Skip to Content
Yusung Kim

Yusung Kim

Associate Member

Professor

832-454-0671832-454-0671
ykim21@mdanderson.org
FCT8.6026

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center at Houston
Department of Radiation Physics

As an academic medical physicist, Dr. Kim’s research contributions to science have been in the advance in tailored cancer therapy frameworks through developing better of quantitative images that guide the therapy and new planning and its evaluation methodologies. Dr. Kim is an active scientist, publishing more than 50 published/accepted papers in peer review journals. Dr. Kim’s lab has been contributed to science through mainly three major research area;

  1. Kim has expertise on the validation of therapeutic outcome prediction modeling research such as TCP (tumor control probability), NTCP (normal tissue complication probability), and UTCP (Uncomplicated tumor control probability). His research has contributed to the development of personalized radiotherapy frameworks when individual patient’s risk in tumor recurrence is quantified by quantitative image (QI) such as PET-CT. The approach was named as Risk-Adaptive Radiotherapy. Dr. Kim developed its inverse optimization tool using TCP, NTCP, and UTCP, novel 3D voxel-by-voxel TCP-maps and NTCP-maps which represent high-risk regions of recurrence and toxicity, respectively. As an academic medical physicist, my research contributions to science have been in the advance in tailored cancer therapy frameworks through developing better of QI that guide the therapy and new planning and its evaluation methodologies.
  2. Kim’s lab has contributed to improving the treatment quality of MRI-guided brachytherapy. Dr. Kim has improved the treatment planning accuracy of 3D imaging guided brachytherapy through i) developing 3 Tesla MRI scanning protocol and MRI-marker for titanium applicator, ii) developing an efficient volume optimization technique of Hybrid-optimization, iii) accessing the impact of heterogeneity-corrected dose calculation. Dr. Kim also improved the delivery of 3D imaging guided brachytherapy through i) developing portable applicator localization system, ii) accessing the impact of balloon-based packing, and iii) developing an innovative brachytherapy delivery techniques of temperature-sensitive hydrogel-based radiotherapy delivery.
  3. Kim is a principle investigator (P.I.) of many Institutional Research Board (IRB)-approved clinical trials of brachytherapy; i) Retrospective HDR for cervical cancer study, ii) EMBRACE protocol, iii) Evaluation of Dosimetric Effects of Vaginal Balloon-based Packing for GYN HDR, and iv) Development of MRI-Marker Catheter for MRI Guided HDR. As a co- investigator Dr. Kim has contributed to rotating shield brachytherapy research project since its initiation. Dr. Kim has provided clinical aspects of treatment planning, plan evaluation, and clinical treatment planning optimizations as a clinical medical physicist expert. Dr. Kim mainly contributed to validating the developed the complex treatment plan optimization algorithms that make rotating shield brachytherapy delivery feasible in clinical practice.

PubMed

Education & Training

PhD, University of Wisconsin, 2007

Research Opportunities

Programs