Abby Besemer

Biography

2018 Physics Residency Alumna

I am a board-certified Medical Physicist and Associate Professor in the Department of Radiation Medicine at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and serve as the Director of the Medical Physics Residency program.

I am primarily located at the EastPark Medical Center where I lead the brachytherapy and CT simulation program at that site. We have a very active brachytherapy program spanning three brachytherapy suites and I provide daily clinical support across a broad range of treatments, including prostate, GYN, skin, and intravascular high dose rate (HDR) treatments, as well as low dose rate (LDR) eye plaque treatments, and radiopharmaceutical therapy treatments such as 223Ra-dichloride (Xofigo®), 177Lu -PSMA-617 (Pluvicto®), and 177Lu-DOTATATE (Lutathera®). I also have a passion for radiopharmaceutical therapy dosimetry and work with a multi-department cross-disciplinary team to perform patient-specific 3D dosimetry, primarily for Pluvicto and Lutathera patients. Lastly, I also lead our special procedures team which covers both total body irradiation (TBI) and total skin electron irradiation (TSET).

As the Director of the Medical Physics Residency Program, I spend much of my time overseeing the curriculum, mentorship, recruitment, and clinical training of our residents. I have a strong passion for education and care deeply about creating a supportive and engaging learning environment that helps trainees grow into confident and well-rounded medical physicists. In addition to working with physics residents, I greatly enjoy teaching and mentoring graduate students, dosimetry and therapy students, and physician residents through clinical instruction, research mentorship, lectures, career development discussions, and hands-on training experiences. One of the most rewarding aspects of teaching for me is helping trainees connect classroom concepts with real-world clinical practice. I am also passionate about advancing medical physics education at the national level through committee initiatives within the AAPM, SDAMPP, CAMPEP, and ABR organizations.