Lab Members

Rebecca DiTusa is a Master’s student in the Medical Physics program at the MD Anderson UT Health Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.

I joined the Kappadath Lab in June 2020 and will be working on my master’s thesis project which involves the evaluation of dosimetry software and the calculation of dose voxel S-values. I am also looking at intra-tumoral dose distributions and dose margins for 90Y radioembolization.

Contact Information:
E-Mail: rditusa@mdanderson.org
View CV

Benjamin Lopez is a Ph.D. candidate in the Medical Physics program at the MD Anderson UT Health Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.

My research interests revolve around improving quantification of radionuclide biodistribution in nuclear medicine and PET imaging and theranostic procedures to improve patient care.  My dissertation focus is to evolve Molecular Breast Imaging as a complementary tool to mammography and ultrasound to better characterize breast cancer, to track disease progression, and to predict patient outcomes to neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

Contact Information:
E-mail: bplopez@mdanderson.org
Lab Phone: 713-745-3647
View CV

Allan Thomas is a Fellow in the Imaging Physics Hybrid Residency/Fellowship Program. 

I joined MD Anderson as an Imaging Physics Fellow in July of 2019.  My training will take place until July 2022 and will involve two years of clinical training in the CAMPEP accredited Diagnostic Imaging Residency as well as one full year of imaging physics research.  I will work in the Kappadath Lab for the duration of my Fellowship. 

My research involves several imaging physics projects in the areas of nuclear medicine and radionuclide therapy.  A key project taking place during my time at MD Anderson is the RAPY90D clinical trial.  This prospective trial aims to achieve increased tumor doses in 90Y radioembolization therapy through patient specific, 99mTc-MAA-based treatment planning.  The trial has several other novel imaging physics aims that will explore the ability to develop prediction models for 90Y dosimetry and treatment outcomes.  I am responsible for ensuring the various research aspects of the trial remain on track as patients are accumulated and then will be heavily involved in data analysis as the trial comes to a close in 2021. 

I am also working on clinical applications of prediction models related to administered 90Y activity and SPECT image countsin90Y therapy, minimum detectable activity in novel PET imaging tracers, and dual-isotope SPECT related to 227Thradionuclide therapy.

Contact Information:
E-Mail: mathomas3@mdanderson.org
Phone Number: 832-690-0750
View CV