Department of Radiation Oncology, Mayo Clinic
Jacksonville, United States
My name is Deanna Pafundi, PhD, board-certified Therapuetic Medical Physicist at Mayo Clinic Florida Department of Radiation Oncology, and Assistant Professor in the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science. I am Chair of the Imaging for Treatment Planning Working Group, under the Therapy Imaging Subcommittee of the AAPM. In research, I devoted considerable efforts toward developing interdepartmental collaborations across radiology, radiation oncology, surgery, and pathology to determine the utility of a novel PET tracer, 18F-DOPA, for neurosurgical and radiotherapy planning of gliomas, based on correlations of pathology with PET imaging parameters. My contributions to several IRB-approved research projects have promoted advancements in state-of-the-art imaging for surgical and RT treatment planning/delivery, such as a pilot project evaluating 18F-DOPA PET, for which there are two published manuscripts funded by the Brains Together for a Cure (BTFC) grant. We received approval for an additional cycle of funding from BTFC to translate 18F-DOPA PET into the RT planning process and evaluate outcomes. We were also awarded a 5-year NIH funded R01 grant to perform a dose escalation study using 18F-DOPA PET on a larger cohort of WHO grade IV newly diagnosed glioma patients. In addition, I have served as Principle Investigator on both short-term clinical projects and longer-term, funded research projects. I have mentored undergraduate students, graduate students, post-doctoral students, and medical physics residents in both research and teaching for 10 years. IThe successful integration of 18F-DOPA PET into treatment planning for gliomas has generated enthusiasm and initiatives to expand applications of advanced imaging research into additional disease sites, namely 18F-DOPA PET for sarcoma treatment planning and response assessment. My passion for investigating early imaging biomarkers to predict clinical outcomes and individualize patient care has blossomed over the last 13 years, and will continue into pave the way into my future carrer goals.