centre, Victoria, BC, Canada; 5University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC; 6Minneapolis Radiation Oncology, Minneapolis, MN; 7Riverside Cancer Care Center, Newport News,…

Charles S. Mayo (Chair),1 Jean M. Moran (Vice Chair),1 Walter Bosch,2 Ying Xiao,3 Todd McNutt,4 Richard Popple,5 Jeff Michalski,2 Mary Feng,6 Lawrence B. Marks,7 Clifton D. Fuller,8 Ellen Yorke,9 Jatinder Palta,10 Peter E. Gabriel,3 Andrea Molineu,8 Martha M. Matuszak,1 Elizabeth Covington,11 Kathryn Masi,12 Susan L. Richardson,13 Timothy Ritter,14 Tomasz Morgas,15 Stella Flampouri,16 Lakshmi Santanam,2 Joseph A. Moore,4 Thomas G. Purdie,17 Robert Miller,18 Coen Hurkmans,19 Judy Adams,20 Qing-Rong Jackie Wu,21 Colleen J. Fox,22 Ramon Alfredo Siochi,23 Norman L. Brown,24 Wilko Verbakel,25 Yves Archambault,15 Steven J. Chmura,26 Don G. Eagle,27 Thomas J….

Jessica M. Fagerstrom,1 Larry A. DeWerd,2 Benjamin Palmer,2 Wesley S. Culberson21Northwest Medical Physics Center, Lynnwood, WA; 2Department of Medical Physics, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI Radiation Measurements, 119, 33 (2018). This work sought create a set of prototype modulated orthovoltage stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) cones, and to perform a dosimetric characterization of the prototypes. Four radiosurgical…

Cliff G. Hammer,1 Benjamin Saul Rosen,2 Jessica M. Fagerstrom,3 Wesley S. Culberson,1 Larry A. DeWerd11Department of Medical Physics, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI; 2Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI; 3Northwest Medical Physics Center, Lynnwood, WA Medical Physics, 45, 1 (2018). Purpose: To determine experimentally the intrinsic energy response, kbq, of EBT3 GafChromic radiochromic film with…

Todd Pawlicki,1 Rex G. Ayers,2 Kristy K. Brock,3 Jessica B. Clements,4 Bruce H. Curran,5 James T. Dobbins,6 Ehsan Samei,6 Eva Adams,7 Melissa Carol Martin,8 Lisa Schober91University of California, San Diego, CA; 2Northwest Medical Physics Center, Lynnwood, WA; 3University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX; 4Kaiser Permanente, Los Angeles, CA; 5Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center, Richmond, VA; 6Duke University, Durham, NC; 7TG-281; 8Therapy Physics, Inc., Signal Hill, CA; 9AAPM, Columbia, MD…

Koren Smith,1 Peter Balter,2 John Duhon,3 Gerald A. White Jr.,4 David L. Vassy Jr.,5 Robin A. Miller,6 Christopher F. Serago,7 Lynne A. Fairobent81Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center, Baton Rouge, LA; 2MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX; 3e+ OncoLogics, Lafayette, LA; 4Colorado Associates in Medical Physics, Colorado Springs, CO; 5Spartanurg Regional Healthcare System, Spartanburg, SC; 6Northwest Medical Physics Center, Lynnwood, WA; 7Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL; 8AAPM Headquarters Staff, Alexandria, VA…

B. Thomadsen,1 R. Miller21University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI; 2Northwest Medical Physics Center, Lynnwood, WA Book chapter. Anders Brahme, editor-in-chief, Vol 9, Amsterdam: Elsevier, 315-381 (2014). Brachytherapy is the treatment of disease using small radioactive sources placed in or near the tissues to be treated.    This chapter explores some of the most common sources used for brachytherapy as well…

Darryl G.L. Kaurin,1,2 Larry E. Sweeney,1,2 Edward I. Marshall,1,2 Saikanth Mahendra1,21Northwest Medical Physics Center, Lynnwood, WA; 2Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, Radiation Oncology, Seattle, WA Journal of Applied Clinical Medical Physics, 13, 2 (2012). Volumetric-modulated arc therapy (VMAT) has been shown to be able to deliver plans equivalent to intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) in a fraction of the treatment time. This improvement…