• Publications
• Experience
• About

Professional Focus

Dr. Descovich provides physics support for the UCSF radiosurgery program, including Gamma knife and Cyberknife treatments. Dr Descovich is also responsible for maintenance and quality assurance of linear accelerators used for conventional radiation therapy.  

Dr. Descovich research focuses on the development of new applications for Megavoltage Cone Beam Computer Tomography. MVCBCT is a new imaging technique used in external beam radiation therapy. It provides a 3D image of the patient in the treatment position, moments before the treatment delivery. Real time information on the patient’s anatomy enables to increase the conformality of the dose delivered to the tumor, increasing tumor control and reducing normal tissue complications. Dr. Descovich is also investigating the feasibility of using a limited angle reconstruction technique (Megavoltage Cone Beam Digital Tomosynthesis) for imaging non-static objects. This technique will lead to better methods for imaging pulmonary lesions, and will enable to improve the management of respiratory motion for patient undergoing external beam radiation therapy.

Education

1994-1999	Università degli Studi de Padova, Italy	BS/MS	Physics
1999-2003	University Of Liverpool, UK	PhD	Nuclear Physics
2003-2005	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA	Post-Doctoral Research Fellow	Nuclear Science
2005-2007	University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA	Medical Physics Resident	Department of Radiation Oncology

Professional Experience

2007-present

UCSF

Clinical Instructor

Radiation Oncology

Awards & Honors

2004	Outstanding performance award, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
2006	Travel grant award, American Brachytherapy Society

Publications

M. Descovich, P.J. Nolan, A.J. Boston, J. Dobson, S. Gros, J.R. Cresswell, J. Simpson, I. Lazarus, P.H. Regan, J.J. Valiente-Dobon, P. Sellin, C.J. Pearson, The position response of a large-volume segmented germanium detector, Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A, Volume 553, Issue 3, p. 512-521 (2005).

M. Descovich, I.Y. Lee, P. Fallon, M. Cromaz, A.O. Macchiavelli, D.C. Radford, K. Vetter, R.M. Clark, M.A. Deleplanque, F.S. Stephens, D. Ward, In-beam measurement of the position resolution of a highly segmented coaxial germanium detector, Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A, Volume 553, Issue 3, p. 535-542 (2005).

M. Descovich, I.Y. Lee, P.N. Luke, R.M. Clark, M. Cromaz, M.A. Deleplanque, R.M. Diamond, P. Fallon, A.O. Macchiavelli, E. Rodriguez-Vieitez, F.S. Stephens, D. Ward, Effects of neutron damage on the performance of large volume segmented germanium detectors, Nucl. Instrum. Meth. A. 545/1-2 (2005) 199-209.

M. Descovich, I.Y. Lee, M. Cromaz, R.M. Clark, M.A. Deleplanque, R.M. Diamond, P. Fallon, A.O. Macchiavelli, E. Rodriguez-Vieitez, F.S. Stephens, D. Ward, Gretina: status and recent progress, Nucl. Instrum. Meth. B, Volume 241, December 2005.

Hansen EK, Larson DA, Aubin M, Chen J, Descovich M, Gillis AM, Morin O, Xia P, Pouliot J., Image Guided Radiotherapy using Megavoltage Cone-Beam CT for Treatment of Paraspinous Tumors in the Presence of Orthopedic Hardware, Int. J. Radiation Oncology Biol. Phys. 2006, 66(2), 323-326.

Morin O., Chen J., Gillis A., Aubin M., Aubry J.F., Bose S., Chen H., Descovich, M., Xia P. and Pouliot J., Dose Calculation using Megavoltage Cone-Beam CT, Int. J. Radiation Oncology Biol. Phys., 67(4), 1202-1210; 2007.

Morin O., Gillis A., Descovich M., Chen J., Aubin M., Aubry J.F., Chen J., Xia P. and Pouliot J., Patient dose considerations for routine megavoltage cone-beam CT imaging, Med. Phys. 34, 1819 (2007).

Descovich M., Morin O., Aubry J.F., Aubin M., Chen J., Bani-Hahemi A. and Pouliot J., Characteristics of Megavolatage Cone-Beam Digital Tomosynthesis, Med. Phys. 35(4), 1310-1316 (2008)

M. Descovich, B Fowble, A. Bevan, N. Schechter, C. Park, P. Xia, Comparison between Direct Aperture Optimized IMRT and Forward Planning IMRT for whole breast irradiation, submitted to Int. J. Radiation Oncology Biol. Phys., 2008