The Radiological Sciences program at the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences is proudly looking back at its 30-year history while confidently moving forward with new leadership, a gathering of alumni and honoring a late professor.

New director

Dr. Geoffrey Clarke, director of graduate programs in Radiological Sciences at UT Health San Antonio, will be stepping down this summer and Dr. Andrew Sampson will be taking over.

“I’ll be around if they need a shoulder but I’m going to be doing more research and less of an administrative role,” Dr. Clarke explained.

He said that with the passing of his colleague and friend Dr. Beth Goins, he realized it was time to step aside.

“Beth did a courageous and remarkable thing when she was diagnosed. She told Dr. Peter Fox ‘you need to hire someone to replace me and I will train them.’ This really inspired me to do the same.”

Recent graduate Amy Brito Delgado explained that she is sad to see Dr. Clarke step down but understands his decision.

“I love Dr. Clarke. He was my guide during graduate school. All of us see him as a paternal figure so it’s tough to see him step down,” Delgado said.

Student Jodie Gray also had kind words to say about Dr. Clarke.

“Dr. Clarke is a very enthusiastic and attentive teacher. Any time a particular topic doesn’t quite click during class or through research efforts, he’s able to put himself in students’ shoes and totally reframe an idea to make it understandable. ‘Try to think of it this way…’ is common phrase used by Dr. Clarke when breaking down complex concepts in physics. He has unlimited patience and energy when it comes to helping students,” Gray said.

Alumni reunion

The anniversary also coincides with the American Association of Physicists in Medicine annual meeting in San Antonio which took place on July 14-18 at the Henry B. González Convention Center.

“The convention hasn’t been here since 1999 so it’s great timing since a lot of our alumni are coming in for the meeting. It’s become my favorite part of going to conferences — just to see our former students,” Dr. Clarke said.

To celebrate, the program had an alumni gathering at the house of Dr. Gary Fullerton, the first director on Sunday, July 14 at 6 p.m.

“We’ve had informal gatherings at the AAPM conference before usually at local restaurants which were more of a happy hour thing but this is the first time we’ve ever had a formal gathering of our alumni,” Dr. Clarke said.

Dr. Clarke explained that he is very proud of the radiological sciences alumni.

“Now they run their own clinical practices, a few are at Harvard, Columbia or Johns Hopkins,” he said. “All our graduates go to good places.”

Dr. Beth Goins Scholarship

The program is also starting a fund for Dr. Beth Goins which will be a scholarship for students. Dr. Goins, a biochemist and professor/research in the Department of Radiology, passed away Jan. 6 after a courageous battle with cancer. She was 58.

She joined UT Health San Antonio in 1991. She was an accomplished scientist who developed several diagnostic and therapeutic methods for targeted cancer treatment using liposome encapsulation. She was a key member of the Graduate Program in Radiological Sciences, serving as Chairperson of the Committee on Graduate Studies.

She was a pioneer in biological nanotechnology and her contributions to this scientific field are numerous, including 100 scientific papers, 28 book chapters, mainly in the field of nanotechnology, many of which are highly cited. She was one of the very first scientists to investigate the use of nanotechnology in biology and to use nanoparticles for delivering drugs.

Email Loretta Edwards for more information on how to contribute to the fund.

A look back

The Radiological Sciences program was started by Dr. Gary Fullerton in the Department of Radiology in 1989.

“Initially the program had a master’s and a Ph.D. program focused on imaging but as the cancer center grew, the program started to take on more therapy physics graduates,” said Dr. Clarke.

As one of the longest running radiological sciences programs in the nation, the program has had many successes. It was the first graduate program on campus to accept M.D./Ph.D. students before it was formalized into a program. It was the third in the nation to implement a Doctorate of Medical Physics degree which caters towards training clinical medical physicists.

The Graduate Program in Radiological Sciences is a consolidated program in the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (at UT Health San Antonio. The consolidation of the program was approved by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board in September 2013. The result is an extremely transdisciplinary graduate program with students from diverse educational backgrounds including physics, medicine, biology, neuroscience, computer science, and bioengineering.

“Radiological sciences is an extremely well-rounded program that unifies many diverse disciplines into one. The program is also well connected across campus,” said Gray, who is studying diagnostic medical physics and neuroscience imaging. “Any time students need additional resources to enhance their learning experience or boost research impact, collaborations are encouraged and facilitated through the program.”

This article was written by Charlotte Anthony, marketing specialist at the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at UT Health San Antonio.