Program Personnel
Program Faculty
Current Residents
Benjamin C. Musall, PhD
Benjamin Musall received his B.S. in Nuclear and Radiological Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology in 2015. Afterwards, he then began his S.M.S. in Medical Physics at UT MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, where he conducted his thesis research on diffusion MRI as a predictor of treatment response in esophageal cancer. After completing his SMS in 2017, he re-enrolled for his doctoral study. His dissertation investigated quantitative MRI biomarkers of response in triple-negative breast cancer as part of the MD Anderson Breast Cancer Moonshot trial. After completing his PhD in June of 2021, he joined the UTHealth McGovern Medical School residency program in July of 2021.
Nathalie Correa, PhD
Nathalie Correa received her B.S. in Nuclear and Radiological Engineering from the University of Florida in 2016, where she then pursued her M.S. in Medical Physics. She conducted her thesis research by performing a full characterization for wide-beam CT scanners regarding intensity, spatial dependence and effective energies along the x-y plane and z-axis. In 2019, she graduated with her M.S. and continued onto her doctoral studies. Her dissertation research focused on comparing organ doses in single-energy and dual-energy CT with the use of phantoms and cadavers. She received her Ph.D. in June 2022 and joined the UTHealth McGovern Medical School residency program in July 2022.
Alumni
Olaolu Osunbayo, PhD
Olaolu Osunbayo Ph.D. got his Ph.D. in biophysics, in 2017, under the supervision of Dr. Michael Vershinin, Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, University of Utah. His doctoral dissertation includes collaboration to develop of a novel laser holographic optical tweezers technique for dynamic nano-assembly. His dissertation also includes contributions to new physical understandings of near immotile or locally diffusive intracellular cargoes. In July, 2019, he joined the medical physics residency at UTHealth. Dr. Osunbayo is board certified in Diagnostic Medical Physics with the American Board of Radiology and a partner of Imaging Physics LLC.
Ashley Rubinstein, PhD
Ashley Rubinstein received her B.A. in physics from Boston University in 2011. During her time at Boston University, she worked on the Large Hadron Collider at CERN and later performed proton therapy research at Massachusetts General Hospital. In the summer of 2011 she entered the medical physics program at the UT MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Med-Into-Grad fellow. At MD Anderson she conducted her dissertation research investigating magnetic-field-induced radiation dose effects arising from thoracic irradiations with MRI-guided radiation therapy systems. She received her Ph.D. in June of 2017 and joined the UTHealth McGovern Medical School residency program in July of 2017. Dr. Rubinstein is board certified in Diagnostic Medical Physics with the American Board of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine Physics and Instrumentation with the American Board of Science in Nuclear Medicine.
Program Staff
Jimmy Huynh, BS – Medical Physicist Assistant
In the May of 2021, Jimmy Huynh received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Texas A&M. His degree majored in Nuclear Engineering and he has two additional minors in Radiological Health Engineering and Mathematics. Shortly after graduation, he joined the Medical Physics team as a Medical Physicist Assistant and his work focuses on surveying radiographical units used for diagnostics, maintaining regulatory practices for radiation safety, and assisting the faculty as needed.
Marlene Ramirez, MHA – Senior Program Manager
Marlene Ramirez, a native Houstonian, received her B.S. from Baylor University and her Master in Health Care Administration from Texas Woman’s University in the Texas Medical Center. She joined UTHealth in 2013 and transitioned to the Department of Diagnostic & Interventional Imaging in 2017.
External Consultants
Edwin R. Giles, MS, DABR, DABSNM
Director – Diagnostic Imaging Physics / Radiation Safety
Houston Methodist Hospital
Sharon Glaze, M.S.
Senior Imaging Physicist
Houston Methodist Hospital
Bahadir Ozus, PhD, DABR, DABMP, DABSNM
Senior Imaging Physicist
Houston Methodist Hospital
R. Benton Pahlka, PhD, DABR
Senior Diagnostic Medical Physicist
Texas Children’s Hospital
Raja Muthupillai, PhD, DABR
DABMP(MRI), MRSE
Chief Technology Officer
Live Healthy Imaging LLC