The Division of Imaging Physics provides essential scientific and technical expertise to ensure that medical imaging systems operate safely, accurately, and at optimal performance, thereby supporting high-quality patient care and reliable diagnostic imaging throughout the department.
The Division also provides vital educational contributions to ensure the radiology residents, imaging physics residents, medical students, imaging technologists, nurses and other personnel understand how to apply physics principles to quality and safety in diagnostic radiology, magnetic resonance imaging, and nuclear medicine. Our research advances the clinical and quality improvement goals of medical imaging.
The Division consists of nine full-time faculty members, two imaging physics residents, and one support staff. Together, this team supports imaging operations across the institution, works closely with radiologic service engineers, imaging technologists, and radiologists, and serves as a critical resource for clinical care, education, and research.
Imaging Physics faculty serve as key partners in clinical imaging operations, contributing expertise across the full lifecycle of imaging systems and workflows. Faculty are actively involved in imaging equipment acquisition and implementation, including vendor evaluation, bid review, site planning, shielding design and verification, and project management for new installations and major equipment upgrades. All new imaging systems undergo rigorous acceptance testing, and ongoing quality assurance programs are maintained to ensure optimal performance, regulatory compliance, and patient safety. Faculty also provide advanced clinical consultation and problem-solving related to imaging system performance, workflow efficiency, and image quality. We play a central role in the development and optimization of imaging protocols to balance diagnostic quality with radiation dose management as well as patient safety and comfort. In addition, the Division supports clinical research and trials through phantom testing, equipment qualification, and review of human research protocols to ensure appropriate characterization and communication of imaging-related risks to study subjects.
Education is a central mission of the Division of Imaging Physics. Faculty provide comprehensive instruction to radiology and nuclear medicine residents covering diagnostic imaging, radiation safety, radiation biology, and interventional radiology. We contribute to the education of medical students through periodic lectures on a variety of imaging physics topics. We also offer a CAMPEP-accredited two-year medical physics residency, which we established in 2016; prior to that, we had a fellowship/residency that was started in 1977. We teach fundamentals and develop our residents’ skills in performance evaluation, quality assurance, clinical problem solving, teaching, and clinical imaging research. Through this program, we prepare residents for independent clinical practice and leadership roles in diagnostic medical physics.
The Division of Imaging Physics maintains an active research program focused on improving image quality, optimizing patient safety and experience, and advancing imaging science. Research efforts include CT dosimetry, scatter quantification, mammographic image quality, automatic tumor segmentation, radiographic image optimization, radiographic dose assessment, improving CT quality control practices, fluoroscopic dose assessment, scoring of coronary artery calcification, and evaluation of digital image display performance. Some of these projects have included collaborators from the abdominal, cardiopulmonary, interventional sections of the Department of Radiology as well as physicians from the Departments of Radiation Oncology, Nephrology, and Urology. Through these efforts, the Division contributes to the scientific foundation of medical imaging and supports the translation of research findings into clinical practice. Research findings are regularly presented at national and international scientific conferences and published in peer-reviewed scientific journals.
Contact
Loretta M. Johnson, Ph.D., DABR
Division Chief, Imaging Physics
(205) 934-0072