AAPM Names Dr M Mahesh as 2024 President-Elect
Mahadevappa Mahesh, MS, PhD, FAAPM, FACR, FACMP, FSCCT, FIOMP, has been elected President-Elect of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM). Dr Mahesh will serve a three-year term as President-Elect in 2024, President in 2025 and Chairman of the Board in 2026.
Dr Mahesh is a Professor of Radiology and Radiological Sciences at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Chair of the Radiation Control Committee for Johns Hopkins Health System. He will assume the role as President-Elect 30 years after joining Johns Hopkins following receipt of his Doctoral of Science from the Medical College of Wisconsin (Milwaukee, WI).
“I am very humbled and happy to have this opportunity to lead this (AAPM) organization at a time when the field is expanding,” Dr Mahesh told Applied Radiology. “I’ve been very fortunate to spend time working within AAPM in other roles, including as a board member, newsletter editor and as treasurer, giving me a broad view of the organization and what it stands for.”
Dr Mahesh is currently the chair of the American College of Radiology (ACR) Commission on Medical Physics and a member of the board of chancellors (BOC). He has authored or co-authored more than 140 peer-reviewed research articles, presented at numerous conferences both nationally and internationally and has participated in many clinical trials, including the ACRIN National Lung Screening and ACRIN Digital vs. Screen-Film Mammography Trials. He has published a textbook on MDCT Physics that was also translated in Japanese.
As part of his involvement with the ACR and AAPM, he has been involved in advocacy for the fields of radiology and medical physics. Dr Mahesh is also a subject matter consultant for the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency (UN-IAEA) supporting training in lower income countries, including most recently a one-week stint in South Africa. He is in the midst of preparing for the next training course in Bogota, Columbia in the fall of 2023.
“It is amazing to see over the last two decades how medical imaging has exploded around the world, particularly in many developing countries,” he adds. “Participating in the AAPM leadership along with these other roles in international organizations allows me to share my knowledge with other experts in the field and lead the AAPM more effectively in promoting medical physics.”
During his term, Dr Mahesh intends to further promote the role of medical physics in the medical field and hopes to continue to grow membership in the AAPM. He would like to create opportunities for physicists to collaborate together across the diagnostic and therapy fields—and not be siloed into one field or the other. He believes the field of theranostics presents opportunities for medical physicists to work within nuclear medicine, nuclear radiation oncology and interventional radiology as well as within the field of artificial intelligence (AI). In fact, he is part of the adhoc committee in AAPM working on developing an AI boot camp for clinical medical physicists.
Looking forward, Dr Mahesh hopes to elevate the understanding and awareness of radiation safety beyond radiology and radiation oncology to primary care and other physicians.
“I think it is time for us to also get involved with the American Medical Association to bring awareness of medical physics and the role of medical physicists in patient care. It is time for AAPM members to share their expertise with other medical specialty groups and address any questions or concerns they may have regarding radiation or MR safety, so they have the confidence to prescribe the right medical imaging exams for their patients,” he adds.
Other AAPM elected officials include:
- Sonja Dieterich, PhD, Secretary
- Hania A Al-Hallaq, PhD, Board Member-at-Large
- Stephen F Kry, PhD, Board Member-at-Large
- Ingrid S Reiser, PhD, Board Member-at-Large
- Jacqueline Esthappan Zoberi, PhD, Board Member-at-Large
- Ioannis Sechopoulos, PhD, Board Member-at-Large 1st Alternate
- Ramon Alfredo C Siochi, PhD, Board Member-at-Large 2nd Alternate
- Todd F Atwood, PhD, Nominating Committee Academic Therapy Physicist
- Dustin A Gress, MS, Nominating Committee Community Practice Imaging Physicist