Dr. Joanna Cygler

Dr. Joanna Cygler
Dr. Joanna Cygler
Professor, Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa

PhD, FCCPM, FAAPM, FCOMP

Phone
613-737-7700 ext. 70008


Biography

Main research interests:

Dosimetry of ionizing radiation, brachytherapy, development of new in-vivo dosimetry methods and detectors, image guided radiotherapy, Monte Carlo dose calculations, radiobiology.

Dose calculations for electron beams present a serious technical difficulty.  Until recently, approximate dose calculation algorithms have been implemented in commercial treatment planning systems.  Approximations cause various levels of discrepancies between calculated and measured dose distributions.  I designed special phantoms, carried on the experiments and explained the physical reasons for the discrepancies found between the calculated and measured dose distributions.  These phantoms have become a common standard for testing of electron dose calculations.  I collaborated on the OMEGA project (funded by NIH) with scientists from the National Research Council of Canada and University of Wisconsin, USA on development of a Monte Carlo based treatment planning system for electron beams.  I was the first to clinically implement the first commercial Monte Carlo based treatment planning system for electron beams.  I was involved, in collaboration with the NRC scientists, in development of a new technique for using the GafChromic film for dosimetry.  I have been also involved in development of new dosimetry methods and devices.  I have successfully collaborated with industry (Thomson – Nielsen, presently Best Medical Canada) on development of new MOSFET detectors.  Recently, we have developed a 4D dosimetry system, RADPOS, which allows for simultaneous measurement in real time of dose and spatial position manually or automatically, in user-defined time intervals.

My publication list can be accessed on my Google Scholar page.