Narayan Sahoo
Houston, TX| Grant Category: | Fulbright-Nehru Academic & Professional Excellence Award (Teaching & Research) |
| Project Title: | Improving the Efficacy of Proton Therapy by Reducing the Effect of Uncertainties and by Novel Planning |
| Field of Study: | Physics |
| Home Institution: | The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX |
| Host Institution: | National Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhubaneswar, Odisha |
| Grant Start Month: | December 2025 |
| Duration of Grant: | Five months |
Brief Bio:
Dr. Narayan Sahoo is a professor in the Department of Radiation Physics of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He received his PhD in physics from the University at Albany, New York, in 1986. He pursued postdoctoral research in physics at the University at Albany from 1986 to 1990 and then completed his medical physics fellowship from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York in 1992. He was part of the medical physics faculty of Albany Medical Center from December 1993 to August 2004. Dr. Sahoo has been with MD Anderson Cancer Center since August 2004 and at its Proton Therapy Center since March 2006. He currently serves as the chief of the Proton Therapy Physics Group. His professional interests are in the areas of radiation dosimetry, radiation biophysics, treatment planning, and quality assurance related to proton therapy. He is a co-author of more than 150 peer-reviewed publications and 10 book chapters, and has co-edited a book on proton therapy. He is an associate editor with the Journal of Applied Clinical Medical Physics and is also a fellow of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine and the American College of Radiology.
Proton therapy plans are sensitive to setup, range and radiobiological effectiveness uncertainties. There are many novel physical and biological processes in proton therapy that are known to reduce normal tissue damage and enhance tumor control. The aim of Dr. Sahoo’s Fulbright-Nehru research project is to explore innovative designing of robust and molecular image-guided proton therapy treatment plans to minimize the effect of uncertainties on planned dose distribution and to utilize the physical and biological advantages of proton beam dose distribution for improving therapeutic gain by increasing tumor control probability and decreasing normal tissue complication probability.