Dustin Jacqmin

Biography

I am an associate professor in the Department of Radiation Medicine with roles in the clinic, research and teaching. In the clinic, my primary focus is patient safety and quality improvement. I serve as the co-chair of our departmental Quality Assurance committee, which oversees many different initiatives related to quality and safety. I also focus on the clinical applications of the TrueBeam radiotherapy platform. This includes preparation of the treatment machine for clinical use, ongoing quality assurance, involvement in the radiosurgery program and implementation of motion management techniques, such as respiratory gating and optical surface imaging.

My research interests closely follow my clinical focus in patient safety and applications of the TrueBeam radiotherapy platform. The Department of Radiation Medicine has a strong culture of safety. We collect a lot of data to facilitate quality improvement efforts and I use this data to study the effectiveness of different types of interventions. The remainder of my research is focused on high-precision radiotherapy. I study the use of surface imaging for radiosurgery treatments. I also use data science to investigate whether surface imaging can be used to reduce margins in radiotherapy. Finally, I study the use of plastic scintillation detectors for small field dosimetry.

In addition to my clinical and research roles, I teach graduate students, medical students and residents. My goal is to create an environment in which students can develop a more concrete understanding of the fundamental physics that underlie the radiation therapy process while also developing the interpersonal skills needed to succeed in a dynamic, multi-disciplinary clinical environment.