Scientific Advisory Board

D3's Scientific Advisory Board is composed of leading medical physicists and radiation oncologists involved with the creation and clinical implementation of IMRT treatment planning.

The board oversees the development of company policies and procedures, and develops IMRT delivery standards. As leading industry experts, the Board also makes recommendations for D3's ongoing research and development budget and expenditures, and provides counsel on issues of development and refinement of IMRT practices, including new site indications.

Board members

James A. Purdy, PhD, Board Chairman Top

Dr. Purdy is currently Professor and Vice Chairman of the Department of Radiation Oncology and Chief of the Physics Section at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, California. Dr. Purdy has been extremely active in research and development related to 3-D treatment planning and conformal radiation therapy (3DCRT) for the past two decades. Over this period, he has authored and co-authored numerous articles and books on 3DCRT, including the development and implementation of IMRT. Dr. Purdy is internationally recognized as an expert in radiation oncology quality assurance (QA) matters and computer-aided radiation therapy, particularly 3DCRT and IMRT, and is regularly invited to speak on these issues. He has also been very active in developing methodology for QA of multi-institutional 3DCRT dose escalation trials in the U.S. and serves as the current Director of the Image-Guided Therapy Center in St. Louis, an advanced technology clinical trials QA and support center funded by the National Cancer Institute to support cooperative groups, such as the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG), 3DCRT and IMRT clinical trials.

Dr. Purdy is very active in many scientific and medical organizations including the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM), American Society of Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO), the American College of Radiology (ACR), the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG), and the American College of Medical Physics (ACMP). Dr. Purdy has served as the AAPM President, Chairman of the Board of Chancellors of the ACMP, and served on the ASTRO Board of Directors, being that organization's first elected medical physicist board member. He is currently the Senior Editor (Physics) for the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, and Physics. Dr. Purdy is a Fellow in the AAPM, the ACMP, and the ACR. He has received many prestigious awards including the 1996 ACMP Marvin M.D. Williams Professional Achievement Award and the 1997 AAPM William D. Coolidge Award Award for Distinguished Contributions to Medical Physics, the two highest honors bestowed by U.S. medical physics societies. In 2000, he was selected as recipient of the ASTRO Gold Medal, the largest society of radiation oncologists and scientists working in this field in the world.

C. Clifton Ling, PhD Top

Dr. Ling, formerly Professor and Chairman of the Department of Medical Physics, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), New York, is presently Attending Physicist (MSKCC), Professor of Radiology (Physics) of Weill Medical College of Cornell University, and Director of Advanced Clinical Research at Varian Medical Systems. Previously, he served as Professor and Vice-Chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of California in San Francisco, California. Dr. Ling is a leading expert on the use of 3DCRT, IMRT and image guidance for radiotherapy, and has authored and co-authored numerous articles and books on these subjects. His group was one of the first to implement IMRT in routine clinical operation.

Dr. Ling is active in many scientific and medical organizations including the AAPM, ASTRO, RSNA, ACR, and the Radiation Research Society (RRS). He serves on the editorial boards of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, and Physics, Radiotherapy and Oncology, and Seminars in Radiation Oncology. Dr. Ling is a Fellow of AAPM and ASTRO, and he received the Coolidge Award of AAPM in 2004 and the Gold Medal of ASTRO in 2006.

Christopher M. Rose, MD Top

Dr. Rose is currently Associate Director of the Department of Radiation Oncology of Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, Ca. He also serves as the Technical Director of Radiation Oncology for the Providence Health System for the Southern California service area. In addition, he holds an appointment as Associate Clinical Professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of California in Los Angeles, Ca. Dr. Rose is active in many scientific and medical organizations including ASTRO, ASCO, ACR, and the Council of Affiliated Radiation Oncology Societies (CARROS). He served as the ASTRO President in 1998 and Chairman of the Board in 1999, and served as president of CARROS in 1994. Dr. Rose is a Fellow of the ACR. Dr. Rose has also been extremely active in quality assurance matters serving as assistant chairman of the ACR's radiation oncology accreditation program. He has also been very involved in technology assessment, serving as Vice Chair for Research and Technology Assessment for the Joint Economic Committee of ASTRO and ACR.

Robert D. Timmerman, MD Top

Dr. Timmerman is currently Professor, Vice-Chairman of Radiation Oncology, and Effie Marie Cain Distinguished Chair in Cancer Therapy Research at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. Dr. Timmerman joined D3’s Scientific Board in 2006 to lend his expertise in stereotactic radiosurgery to D3’s expanding advanced radiotherapy service offerings.

Dr. Timmerman graduated from Iowa State University with a Bachelor of Science in Nuclear Engineering and received a Master of Science in Reactor Physics from the University of Tennessee. He obtained a Doctor of Medicine from the University of South Dakota and completed his residency in Radiation Oncology at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. Prior to joining UT Southwestern, Dr. Timmerman held clinical and academic appointments at Indiana University Medical Center and Indiana University School of Medicine.

Dr. Timmerman holds several professional affiliations in radiotherapy and neuro-oncology and has served as president of several radiation oncology groups in Indiana. He is an active member of ASTRO, ACR and RTOG and has lectured throughout the country and abroad on a variety of radiotherapy related topics and emerging technologies. Dr. Timmerman has been published in many books and manuscripts on radiotherapy and stereotactic radiosurgery. He was the principal investigator or co-investigator on several prospective trials designed to evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of stereotactic body radiation therapy in lung, liver, and pelvic sites. Dr. Timmerman is the national principal investigator of Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) trials using this therapy in patients with early stage lung cancer.

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