We are thrilled to share the news that Thomas Bortfeld, PhD, has been named the Andres Soriano Distinguished Professor of Radiation Oncology at Harvard Medical School (HMS). With this promotion, Harvard recognizes not only his extraordinary contributions to radiation physics but also the incredible physics research team he has assembled and nurtured in our department.
Dr. Bortfeld was promoted to Professor of Radiation Oncology at HMS in 2008 and appointed as Chief of the Radiation Biophysics Division in the Mass General Department of Radiation Oncology that same year. In that role, he has overseen the clinical physics operations, development, engineering, and physics research in radiation oncology. He has further grown the reputation of the Biophysics Division to become one of the pre-eminent medical physics groups in the country and worldwide. Dr. Bortfeld also heads the optimization laboratory, in which he and his team conduct research to optimally define the clinical target volume, to personalize treatment planning using optimal stopping strategies, and to democratize proton therapy through the development of innovative technologies that will shrink the size and the price of the equipment.
Throughout his Harvard career, Dr. Bortfeld has been an active teacher and mentor. He created and taught several new courses on proton therapy and radiation treatment planning/optimization in the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology (HST) program. He has supervised many students and postdoctoral fellows, many of whom have become professors, chiefs, and chairs at various hospitals and universities in different parts of the world. He has received numerous honors for his work, the most recent being his election as a member of the German National Academy of Sciences.
Congratulations, Dr. Bortfeld, on this well-deserved honor!
