Lab Members

Vahid joined our lab in Fall of 2022 when he started his PhD studies in the Imaging Science program at WashU under supervision of Dr. Darafsheh. Vahid received an MSc in Physics with Optics concentration from the Institute for Advanced Studies in Basic Sciences, in Iran, working on microsphere-assisted digital holographic microscopy. His current research is aimed to improve imaging and spectroscopy systems toward developing simple, cost-effective, and high-performance approaches for life and material sciences applications.

Yao Hao is an assistant professor of radiation oncology and joined the medical physics faculty in 2019. Yao completed his residency in Medical Physics at Washington University in St. Louis in 2019. He received his PhD in Medical Physics from the University of Massachusetts. Before that, Yao received both a BS in Physics and MA in Logic from Shanxi University in China. His broad research interests include proton therapy, adaptive radiotherapy, brachytherapy, boron neutron capture therapy, nanomedicine, and automation and artificial intelligence in radiotherapy.

Sungje Hong is a PhD candidate majoring nuclear engineering at Missouri Science and Technology in 2017 who joined the lab for summer internship in WUSTL in 2018. Sungje completed his Master’s in mechanical engineering in Handong Global University in South Korea in 2014. His research interesting includes developing code for locally developed vorical and separated flow phenomenon in a subchannel analysis in computational fluid dynamics and verification of the code. He enjoys spending time with friends and playing golf.

Daniel (Danny) Keane graduated from Menlo-Atherton High School in 2016. He is currently pursuing degrees in Physics and Mathematics from Amherst College. Danny joined the lab in summer 2018. He was awarded a summer fellowship from the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) to conduct research at the Department of Radiation Oncology of the Washington University School of Medicine.

Bilal Khan is a sophomore at Washington University in St. Louis, majoring in physics on the biophysics track. Bilal joined the lab in Spring of 2023. His research interests include applied spectroscopy for radiation therapy dosimetry. He loves to play soccer and goes on walks in his free time.

Yazmin Leon got her PhD from Autonomous Mexico State University in 2016. She started her postdoctoral fellowship at Washington University in Fall 2017. She is working with Drs. Khan and Darafsheh. Her current research interests are in optical and dosimetric characterization of radiochromic films using different read-out systems and their applications in radiation therapy dosimetry and quality assurance.

Borna Maraghechi is a clinical physicist in the department of Radiation Oncology. He obtained his PhD in Biomedical Physics in 2016 from Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada. Before joining Washington University, he was a postdoctoral research fellow at Grand River Hospital's Regional Cancer Centre in Waterloo, Canada. From 2017 to 2019 he was a postdoctoral research associate and a clinical physicist assistant at the department of Radiation Oncology at Washington University School of Medicine where he also completed his medical physics residency in 2020. His research interests include thermal therapy and thermometry using ultrasound, gel dosimetry, and quality assurance of MR-Linacs.

Daniel (Dan) Mulrow started his graduate studies at Washington University in St. Louis in the Fall of 2016. Dan earned both a degree in chemistry and physics from the University of Virginia in the Spring of 2016. He was a PhD candidate in the Chemistry department working jointly under Dr. Arash Darafsheh in Radiation Oncology and Dr. Lee Sobotka in Chemistry. His current research interests are focused on studying the radioluminescent properties of proton irradiated materials for their application in dosimetry. Dan defended his PhD in December 2022.

Nima Tatari started pursuing his PhD degree in physics at Washington University in St. Louis in the Fall of 2015. He was a PhD candidate while in the physics department working under the supervision of Dr. Darafsheh in the department of Radiation Oncology. His research interests include computational and experimental particle therapy dosimetry. Nima graduated in September 2021.

Ava Wang is a sophomore at Washington University in St. Louis majoring in Biology and minoring in Chinese. Ava joined the lab in spring 2022. Her research interests include experimental radiotherapy dosimetry. She enjoys reading and playing video games in her free time.