Speakers

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Tim Szczykutowicz,  University of Wisconsin Madison 

Tim is an ABR-certified dx physicist. He wrote a book on clinical CT which has multiple chapters devoted to the speaking topic: Szczykutowicz, T. (2020). The CT Handbook: Optimizing Protocols for Today's Feature-Rich Scanners. Medical Physics Publishing. 

Tim also has a paper relevant to the topic: Salyapongse, A. M., Rose, S. D., Pickhardt, P. J., Lubner, M. G., Toia, G. V., Bujila, R., ... & Szczykutowicz, T. P. (2023). CT Number Accuracy and Association With Object Size: A Phantom Study Comparing Energy-Integrating Detector CT and Deep Silicon Photon-Counting Detector CT. American Journal of Roentgenology. 

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Sarah Aubert, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre

Sarah is a medical physics resident at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. Sarah completed her PhD in 2023 at Toronto Metropolitan University where she was investigating the feasibility of energy-resolved angiography. My PhD research was funded in part by an NSERC Canadian Graduate Scholarship and a QEII Graduate Scholarship in Science and Technology. Sarah has published two first-authored articles pertaining to photon-counting x-ray imaging in Medical Physics. In past years, she has presented this work at conferences such as AAPM, COMP and SPIE. She is also an active member of the COMP and AAPM communities; within COMP Sarah is involved in the CWC-IDEA group and within AAPM and is involved with the Students and Trainees subcommittee, the Women’s Professional Subcommittee, the Sexual and Gender Minority subcommittee, the Women’s Luncheon working group and the working group on EDI curriculum.   

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Atiyah Yahya, UAlberta

Dr. Atiyah Yahya is a Medical Physicist at the Cross Cancer Institute (Edmonton, AB) and an Associate Professor in the Department of Oncology at the University of Alberta (Edmonton, AB). She obtained a B.Sc. in Engineering Physics from the University of Alberta (1999) and a Ph.D. in Medical Sciences-Biomedical Engineering and Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Alberta (2006). She is CCPM (Canadian College of Physicists in Medicine) certified in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Physics, Diagnostic Radiological Physics and the Physics of Mammography and is a Fellow of the CCPM. Dr. Yahya's research field of expertise is magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). Her research involves optimizing MRS techniques for the improved detection and quantification of metabolites relevant to cancer including lipids.  She is an author on 29 publications in the field of magnetic resonance. 

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Thor Bjarnason, Interior Health, Kelowna

Experience: 

  • College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia Diagnostic Accreditation Program – Diagnostic Equipment Testing Subject Matter Expert Panel (2023.06-present) 
  • Canadian Association of Radiologists Medical Imaging Accreditation Committee (2022.06-present) 
  • Canadian Association of Radiologists CT Accreditation Program Working Group (Lead Physicist) (2021.09-present) 
  • British Columbia Cancer Agency Lung Cancer Screening Working Group (2021.02-present)  
  • Canadian Association of Radiologists / Canadian Society of Thoracic Radiology – Lung Cancer Screening Accreditation Program Working Group (2021.02-2021.09) 
  • Canadian Association of Radiologists – Radiology Re-entry Task Force (2020) 
  • Canada Safe Imaging (2014-19), Executive Committee (2017-19) 
  • College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia Diagnostic Accreditation Program – Radiology and Radiation; CT and MRI Advisory Committees (2012-2014, 2017-19) 
  • Canadian Association of Radiologists – Radiation Protection Working Group (2011-2015) 

Publications: 

  • Bjarnason TA, et al. COMP Report: A survey of radiation safety regulations for medical imaging x-ray equipment in Canada. Journal of Applied Clinical Medical Physics, 21; 10-19 (2020). 
  • Thakur Y, Bjarnason TA, Baxter P, Griffith M, Eaton K. Radiation dose survey for common CT exams – 2013 BC results. Canadian Association of Radiologists Journal, 67; 88-95 (2016). 
  • Bjarnason TA, Thakur Y, Chakraborty S, Liu P, O’Malley ME, Coulden R, Noga M, Mason A, Mayo J. CAR-RPWG: Automated Patient or? Canadian Association of Radiologists Journal, 66; 192-7 (2015).-Specific Dose Registries - What are they and what are they good f 
  • Thakur Y, Bjarnason TA, Chakraborty S, Liu P, O’Malley ME, Coulden R, Noga M, Mason A, Mayo J. CAR-RPWG: Review of Radiation Units and the use of CT Dose Indicators in Canada. Canadian Association of Radiologists Journal, 64; 166-9 (2013). 
  • Bjarnason TA, Thakur Y, Aldrich JE. Health Canada Safety Code 35: Awareness and impacts for diagnostic radiology in Canada. Canadian Association of Radiologists Journal, 64(1); 6-9 (2013). 
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Bassem Elshahat, Corewell Health William Beaumont University Hospital

Bassem is currently a member of the COMP imaging committee, a member of the COMP education committee, and a member of Canada Safe imaging. Bassem's current research is characterizing the Radiation detection properties of thin film photovoltaic cells and their application to medical X-ray imaging and dosimetry.