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Faiz Mohammad Khan

FAIZ MOHAMMAD KHAN

Profession:
Medical physicist specializing in radiation oncology

Born:
November 1, 1938; a small village in Multan, Pakistan

Education:
BS in Physics with Honors in Mathematics, Emerson College, Multan, 1957
MS in Physics, Government College, Lahore, 1959
PhD in Biophysics, University of Minnesota, 1969

Certifications:
American Board of Radiology, Therapeutic Radiological Physics, 1974

Career:
After receiving his MS degree in physics, Dr. Khan got his first job in 1960 as Hospital Physicist at Mayo Hospital, Lahore. He soon realized that he was the first medical physicist in Pakistan and that he needed to go abroad to further his education and training in medical physics. Opportunity arrived in 1963 when he got selected for a US Fulbright Scholarship. He got admission to the University of Minnesota PhD program in Biophysics with Dr. Merle Loken (a nuclear medicine physician and a board certified radiological physicist) as his academic advisor. He received his doctorate degree in 1969.

When he was a graduate student, Dr. Khan worked in the department of Therapeutic Radiology with Dr. Vaughn Moore who was then the Chief Physicist. In 1968, Dr. Khan received a faculty appointment as Instructor. He progressed through the ranks to become Associate Professor and Director of Radiation Physics in 1974. He was promoted to a full professorship position in 1979. He held the position of Professor and Director until he retired in 2001. After his retirement, he maintained his association with the Radiation Oncology department at the U of M as Professor Emeritus and continued his participation in teaching of residents and graduate students.

As an academic medical physicist, Dr. Khan had three major responsibilities: clinical service, research, and education. Administrative responsibilities (as Director of Radiation Physics) were added in 1973. Throughout his tenure of service at the University of Minnesota, Dr. Khan’s highest priority was clinical service – to provide the best possible care for patients and a high level of physics support to the clinic. In pursuing these goals, research and education became part and parcel of his endeavor.

Dr. Khan directed the educational programs in radiation oncology physics at the University of Minnesota from 1973 to 2001. He participated in teaching and training of medical and physics residents, graduate students, and therapists for over 40 years. He advised graduate students in medical physics, leading to 5 completing PhD and 4 MS degrees. He was instrumental in creating the first medical physics residency program in the country.

Besides teaching formal courses at the U, Dr. Khan had keen interest in teaching medical physics in other educational settings. Over the years, he participated as faculty in a number of AAPM Summer Schools, and numerous lectures, refresher courses, and symposia – nationally and internationally. He was faculty at the AAPM/IOMP sponsored international workshops held in 13 countries from 1991 to 2007.

Dr. Khan published his first paper in 1968 on irregular surface compensators, and his last paper in 2001 on electron beam dosimetry. His major research interests were in radiation dosimetry, treatment planning, treatment techniques, and radiation biology. In the span of 33 years, he published over 80 papers in peer-reviewed journals.

Writing books has been a passion with Dr. Khan throughout his career as well as in retirement. He is the author of the textbook: “The Physics of Radiation Therapy” (3rd ed., 2003), editor of “The Treatment Planning in Radiation Oncology” (2nd ed., 2007), and co-editor of “Technological Basis of Radiation Therapy” (3rd ed., 1999).

Dr. Khan became a member of the AAPM in 1968. Since then, he has been actively involved with the scientific and educational activities of the AAPM. He chaired Task Group 25 on electron beam dosimetry and was Chair of Radiation Therapy Committee from 1984 to 1987. He was elected President of the AAPM in 1989. His most noteworthy accomplishment as AAPM president was the establishment of Presidential Ad Hoc Committee on medical physics residency programs. This committee produced a residency document (AAPM Report 36) that became the basis of medical physics residency programs in the US and Canada.

Dr. Khan served on the American Board of Radiology (ABR) Physics Advisory Committee from 1990 to 1993. He chaired the ABR “Physics Written Test Committee” for therapeutic radiology from 1979 to 1993. He was Guest Examiner for the ABR oral exams in Therapeutic Radiological Physics from 1983 to 1993. From 1992 to 1999, Dr. Khan examined on the American Board of Medical Physics (ABMP). He was Chairman of ABMP from 1996 to 1999.

Publications [Up to 15]:

  1. Khan FM, Moore VC, Burns DJ. An Apparatus for the Construction of Irregular Surface Compensators for Use in Radiotherapy. Radiol 90:593-594, 1968.
  2. Khan FM. Computer Dosimetry of Partially Blocked Fields in Cobalt Teletherapy. Radiol 97:405-411, 1970.
  3. Khan FM. Use of Electron Filter to Reduce Skin Dose in Cobalt Teletherapy. Am J Roentgenol 111:180-181, 1971.
  4. Khan FM, Moore VC, Sato S. Depth Dose and Scatter Analysis of 10 MV X-rays. Radiol 102-165-169: 1972.
  5. Khan FM, Levitt SH, Moore VC, Jones TK. Computer and Approximation Methods of Calculating Depth Dose in Irregularly Shaped Fields. Radiol 106:433-436, 1973.
  6. Khan FM, Moore VC, Levitt SH. Effect of Various Atomic Number Absorbers on Skin Dose for 10 MeV X-rays. Radiol 109:209-212, 1973.
  7. Khan FM, Moore V, Levitt SH. Field Shaping in Electron Beam Therapy. Brit J Radiol 49:883-886, 1976.
  8. Khan FM, Fullerton GD, Lee JM-F, Moore VC, Levitt SH. Physical Aspects of Electron-Beam Arc Therapy. Radiol 124:48-97-500, 1977.
  9. Khan FM, Sewchand W, Levitt SH. Effect of Air Space on Depth Dose in Electron Beam Therapy. Radiol 126:249-251, 1978.
  10. Khan FM, Williamson J, Sewchand W, Kim TH. Total Body Irradiation: Basic Data for Dosage Calculation and Compensation. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 6:745-751, 1980.
  11. Khan FM, Sewchand W, Lee J, Williamson JF. Revision of Tissue-Maximum Ratio and Scatter-Maximum Ratio Concepts for Cobalt 60 and Higher Energy X-ray Beams. Med Phys 7:230-237, 1980.
  12. Khan FM, Deibel FC, Soleimani-Meigooni A. Obliquity Correction for Electron Beams, Med Phys 12:749-753, 1985.
  13. Khan FM, Gerbi BJ and Deibel FC. Dosimetry of Asymmetric X- ray Collimators, Med Phys 13(6)936-941, 1986.
  14. Khan FM, Higgins, P.D., Gerbi, B.J., Deibel, F.C., Sethi, A., Mihailidis, D.N. Calculation of Depth Dose and Dose Per Monitor Unit for Irregularly Shaped Electron Fields. Phys. Med. Biol. 43(10) 2741-2754, (1998).
  15. Khan FM and Higgins PD. Field Equivalence for Clinical Electron Beams. Phys Med Biol, 46:N9-N14 (2001).

 

Awards:

    • Government of Pakistan Merit Scholarship (1953-1959)
    • U.S. Fulbright Scholarship (1963-1965)
    • Farrington Daniels Award: Best Article on Dosimetry, in Medical Physics (1988)
    • Fellow, American Association of Physicists in Medicine (1989)
    • Fellow, American College of Medical Physics (1996)
    • U.S. India Medical Physics Association Award (1996)
    •  Marvin M.D. Williams Award, American College of Medical Physics (1998)
    • William D. Coolidge Award, American Association of Physicists in Medicine (1999)

American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) Activities:

Additional Professional Organization Activities

Avocations and Special Interests:

Family: