Rate My Professor Raj Panta

Dr. Raj Kumar Panta is a Research Fellow in the Division of Health Sciences at the University of Otago, Christchurch, New Zealand, associated with the Centre for Bioengineering and Nanomedicine. He completed his PhD in Health or Medical Physics at the University of Otago in 2015, with his doctoral thesis entitled 'Toward human MARS scanning: improving spectral performance for soft tissue imaging.' This work advanced the capabilities of the MARS photon-counting spectral CT scanner for soft tissue differentiation and preclinical applications. Panta's academic background centers on medical imaging technologies, particularly spectral x-ray methods developed during his time as a PhD student and subsequent postdoctoral researcher at the University of Otago.

Panta's research specializations encompass energy-resolving detectors in spectral x-ray imaging, photon-counting computed tomography (PCCT), molecular imaging, and respiratory motion correction. He has contributed significantly to the MARS Spectral Molecular Imaging project, focusing on quantitative imaging for clinical applications such as bone microstructure assessment, atherosclerotic plaque characterization, liver fat quantification, and iodine quantification. Key publications include 'MARS spectral molecular imaging of lamb tissue: data collection and image analysis' (87 citations), 'Energy calibration of the pixels of spectral x-ray detectors' (69 citations), 'Reducing beam hardening effects and metal artefacts in spectral CT using Medipix3RX' (65 citations), 'Discrimination of multiple high-Z materials by multi-energy spectral CT – A phantom study' (58 citations), and 'Multi‐“Color” Delineation of Bone Microdamages Using Ligand‐Directed Sub‐5 nm Hafnia Nanodots and Photon Counting CT Imaging' (57 citations). Other notable works are 'First human imaging with MARS photon-counting CT' and recent contributions like 'Correcting charge sharing distortions in photon counting detectors utilizing a spatial-temporal CNN' (2024). His efforts have supported the transition of spectral CT technologies toward human clinical use, including ex-vivo plaque studies and simulation models for PCCT systems. Panta holds certification as a Diplomate of the American Board of Radiology (DABR) and maintains active research collaborations.