Lead Dosimetrist
Reporting to the Chief of Dosimetry and the Director of Clinical Physics Operations and serving as a member of the dosimetrist leadership team, the Lead Dosimetrist assists with the oversight of the dosimetry operations of the Department of Radiation Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. This leadership role is responsible for leading, performing, and delegating patient-specific medical dosimetry tasks. The Lead Dosimetrist will help build appropriate dosimetry services in their area/disease site/treatment site of expertise.
The Lead Dosimetrist provides supervision and guidance of staff dosimetrists, ensures team adherence to departmental policies, and helps prepare the team for integration of future innovations such as artificial intelligence, remote dosimetry, and other disruptive technologies. Working closely with dosimetry leadership, the Lead Dosimetrist is instrumental in driving clinical excellence, safety, efficiency, and innovation in their area/disease site/treatment site of expertise.
Located in Boston and the surrounding communities, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is a leader in life changing breakthroughs in cancer research and patient care. We are united in our mission of conquering cancer, HIV/AIDS, and related diseases. We strive to create an inclusive, diverse, and equitable environment where we provide compassionate and comprehensive care to patients of all backgrounds, and design programs to promote public health particularly among high-risk and underserved populations. We conduct groundbreaking research that advances treatment, we educate tomorrow's physician/researchers, and we work with amazing partners, including other Harvard Medical School-affiliated hospitals.
Primary Duties and Responsibilities
- Patient Care: Assist the Chief of Dosimetry in leading dosimetry services. Perform and delegate patient-specific dosimetry tasks, ensuring safe and accurate radiation treatments. Work alongside radiation oncologists and physicists to support treatment planning, simulation, image processing, and treatment delivery. Support and evaluate the implementation of advanced treatment planning procedures such as IMRT, IGRT, SBRT, adaptive radiation treatment and total body irradiation. Participate in departmental chart reviews, clinical trials, and national protocols, providing necessary documentation.
- Treatment Planning: Responsible for most treatment sites and techniques. Collect and analyze patient data and design optimal approaches for treatments. Responsible for basic dose calculation and 2D, 3D, IMRT, SBRT, SRS/SRT or Adaptive treatment planning using treatment planning software on several different platforms. Interact with radiation oncologists to define target volumes and critical structures. Lead the implementation of new techniques and treatment modalities for radiation therapy. Participate in clinical research and data submissions for clinical trials. Participate in the planning for brachytherapy and occasionally assist in the loading and removal of sources from patients, as needed.
- Leadership and Management: Serve as a key member of the dosimetry leadership team. Collaborate with the Chief of Dosimetry and the Director of Clinical Physics Operations, Chief Radiation therapist, and Senior Director of Radiation Therapy on process improvements and strategic planning. Guide the dosimetrist group in integrating new technologies, including AI-assisted planning and remote dosimetry workflows. Participate in departmental quality improvement initiatives and committees. Lead specific disease site treatment planning efforts, which include participating in disease site clinical meetings, leading and updating disease site in-services, training and cross training new hires and co-workers, serving as a liaison between physicians and the planning group for a specific disease site
- Teaching, Training, and Research: Provide or delegate training and educational support for dosimetry students, physician residents, physics residents, and radiotherapy students. Keep the dosimetry team informed of departmental policies, procedures, and innovations. When appropriate, participate in research and development projects in collaboration with faculty members.
- Supervise staff: Hire, develop, and manage staff to achieve organizational goals. Set clear expectations, deliver feedback, and monitor performance for quality, efficiency, and compliance with policies and procedures. Mentor staff, foster career growth, and cultivate a positive and productive work environment.
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
- Demonstrated broad understanding of clinical dosimetry including most treatment sites and techniques.
- Positive attitude, strong work ethic, and ability to work collaboratively in multidisciplinary teams.
- Strong problem-solving skills and desire to drive safety, efficiency, and quality improvements.
- Advanced knowledge of treatment planning principles, dose calculation algorithms, plan optimization, beam geometry, and machine/MLC characteristics across photon and electron energies.
- Proficiency with enterprise TPS and OIS platforms (e.g., Eclipse/ARIA, RayStation, MOSAIQ) including contouring, image fusion/registration, and plan evaluation tools; familiarity with Epic integration and oncology workflow.
- Expertise in SBRT/SRS planning, immobilization considerations, PTV/OAR trade-offs, heterogeneity corrections, and end-to-end plan QA in conjunction with Physics.
- Knowledge of clinical protocols, dose constraints, and evidence-based guidelines (e.g., QUANTEC/NTO concepts, RTOG/NRG protocols) and ability to apply them to individualized plans.
- Working knowledge of AAPM task group recommendations (e.g., TG?101, TG?142 interface awareness, TG?263 nomenclature, TG?275 plan check considerations) and ASTRO/ACR practice parameters relevant to dosimetry practice.
- Competence in DICOM-RT standards, data integrity, and safe data transfer between imaging, planning, and delivery systems.
- Ability to design and standardize planning templates, checklists, and peer-review processes to improve safety, reduce variability, and increase throughput.
- Scripting and automation skills (e.g., ESAPI, Python, RayStation scripting) to streamline routine planning tasks and checks preferred.
- Strong analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making abilities; able to balance clinical priorities, quality constraints, and operational timelines in a fast-paced environment.
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills; able to collaborate effectively with physicians, physicists, therapists, nurses, and IT to achieve consensus and resolve issues.
- Strong organizational and time management skills with attention to detail and documentation accuracy; adept at managing multiple cases and competing deadlines.
- Commitment to patient safety, quality, and confidentiality; maintains professionalism and resilience under pressure.
- Programming skills required, particularly for developing scripts and automation tools to improve treatment planning workflows.
Minimum Job Qualifications
- Bachelor?s degree required.
- Completion of a Medical Dosimetry Program (post-BSc degree) required.
- Master?s degree in Physics, Computing or Math preferred.
- 5 years of clinical experience in medical dosimetry required.
- Demonstrated broad competence leadership and management experience in a clinical dosimetry setting required.
- Current board certification in Medical Dosimetry (CMD) required.
License/Certification/Registration Required:
- Current board certification in Medical Dosimetry (CMD) required.
Supervisory Responsibilities:
Yes, directly supervises Staff and Senior level Dosimetrists.
Patient Contact:
Yes, may have occasional contact with radiation therapy patients, as requested by therapists and physicians.
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