Radiation Oncology Physics Research

General Information

Employment

• Arrival: Upon arrival as a new member of the Group, check in with Amanda Maidment (amaidment@mgh.harvard.edu).

• Absences: Notify your PI (Principal Investigator) in advance of your travel plans. This includes conferences and personal vacation time. Also, prior notification is expected if you must miss one of the regular group meetings.

• Exit Procedures: Contact Sarah Wiley (swiley@mgh.harvard.edu) or Amanda Maidment (amaidment@mgh.harvard.edu) at least 3 weeks prior to your departure date so that they can prepare the requisite “employment termination” documents and give the HR and Payroll Offices sufficient time to issue the “final” check. You must return your ID card and keys to Sarah Wiley or Amanda Maidment before leaving.

For PIs

• When hiring students, staff, or non-employees, please contact Amanda Maidment (amaidment@mgh.harvard.edu) to initiate on-boarding and Zeina Chaptini (zchaptini@partners.org) to confirm funding for the position. If there is tuition or fees associated with a student that is coming aboard, please notify Zeina Chaptini (zchaptini@partners.org) to initiate the billing agreement terms and authorization of payments.

• For every new researcher in the Group, send an email with the person’s name to:
  • (a) Ali Ajdari (aajdari@mgh.harvard.edu) to add the person to the mailing list for the Physics Seminar.
  • (b) Yi Wang (yi.wang@mgh.harvard.edu) to add the person to the mailing list for the Physics Journal Club.
  • (c) Phil Graceffa (pgraceffa@partners.org) for additions to the Rad Onc All Distribution list.
• For every new researcher in the Group, send an email with the person’s name, name of supervisor, duration of stay, and desk location to Harald Paganetti (hpaganetti@mgh.harvard.edu).

---

Contacts

Role/Area	Name	Email
Physics Chief	Thomas Bortfeld	tbortfeld@mgh.harvard.edu
	Harald Paganetti	hpaganetti@mgh.harvard.edu
Employment and Visa	Amanda Maidment	amaidment@mgh.harvard.edu
	Sarah Wiley	swiley@mgh.harvard.edu
Office Space (Nashua Street)	Jan Schuemann	jschuemann@mgh.harvard.edu
Physics Seminar	Ali Ajdari	aajdari@mgh.harvard.edu
Physics Journal Club	Yi Wang	yi.wang@mgh.harvard.edu
MedPhys Certificate Program	Brian Winey	winey.brian@mgh.harvard.edu
Proton Therapy QA	Derek Tang	dtang5@mgh.harvard.edu
Access to MGHRO GitHub Group	Thomas Madden	tmadden@mgh.harvard.edu
Grant Submission (Admin)	Zeina Chaptini	zchaptini@partners.org
Grant Submission (Science)	Thomas Bortfeld	tbortfeld@mgh.harvard.edu
	Harald Paganetti	hpaganetti@mgh.harvard.edu
Human Subjects Research	Priya Vader	pvader@partners.org
Treatment Planning Systems	Brian Winey (RayStation)	winey.brian@mgh.harvard.edu
	Nick Depauw (ASTROID)	ndepauw@mgh.harvard.edu

---

Use of Equipment and Facilities

• All personal office or cubicle spaces should be considered confidential. Obtain permission before entering or removing items.

• Radiation Dosimetry Badge: You must have and wear your badge when using imaging or treatment facilities. Contact your PI to obtain one.

• Training: Before using any equipment or imaging facility (e.g., CT scanners, proton therapy), request instructions from the person in charge. After initial training, supervision by an experienced user is mandatory.

• Proton therapy facilities require a physics faculty member to accompany users at all times.

---

Working Space

• Food and Beverages: Not allowed in experimental areas; permitted only in office spaces.

• After experiments, clean the workspace and return all equipment to its designated location.

• Secure personal items like laptops and backpacks, especially on weekends and evenings.

---

Patient Data

• All Group members accessing patient information must:
  1. Complete the online CITI exam (citiprogram.org).
  2. Be added to the appropriate IRB protocol by their PI.
  3. Maintain records of accessed patient IDs for audits.

---

Computers

• Order all computer equipment through Phil Graceffa (pgraceffa@partners.org) with PI approval and a fund number.

• Per MGH policy, all laptops must be encrypted.

• Back up your data in multiple locations, preferably on file servers. Avoid relying solely on external hard drives.

• Do not install software without PI approval, and only use licensed software.

---

Grant/Fellowship Submission

1. Contact your PI and Zeina Chaptini upon identifying a funding opportunity.
2. Submit the proposal to your PI for pre-review 2 weeks before the internal deadline.
3. Finalize submissions to MGH Research Management 15 business days before the sponsor deadline.

For K99/R00 applications, fellows are encouraged to apply. Discuss mentoring plans early with your PI.

---

Conferences, Meetings, and Publications

• Notebook Policy: Maintain up-to-date electronic lab notebooks for data integrity and reproducibility.

• Internal Meetings: Attend the weekly Physics Seminar (Tuesdays) and Physics Journal Club (Thursdays).

• Conferences: Obtain PI approval before submitting abstracts to conferences.

• Authorship Guidelines:

  • Authorship is based on substantive scientific contributions.
  • First authorship is assigned to the primary creative contributor.
  • Senior authorship typically goes to the PI or project initiator.

Disputes over authorship will be mediated by Thomas Bortfeld or Harald Paganetti.