Employment

2006-present Physicist, Department of Radiation Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts

Brachytherapy including HDR & LDR, IMRT planning using Corvus and Raystation treatment planning softwares, 4DCT data acquisition, stereotactic radiotherapy frame fitting, IMRT QA supervision and scheduling, helped to commission new Linacs (Varian and Elekta)

2008-present Instructor, Suffolk University, Boston, Massachusetts

Teaching physics lab course for Suffolk University radiation therapy program and brachytherapy course for dosimetry program. Duties include teaching hands-on fundamentals of linear accelerator physics and grading lab reports, developing a brachytherapy curriculum that included lectures, homework assignments, exams, and hands-on experience.

2005-2006 Physics Assistant, Department of Radiation Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts

IMRT planning using Corvus treatment planning software, 4DCT data acquisition, stereotactic radiotherapy frame fitting, IMRT QA, helped to commission a new Linac

2002-2004 Research Assistant, Department of Nuclear Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Research assistant to Dr. Jeffrey Coderre, leading an innovative research effort into Boron Neutron Capture Therapy.

Led the effort to debug and run Monte Carlo simulation software and evaluate data from patient treatment plans, enabling comparison of boron-neutron capture therapy protocols at different institutions.

Service

2009-2010 Board Member at Large, New England Chapter of American Association of Physicists in Medicine 

2003-2004 Treasurer, American Nuclear Society student organization, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

2001-2002 President, American Nuclear Society student organization, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 

Professional Affiliations

2005-present American Association of Physicists in Medicine

2001-2004 American Nuclear Society

2001-2002 Society of Women Engineers

Awards and Honors

2010 ABR Board Certification in Therapeutic Radiation Physics

2002 Graduated Cum Laude from RPI

2002 Alpha Nu Sigma (Nuclear Engineering Honor Society)

2001 RPI Founder's Award for Excellence

Journal Articles

Gierga, DP, Turcotte, JC, Tong, LW, Chen, YLE, Delaney, TF, “Analysis of setup uncertainties for extremity sarcoma patients using surface imaging” Practical Radiation Oncology. 2014; 4(4) 261-266

Gierga, DP, Turcotte, JC, Sharp, GC, Sedlacek, DE, Cotter, CR, Tagian, AG, “A voluntary breath-hold technique for the left breast with unfavorable cardiac anatomy using surface imaging” Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2012 Dec 1; 84(5): e663-8

Spadea MF, Baroni G, Gierga D, Turcotte JC, Chen GT, Sharp GC, “Evaluation and commissioning of a surface based system for respiratory sensing in 4D CT” J Applied Clinical Medical Physics. 2010 Dec 4; 12(1): 3288

Gierga DP, Riboldi M, Turcotte JC, Sharp GC, Jiang SB, Taghian AG, Chen GT, “Comparison of target registration errors for multiple image-guided techniques in accelerated partial breast irradiation.” Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2008 Mar 15;70(4):1239-46

Sharp GC, Lu HM, Trofimov A, Tang X, Jiang SB, Turcotte J, Gierga DP, Chen GT, Hong TS, “Assessing residual motion for gated proton-beam radiotherapy.”, J Radiat Res (Tokyo). 2007;48 Suppl A:A55-9

J. Seco, G. C. Sharp, J. Turcotte, D. Gierga, T. Bortfeld, and H. Paganetti, “Effects of organ motion on IMRT treatments with segments of few monitor units”, Medical Physics, Vol 34, Issue 3, pp 923-934

Coderre JA, Hopewell JW, Turcotte JC, Riley KJ, Binns PJ, Kiger WS 3rd, Harling OK., “Tolerance of normal human brain to boron neutron capture therapy”, Applied Radiation and Isotopes, Vol 61, No 5, pp1083-1087

Coderre JA, Turcotte JC, Riley KJ, Binns PJ, Harling OK., Kiger WS 3rd, “Boron neutron capture therapy: cellular targeting of high linear energy transfer radiation”, Technology in Cancer Research and Treatment, Vol 2, No 5, pp 355-375