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Martina Descovich, Ph.D.

Professor
Division of Physics
Department of Radiation Oncology

Meet Dr. Descovich

As an experimental physicist I studied fundamental nuclear science using radiation beams. Turning these discoveries into life-saving medical treatments is a true privilege of working at UCSF.

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Dr. Descovich is a Professor in the UCSF Department of Radiation Oncology and she is certified by the American Board of Radiology. She received her Ph.D. in Nuclear Physics from the University of Liverpool, UK, where she developed gamma ray tracking detectors to study the behavior of radioactive nuclei. She specializes in the physics of stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) and stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT), and has been the lead physicist of the robotic radiosurgery program since the installation of the CyberKnife at the Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center in 2010. Her current research is focused on robotic SBRT, with an emphasis on motion management ant target tracking.

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

2021-present	UCSF	Professor	Radiation Oncology
2015-2021	UCSF	Associate Professor	Radiation Oncology
2009-2015	UCSF	Assistant Professor	Radiation Oncology
2007-2009	UCSF	Clinical Instructor	Radiation Oncology

Awards & Honors

2004	Outstanding performance award, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
2006	Travel grant award, American Brachytherapy Society
2012	Nomination: Postdoctoral Scholar Association Outstanding Faculty Mentorship Award, UCSF
2019	Jean Pouliot Teaching Award, UCSF Radiation Oncology, Physics Residency Program
2019	Nomination: Academic Senate Distinction in Teaching Award, UCSF
2020	Lawrence Margolis, M.D. Lifetime Teaching Award, UCSF Radiation Oncology
2021	Nomination: Academic Senate Distinction in Teaching Award, UCSF

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/myncbi/martina.descovich.1/collections/59758430/public/
https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=martina+descovich&btnG=

Recent Significant Publications

Chan J., Johnson J., Lazar A. A., Braunstein S. E. , Descovich M., Gottschalk A. R., Yom S. S (2018) Stereotactic body radiation therapy for non-small cell lung cancer patients with prior history of thoracic surgery and/or radiation therapy: the influence of smoking, size and central location on risk of complications, Journal of Radiation Oncology 7(1):53-61 https://doi.org/10.1007/s13566-017-0330-7

Kearney V., Descovich M., Sudhyadhom A., Cheung J.P., McGuinness C., Solberg T.D. (2018) A Continuous arc delivery optimization algorithm for CyberKnife M6, Med Phys. 45(8) pp. 3861-3870. doi: 10.1002/mp.13022

Chapman C., McGuinness C., Gottschalk A.R., Yom S.S., Garsa A., Anwar M., Braunstein S., Sudhyadhom A., Keall P., Descovich M. (2018) Influence of Respiratory Motion Management Technique on Radiation Pneumonitis Risk with Robotic Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy, Journal of Applied Clinical Medical Physics 19(4), pp. 48-57.

Kearney V., Chan J.W., Haaf S., Descovich M., Solberg T.D. (2018) DoseNet: a Volumetric Dose Prediction Algorithm using 3D Fully-Convolutional Neural Networks, Physics in Medicine and Biology, Phys. Med. Biol. 63 (23)5022 – published Dec 4, 2018

Kearney V., Chan J.W., Wang T., Perry A., Descovich M., Yom S.S., Solberg T.D., (2020) DoseGAN: a Generative Adversarial Network for Synthetic Dose Prediction Using Attention-Gated Discrimination and Generation, Scientific reports, Springer Nature, 10 (1), 1-8. Jul 6;10(1):11073. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-68062-7. PMID: 32632116

Nano T. F., Capaldi D. P. I., Yeung T., Chuang C. F., Wand L., Descovich M. (2020) Technical Note: Performance of CyberKnife Tracking Accuracy Using Low-Dose CT and kV Imaging, Med Phys 47(12):6163-6170. doi: 10.1002/mp.14537.

Vinas L., Scholey J., Descovich M., Kearney V., Sudhyadhom A. (2021) Improved contrast and noise of megavoltage computed tomography (MVCT) through cycle-consistent generative machine learning, Medical Physics 48 (2) 676-690

Chen W. C., Li Y., Lazar, A., Altan A., Descovich M., Nano T., Ziemer B., Sudhyadhom A., Cunha A., Thomas T., Gottschalk A., Hsu I-C., Roach M. (2021) Stereotactic body radiotherapy and high-dose rate brachytherapy boost in combination with intensity modulated radiotherapy for localized prostate cancer: a single-institution propensity score matched analysis, Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys, 110 (2), pp 429-437, 1 June 2021.

Laurent D., Smith A. E., Bessler W. K., Mendonca M., Chin-Sinex H., Descovich M., Horvai A. E., Clapp D. W., Nakamura J. L. (2021) Irradiation of Nf1 plexiform neurofibromas drives disease progression, Neuro-Oncology Advances, Neuro-Oncology Advances, Volume 3, Issue 1, January-December 2021, vdab063,

Scholey J., Vinas L., Kearney V., Yom S., Larson P., Descovich M., and Sudhyadhom A. (2022) Improved accuracy of electron density and proton stopping power through CycleGAN machine learning, Physics in Medicine and Biology 67(10)