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David Followill Kenneth David Steidley    

Occupation: Medical physicist specializing in radiation oncology

Born: Colorado City, Texas, January 9, 1959

Education:
B.S. Radiation Protection Engineering, Texas A&M University, 1981
M.S. Nuclear Engineering, Texas A&M University, 1983
Ph.D. Biophysics, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, 1991
Postdoctoral Fellow, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, 1991-1992.

Certifications:
American Board of Radiology, Therapeutic Radiological Physics, 1995
Texas Board of Licensure for Professional Medical Physicists, MP 0403, 1995 - present

Career:
I began my career as a Medical Physicist in 1992 at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in the Section of Outreach Physics under the supervision of William Hanson. I was one of the Medical Physicists working at the Radiological Physics Center (RPC) where I have remained for the past 14 years. I was promoted to be the Assistant Director in 1994 and then to Associate Director of the RPC in 2001. I have been on the faculty of the Department of Radiation Physics since 1998 and currently hold the rank of Associate Professor.

My initial work at M.D. Anderson involved quality assurance aimed at improving the quality of patient’s treatments entered onto NCI sponsored cooperative clinical trials. An important part of my responsibilities is to perform On-site dosimetry review audits at radiation therapy facilities participating in clinical trials. To date I have audited 115 institutions helping them to improve the radiation therapy treatments to their patients. A more recent activity has been the development and use of anthropomorphic quality assurance dosimetry phantoms to credential institutions for the use of advanced technologies such as IMRT, SBRT, etc in clinical trials.

I have also been involved internationally as an expert consultant in radiation therapy quality assurance for the International Atomic Energy Agency. I have served on four different working groups. I have also been active teaching medical physics to medical physicists in Latin America and Southeast Asia where I have participated in 7 different therapy courses.

I have also been involved in medical physics education at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC). To date I have supervised 6 students in our medical physics graduate program and have served on an additional 10 graduate student committees. I also am the coordinator for two of the five Shortcourses offered here at MDACC and act as the Associate Director for the MDACC Shortcourse program.

Publications [Up to 15]:

  1. Followill, D.S., Geis, P., and Boyer, A.  Estimates of whole-body dose equivalent produced by beam intensity modulated conformal therapy. Int. J. of Radiat. Oncol. Biol. Phys. 38:667-672, 1997.
  1. Followill, D.S., Davis, D.S., and Hanson, W.F.  "TG-21 vs. TG-25:  A comparison for electrons." Medical Physics 24:1117-1121, 1997.
  2. Gifford, K.A., Followill, D.S., Liu, H.H., and Starkschall, G.  Verification of the accuracy of a photon dose-calculation algorithm.  J. Applied Clin. Med. Phys. 3:26-45, 2002.
  3. Ibbott, G.I., Nelson, A., Followill, D.S., Balter, P., Hanson, W.F.,  An Anthropomorphic Head and Neck Phantom for Evaluation of Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy. Standards and Codes of Practice in Medical Radiation Dosimetry, Proceedings of an International Symposium, Vienna, Vol. 2, pp. 209-217, November 25-28, 2002.
  4. Urie, M., FitzGerald, T.J., Followill, D., Laurie, F., Marcus, R., Michalski, J.  Current calibration, treatment, and treatment planning techniques among institutions participating in the Children’s Oncology Group. Int. J. of Radiat. Oncol. Biol. Phys. 1:245-260, 2003.
  5. Followill D.S., Hanson, W.F., Ibbott, G.S., Eglezopoulos, L.R., and Chui, C.S.  Differences in electron beam dosimetry using two commercial ionization chambers and the TG-21 protocol: another reason to switch to TG-51.  J. Applied Clin. Med. Phys. 4: 124-131, 2003.
  6. Tailor, R.C., Followill, D.S., Hernandez, N., Ibbott, G.I., and Hanson, W.F., Predictability of electron cone ratios with respect to linac make and model. J. Applied Clin. Med. Phys. 4: 172-178, 2003.
  7. Nag, S., Quivey, J.M., Earle, J.D., Followill, D.S., Fontanesi, J., and Finger, P. The American Brachytherapy Society Recommendations for Brachytherapy of Uveal Melanomas, Int. J. of Radiat. Oncol. Biol. Phys. 56:544-555, 2003.
  8. Krintz, A.L., Hanson, W.F., Ibbott, G.I. and **Followill, D.S., A Reanalysis of the Collaborative Ocular Melanoma Study Medium Tumor Trial Eye Plaque Dosimetry, Int. J. of Radiat. Oncol. Biol. Phys. 56:889-898, 2003.
  9. Followill, D.S., Stovall, M.S., Kry, S.F., and Ibbott, G.S., Neutron source strength measurements for Varian, Siemens, Elekta, and General Electric linear accelerators. J. Applied Clin. Med. Phys.4:189-194, 2003.
  10. Followill, D.S., Davis, D.S. and Ibbott, G.I., Comparison of Electron Beam Characterisitics from Multiple Accelerators, Int. J. of Radiat. Oncol. Biol. Phys. 59:905-910, 2004.
  11. Marcus, D.M., Peskin, E., Maguire, M.G., Weissgold, D.J., Alexander, J., Fine, S.L., Followill, D.S., The Age-Related Macular Degeneration Radiotherapy Trial (AMDRT): One Year Results from a Pilot Study. American Journal of Ophthalmology 138: 818-828, 2004.
  12. Kry SF, Salehpour M, Followill DS, Stovall M, Kuban DA, White RA, Rosen II.  Out-of-Field Photon and Neutron Dose Equivalents from Step-and-Shoot Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy.  Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 62:1204-16, 2005.
  13. Kry SF, Salehpour M, Followill DS, Stovall M, Kuban DA, White RA, Rosen II.  The Calculated Risk of Fatal Secondary Malignancies from Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy.  Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 62:1195-1203, 2005.
  14. Molineu A , Followill DS, Balter PA, Hanson WF, Gillin MT, Huq MS, Eisbruch A, Ibbott GS. Design and Implementation of an Anthropomorphic Quality Assurance Phantom for Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy for the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 63: 577-583, 2005.

American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) Activities:
Task Group No. 129 (Eye Plaque Dosimetry)                                     2006 
Work Group on Prevention of Errors in Radiation Oncology              2005
Radiation Dosimetry & Treatment Planning Subcommittee                2005
Task Group No. 67 (Benchmark Datasets for Photon Beams)           2001 - 2004
Task Group No. 70 (Clinical E-beam Therapy in the era of TG-51)   2001
Task Group No. 71 (Monitor Unit Calculations)                                  2001
Board of Editors - Medical Physics Associate Editor                           2000 - 2006