Work Phone: (412) 359-3365
Location: Allegheny General Hospital
Biography
Dr. Hwang joined Allegheny Health Network as a medical physicist in June 2021. His main interests are in application of MRI for radiation therapy, e.g., MR-Linac, diffusion weighted MRI. He has also interests in research of small field dosimetry, stereotactic radiation surgery (SRS)/stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT), and FMEA of a new technology. He is the director of the Medical Physics Residency Program and an Assistant Professor of Radiological Science at Drexel University College of Medicine. Dr. Hwang is an active member of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine both national and Penn-Ohio chapters and the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO).
Education
Dr. Hwang received his PhD in biomedical engineering from University of Florida. He completed his medical physics residency training in the Radiation Oncology department at the UPMC Hillman Cancer Center in Pittsburgh, PA. Dr. Hwang is certified by the American Board of Radiology (ABR) and is in the process of MRI certification by the American Board of Medical Physics (ABMP).
Work Phone: (814) 452-5400
Location: St Vincent Hospital Cancer Center, Erie, PA
Biography
Dr. King joined Allegheny Health Network as a medical physicist in 2019. Prior to this, he held a medical physicist position at the Regional Cancer Center in Erie, PA. His interests include EPIDs, process improvement and automation. He is a member of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine and the Canadian Organization of Medical Physicists.
Education
Dr. King received his Master’s degree in Physics from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario and his Ph.D. in Medical Physics from Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario. After a post-doctoral research position with the University of Newcastle, Australia, he completed a CAMPEP accredited medical physics residency at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA. He is certified by the American Board of Radiology in Therapeutic Medical Physics.
Work Phone: (724) 671-1440
Location: Butler Cancer Center, Clarion Hospital
Biography
Mr. Arndt has been a Physicist at Allegheny Health Network since 2015. His main interests are in commissioning and SBRT. Mr. Arndt started his career in industry working for a consulting Physics company in Buffalo, NY. He is member of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine local Penn-Ohio chapter and national chapter.
Education
Mr. Arndt received his MS from the State University of New York at Buffalo and received clinical training at Roswell Park Cancer Institute. He is board-certified in Therapeutic Radiological Physics by the American Board of Radiology (DABR).
Work Phone: (878) 332-4298
Location: Wexford Hospital Radiation Oncology, and Allegheny General Hospital
Biography
Dr. Xin Chen joined the team at Allegheny Health Network as a clinical medical physicist in 2021. His main interests include the development of Monte Carlo simulation, machine learning and imaging in radiation therapy. He is an active member of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM).
Education
Dr. Chen graduated with a Ph.D in biomedical engineering from Case Western Reserve University in 2007. Between 2007 and 2009 he did his postdoctoral research in University of California in San Francisco, conducting the research and development of therapeutic ultrasound. He worked in Stanford University as an instructor, where he conducted research on Monte Carlo simulation of radiation therapy. He is modeling MR-Linac beams in magnetic field using Geant4. Since 2014, he worked as a clinical medical physicist in Los Angeles for six years and was board certified in 2015 by ABR therapeutic medical physics.
Work Phone: (878) 332-4072
Location: Wexford Health & Wellness, Beaver Radiation Oncology
Biography
Mr. Coopey has been a senior medical physicist within the Allegheny
Health Network since 2007. His main interests are in brachytherapy and SBRT.
Mr. Coopey started his career in industry working for a leading stereotactic
software/hardware company. He is an active lecturer for radiation oncology
residents and several nursing lectures throughout the health system. He is an
active member of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine.
Education
Mr. Coopey received his MS from the University of Massachusetts. His clinical training was performed while working in a junior position at Maine Medical Center in Portland, ME. He is board-certified in Therapeutic Radiological Physics by the American Board of Radiology (DABR).
Work Phone: (412) 578-4218
Location: West Penn Hospital, and Allegheny General Hospital
Biography
Ms. Dare joined the team at Allegheny Health Network as a clinical medical physicist in 2021. Her main interests include breast radiation therapy using GammaPod, adaptive radiotherapy, brachytherapy, process improvement, and treatment planning. She is an Instructor of Radiological Science at Drexel University College of Medicine and an active member of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) both at the national level and with the local Penn-Ohio chapter.
Education
Ms. Dare received her BS in nuclear engineering from Missouri University of Science & Technology (Rolla, MO) in 2017. She earned her MS in medical physics from Vanderbilt University (Nashville, TN) in 2019 and completed a CAMPEP-accredited medical physics residency at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (Nashville, TN) in 2021.
Work Phone: (724) 671-1740
Location: Hempfield Radiation Oncology
Biography
Mr. Gordon began at Allegheny Health Network in December 2018, coming from University Hospitals of Cleveland. His Medical Physics career spans over 30 years and he is a member of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine.
Education
Mr. Gordon received an MS in Mathematics at the University of Indiana Pennsylvania. He is certified by the American Board of Radiology in Therapeutic Radiological Physics.
Work Phone: (412) 359-3400
Location: Beaver AHN Cancer Institute and Allegheny General Hospital
Biography
Prior to joining Allegheny Health Network in 2018 as senior medical physicist, Mr. Goss gained valuable experience by working for RadAmerica, LLC for four years and at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center for seven years. He will soon be an Assistant Professor of Radiological Science at Drexel University College of Medicine. His main interests beside radiation treatment planning relate to volunteering with Radiating Hope, playing rugby, home-brewing, and everything outdoors.
Education
Mr. Goss received his MS from Duke University. His clinical training was completed at both Duke University and Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Dana Farber Cancer Institute. He is board-certified in Therapeutic Radiological Physics by the American Board of Radiology (DABR) and holds a NY State license for Medical Therapeutic Physics.
Work Phone: (814) 452-6056
Location: Saint Vincent Hospital Cancer Center
Biography
Dr. Harpley joined Allegheny Health Network as a clinical medical physicist in 2021. He was a summer undergraduate fellow of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) in 2016 and completed his fellowship at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital (Memphis, TN). He will soon become an Assistant Professor of Radiological Science at Drexel University College of Medicine. His main interests include quality assurance and process improvement, brachytherapy, and SBRT/SRS. He is an active member of the AAPM both at the national level and with the local Penn-Ohio chapter.
Education
Dr. Harpley received his BS in physics from the University of Akron (Akron, OH) in 2017. He earned his MS in medical physics from Vanderbilt University (Nashville, TN) in 2019 and continued on to complete his CAMPEP-accredited medical physics clinical residency training at Vanderbilt, where he received his Doctorate in Medical Physics (DMP) in 2021.
Work Phone: (412) 325-5237
Location: Forbes Regional Hospital
Biography
Mr. Johnson has been a Physicist at Allegheny Health Network since 1990. His main interests are in IMRT QA, Brachytherapy and SBRT. Mr. Johnson started his career working for a consulting Physics group in Pittsburgh, PA. He is an active lecturer for the Radiation Oncology residents and Assistant Professor of Radiological Science at Drexel University College of Medicine. He is a member of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine local Penn-Ohio chapter and national chapter.
Education
Mr. Johnson received his MS in Physics from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and received clinical training at Allegheny General Hospital. He is board-certified in Therapeutic Radiological Physics by the American Board of Radiology (DABR).
Work Phone: (412) 359-4589
Location: Allegheny General Hospital
Biography
Dr. Lee joined Allegheny Health Network as a medical physicist in 2019 and currently works in Allegheny General Hospital. His interests are in (1) MR-guided radiotherapy (RT) which uses MRI for precise cancer targeting during radiation delivery whilst sparing surrounding healthy tissues, (2) MR in RT for utilizing the functionality and advantages of MRI, and (3) MR safety in radiation oncology for protecting all patients, families and personnel. He is also an Assistant Professor of Radiological Science at Drexel University College of Medicine. His research interests are in MRI for tumor visualization, functional MRI for sparing healthy tissues, 4D-MRI for heart, liver and lung, motion management and machine (deep) learning for improving treatment outcome. Dr. Lee is an active member of International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) and American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM).
Education
Dr. Lee received his Ph.D. in Medical Physics from University of Sydney, Australia, in 2016. He worked as a post-doctoral research fellow in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond between 2016 and 2017, and also worked as a Cancer Institute Early Career Fellow in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Calvary Mater Newcastle, Australia between 2018 and 2019. He is board-certified by the American Board of Magnetic Resonance Safety (ABMRS) as a MR safety expert.
Work Phone: (412) 267-6900
Location: Jefferson Regional Medical Center
Biography
Mr. Lehman has been part of the medical physics team at Allegheny Health Network since 2015. He is recognized by NRC agreement states as an authorized medical physicist (AMP) for high dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy procedures. In addition, he is an Ohio Department of Health Certified Radiation Expert in both the diagnostic and therapeutic use of x-rays. He is an Assistant Professor of Radiological Science at Drexel University College of Medicine and a full member of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) and the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO). While in graduate school, he participated in research in deformable image registration and image guided radiation therapy (IGRT). His treatment interests include IMRT, IGRT, VMAT and SBRT. Mr. Lehman enjoys traveling, hiking, and spending time at home with his friends and family.
Education
Mr. Lehman received his B.S. in Honors Physics, Cum Laude, from the University of Pittsburgh in 2008 and his M.S. in Medical Physics from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2010. He is certified by the American Board of Radiology (ABR) in Therapeutic Medical Physics.
Work Phone: (412) 359-6055
Location: Allegheny General Hospital
Biography
Dr. Liang joined Allegheny General Hospital as a medical physicist in 2011. She has been board-certified in Therapeutic Radiological Physics by the American Board of Radiology since 2013, and is an Assistant Professor of Radiological Science at Drexel University College of Medicine.
Her main interests are in brain stereotactic radiosurgery/ radiotherapy, functional image guided radiotherapy, deformable image registration, in vivo patient monitoring, and radiomics.
Education
Dr. Liang received her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Duke University, Durham, NC in 2008. She worked as a post-doc research fellow at the Dept. of Radiation Oncology in University of California, San Diego between 2008 and 2011.
Work Phone: (412) 359-3400
Location: Allegheny General Hospital
Biography
Dr. Oh has been a clinical medical physicist within the Allegheny Health Network (AHN) since 2018 and currently works in Allegheny General Hospital. He joined AHN after graduating from the Medical Physics Residency Program at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). Dr. Oh is also an Assistant Professor of Radiological Science, Drexel University College of Medicine.
Education
Dr. Oh received his MS and PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Catholic University of Korea. After completing his Doctorate, he worked at Princess Margaret Cancer Center, Ontario, Canada and VCU, Richmond, VA as a postdoc. He completed his medical physics residency training from the department of Radiation Oncology at the VCU.
Research interest
During his post-doctoral training, Dr. Oh was involved clinical and academic research. Among several research interests, his main academic research topics are adaptive radiation therapy and cardiac ablation, deformable image registration (DIR) using finite element methods (FEM). Also he is pioneering applications of DIR, such as a prediction model of target shape and position during the radiation treatment based on cohort data.
Work Phone: (724) 671-1440
Location: Butler Cancer Center, Allegheny Valley Hospital, Allegheny General Hospital
Biography
Dr. MacKenzie has been a clinical Medical Physicist within the Allegheny Health Network since 2003 and currently is the Northern Regional Medical Physics Leader. James joined Allegheny Health Network after completing his Doctorate and clinical training at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo NY. He is an Assistant Professor of Radiological Science at Drexel University College of Medicine and active member of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) and the Penn-Ohio Chapter of the AAPM.
Education
Dr. MacKenzie obtained an MS in Biophysics and a Ph.D. in Medical Physics from the University of Buffalo with his Medical Physics clinical training at Roswell Park Cancer Institute. He is board-certified in Therapeutic Radiological Physics by the American Board of Radiology (DABR).
Work Phone: (412) 359-6673
Location: Allegheny General Hospital, Radiation Oncology, Floor 02
Work Phone: (412) 359-3400
Location: Allegheny General Hospital & West Penn Hospital
Biography
Dan Pavord joined Allegheny Health Network as a medical physicist in 2018. His main interests are in SRS/SRT/SBT, treatment planning, process improvement, and automation of QA. Prior to joining AHN, Mr. Pavord served as the AVP for Oncology Services and Chief Medical Physicist for Health Quest in Poughkeepsie NY. He is an active member of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine, serving as the current Chair of Professional Council. He will soon be an Assistant Professor of Radiological Science at Drexel University College of Medicine and is Board Certified in Therapeutic Medical Physics, Diagnostic Medical Physics, and Nuclear Medicine Physics by the ABR.
Education
Mr. Pavord received his M.S. in Radiation Health from the University of Pittsburgh.
Work Phone: (412) 325-5236
Location: Forbes Regional Hospital
Biography
Mr. Smarra has been a physicist at AHN since 2017. He began his career at The Western Pennsylvania Hospital, moving on to Shadyside Hospital for the University of Pittsburgh for a time. For many years after that he was an independent contractor at Iron City Medical Physics, providing medical physics services to remote and rural areas as well as supplementing services at larger facilities. After retiring six years ago, he came back part time to supplement services at AHN.
Education
Mr. Smarra holds a BS in physics from Carnegie-Mellon University as well as an MS from The University of Pittsburgh.
Work Phone: (412) 359-3400
Location: Allegheny General Hospital
Biography
As Chief of Physics at Allegheny Health Network since fall of 2017, Dr. Sohn has been providing leadership and system-wide oversight during AHN’s expansion from 11 cancer care facilities and 12 physicists to 15 facilities with 22 physicists. Prior to joining AHN, he held faculty positions at both Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH, and Washington University in St. Louis, MO.
Dr. Sohn is a Professor of Radiological Science at Drexel University College of Medicine and an active member and Fellow of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine, a member of the American Society for Radiation Oncology, the Korean Society of Medical Physicists, and an executive member of the Korean Association of Medical Physicists in North America. He has served in various capacities on several committees for the NRG, ABR, ASTRO, and AAPM.
Dr. Sohn has authored and co-authored over 100 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and conference abstracts and holds three patents. He has mentored undergraduates, graduates, postdoctoral fellows, and medical students.
Education
Dr. Sohn holds a MS in Medical Physics from the University of Wisconsin in Madison and a PhD in Radiation Oncology Physics from the Medical College of Ohio in Toledo. He is board-certified in Therapeutic Radiological Physics by the American Board of Radiology (DABR).
Awards
Dr. Sohn received three NIH and AHRQ federal research grants and a Susan Komen Breast Foundation grant. He was awarded Fellowship from the American Association of Physicists in Medicine in 2016 and received a Distinguished Service Award from the ABR in 2010.
Publications
ResearchGate
Work Phone: (724) 226-7380
Location: Allegheny Valley Hospital/ Forbes Regional Hospital
Biography
Mr. Soldner joined Allegheny Health Network as a medical physicist in August 2018. His main interests are in deformable image registration, implementation of SNC SunCHECK QA platform, and machine commissioning. He is a member of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine both national and Penn-Ohio chapters.
Education
Mr. Soldner received his BS in physics from Pennsylvania State University in 2014. He went on to receive his MMP from the University of Pennsylvania in 2016. Following graduation, he completed a CAMPEP-accredited residency at Christiana Care Health System / Thomas Jefferson University in 2018.
Work Phone: (740) 264-8700
Location: Trinity Medical Center
Biography
Mr. Tang has been a Physicist at Allegheny Health Network since 2004. Mr. Tang started his physicist career as a junior physicist for a consulting physics group in Northeastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey. He is a member of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine, both local Penn-Ohio chapter and national chapter.
Education
Mr. Tang received his MS in Physics from the University of Quebec and received training at Medical Physics Unit of McGill University. He is board-certified in Therapeutic Radiological Physics by the American Board of Radiology (DABR).
