Julianne Pollard-Larkin

Last updated
Julianne Pollard-Larkin
Born
Augusta, Georgia
Alma mater University of Miami
UCLA
Scientific career
Fields Medical physics
Institutions University of Texas
MD Anderson Cancer Center

Julianne Pollard-Larkin is an American medical physicist, professor at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX and is also the Physics Service Chief for the Thoracic service of MD Anderson's Division of Radiation Oncology. She is also the chair of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee. [1]

Contents

Biography and education

Pollard-Larkin grew up in Miami, Florida, as the daughter of a schoolteacher and an Army Lieutenant Colonel. Even as a child she was interested in science, and at age eleven she developed an interest in space after seeing a picture of NASA astronaut Mae Jemison on the cover of a magazine. She double majored in Physics and Mathematics at the University of Miami where she received her Bachelor of Science. Towards the end of her undergraduate degree her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. Through accompanying her mother to radiation therapy, Pollard-Larkin met a medical physicist and learned about the existence of that field. Subsequently, she attended the University of California, Los Angeles where she was the first African American woman to earn her PhD in Biomedical Physics at UCLA. [2] [3] During her PhD, her research focused on evaluating radiomodulatory agents on cell lines derived from patients with the rare radiosensitive genetic disorder Ataxia-Telangiectasia. [4]

Career

After graduating from UCLA in 2008, Pollard-Larkin began her clinical residency in medical physics at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. In 2010, she became an instructor in the Department of Radiation Physics in the Division of Radiation Oncology at the MD Anderson Cancer Center, subsequently becoming an assistant professor there in 2012. In 2011, she was certified by the American Board of Radiology. In 2019, she was promoted to associate professor. [5] Recently, in 2025, Dr. Pollard-Larkin was promoted to full professor. [6] As a clinical medical physicist, she dedicates the bulk of her work on clinical research focused on motion management for lung patients, neutron measurements for implanted electronic devices and patient communication for radiation oncology patients. She is also a fierce advocate for encouraging students to pursue careers in physics and STEM. [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20]

Personal life

Pollard-Larkin lives in Houston, Texas. She is married and a mother of 2 children. [21] [22]

References

  1. ↑ "Julianne Pollard-Larkin". The University of Kansas. 25 July 2017.
  2. ↑ "Who is radiation physicist Julianne Pollard-Larkin?". MD Anderson Cancer Center. November 2017.
  3. ↑ "Julianne Pollard-Larkin". American Physical Society. July 25, 2019.
  4. ↑ "Dr. Julianne Pollard-Larkin". MD Anderson Cancer Center.
  5. ↑ "Julianne Pollard-Larkin, Ph.D." MD Anderson Cancer Center.
  6. ↑ https://www.linkedin.com/in/julie-pollard-larkin-357bb93b/
  7. ↑ "CUWiP at WVU | Conference for Undergrad Women in Physics | CUWiP Speakers".
  8. ↑ Roso-Mares, A.; St James, S.; Cetnar, A.; Pollard-Larkin, J.; Jagsi, R.; Evans, S. B.; Moran, J. M.; Cerviño, L. I. (2025). "Gender Diversity in the American Association of Physicists in Medicine Annual Meeting: A 2017 Benchmark Analysis of Speakers and Moderators". International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics. doi:10.1016/j.ijrobp.2025.08.067. PMID   41016491.
  9. ↑ Brooks FMD; Glenn, M. C.; Hernandez, V.; Saez, J.; Mehrens, H.; Pollard-Larkin, J. M.; Howell, R. M.; Peterson, C. B.; Nelson, C. L.; Clark, C. H.; Kry, S. F. (2024). "A radiotherapy community data-driven approach to determine which complexity metrics best predict the impact of atypical TPS beam modeling on clinical dose calculation accuracy". Journal of Applied Clinical Medical Physics. 25 (5): e14318. doi:10.1002/acm2.14318. PMC   11087168 . PMID   38427776.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: article number as page number (link)
  10. ↑ Rankin, J.; Bedrava, J.; Covington, E.; Johnson, J. L.; Pollard-Larkin, J.; Schipper, M. J.; Castillo, R.; Woodward, M.; Xing, Y. H.; Paradis, K. C. (2024). "Women in the Medical Physics Workforce: Insights from Membership Trends of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine, 1993 to 2023". International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics. 119 (5): 1336–1343. doi:10.1016/j.ijrobp.2024.02.013. PMID   38387813.
  11. ↑ Hernandez, S.; Burger, H.; Nguyen, C.; Paulino, A. C.; Lucas, J. T.; Faught, A. M.; Duryea, J.; Netherton, T.; Rhee, D. J.; Cardenas, C.; Howell, R.; Fuentes, D.; Pollard-Larkin, J.; Court, L.; Parkes, J. (2023). "Validation of an automated contouring and treatment planning tool for pediatric craniospinal radiation therapy". Frontiers in Oncology. 13 1221792. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2023.1221792 . PMC   10556471 . PMID   37810961.
  12. ↑ Brooks FMD; Glenn, M. C.; Hernandez, V.; Saez, J.; Mehrens, H.; Pollard-Larkin, J. M.; Howell, R. M.; Peterson, C. B.; Nelson, C. L.; Clark, C. H.; Kry, S. F. (2024). "A radiotherapy community data-driven approach to determine which complexity metrics best predict the impact of atypical TPS beam modeling on clinical dose calculation accuracy". Journal of Applied Clinical Medical Physics. 25 (5): e14318. doi:10.1002/acm2.14318. PMC   11087168 . PMID   38427776.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: article number as page number (link)
  13. ↑ Abana, C. O.; Damen, P. J.; Van Rossum, P. S.; Bravo, P. L.; Wei, X.; Pollard-Larkin, J. M.; Nitsch, P. L.; Murphy, M. B.; Hofstetter, W. L.; Liao, Z.; Lin, S. H. (2024). "Esophageal Cancer Outcomes After Definitive Chemotherapy with Intensity Modulated Proton Therapy". International Journal of Particle Therapy. 11 100009. doi:10.1016/j.ijpt.2024.100009. PMC   11095094 . PMID   38757075.
  14. ↑ Marquez, B.; Wooten, Z. T.; Salazar, R. M.; Peterson, C. B.; Fuentes, D. T.; Whitaker, T. J.; Jhingran, A.; Pollard-Larkin, J.; Prajapati, S.; Beadle, B.; Cardenas, C. E.; Netherton, T. J.; Court, L. E. (2024). "Analyzing the Relationship between Dose and Geometric Agreement Metrics for Auto-Contouring in Head and Neck Normal Tissues". Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland). 14 (15): 1632. doi: 10.3390/diagnostics14151632 . PMC   11311423 . PMID   39125508.
  15. ↑ Brooks FMD; Glenn, M. C.; Hernandez, V.; Saez, J.; Pollard-Larkin, J. M.; Peterson, C. B.; Howell, R. M.; Nelson, C. L.; Clark, C. H.; Kry, S. F. (2025). "Is the Imaging Radiation Oncology Core Head and Neck Credentialing Phantom an Effective Surrogate for Different Anatomic Sites?". International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics. 121 (3): 811–821. doi:10.1016/j.ijrobp.2024.09.053. PMID   39362313.
  16. ↑ Abana, C. O.; Carriere, P. P.; Damen, P. J.; van Rossum PSN; Yoder, A. K.; Bravo, P. L.; Wei, X.; Pollard-Larkin, J. M.; Nitsch, P. L.; Murphy, M. B.; Hofstetter, W. L.; Liao, Z.; Lin, S. H. (2025). "Comparative Outcomes and Toxicity in Patients with Esophageal Cancer After Trimodality Therapy with Step-and-Shoot Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy Versus Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy: The MD Anderson Experience". Clinical Oncology (Royal College of Radiologists (Great Britain)). 38 103668. doi:10.1016/j.clon.2024.103668. PMID   39706143.
  17. ↑ Marquez, B.; Fuentes, D.; Peterson, C.; Rhee, D. J.; Douglas, R.; Mumme, R.; Jhingran, A.; Pollard-Larkin, J.; Prajapati, S.; Whitaker, T.; Court, L. (2025). "Automatic contour quality assurance using deep-learning based contours". Physics in Medicine and Biology. 70 (14). Bibcode:2025PMB....70n5026M. doi:10.1088/1361-6560/ade5e6. PMID   40532726.
  18. ↑ Karimzad, K.; Shah, S.; Kry, S. F.; Peeler, C.; Pollard-Larkin, J.; Koduri, A.; Chacon Portillo, M.; Chauhan, S.; Amatullah, A.; Miller, C.; Strang, A.; Song, J.; Mir Zaman Shah, K.; Lopez, D.; Wagner, D.; Tsai, J.; Vachhani, S.; Thakar, D.; Iliescu, C.; Durand, J. B.; Dougherty, A. H.; Kantharia, B.; Deswal, A. (2025). "Safety of Contemporary Radiation Therapy in Patients with Cardiac Implantable Electronic Devices: Implications for Clinical Practice". Journal of the American Heart Association. 14 (17): e042937. doi:10.1161/JAHA.125.042937. PMC   12553441 . PMID   40847479.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: article number as page number (link)
  19. ↑ Sadagopan, R.; Martin-Paulpeter, R. M.; Peeler, C. R.; Wang, X.; Nitsch, P.; Pollard-Larkin, J. M. (2025). "Reduced Computed Tomography Scan Speed Improves Alignment Errors for Patients Undergoing Thoracic Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy". Cancers. 17 (16): 2646. doi: 10.3390/cancers17162646 . PMC   12384547 . PMID   40867275.
  20. ↑ Roso-Mares, A.; St James, S.; Cetnar, A.; Pollard-Larkin, J.; Jagsi, R.; Evans, S. B.; Moran, J. M.; Cerviño, L. I. (2025). "Gender Diversity in the American Association of Physicists in Medicine Annual Meeting: A 2017 Benchmark Analysis of Speakers and Moderators". International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics. doi:10.1016/j.ijrobp.2025.08.067. PMID   41016491.
  21. ↑ "The Focal Spot: Julianne Pollard-Larkin". RADformation. September 15, 2020.
  22. ↑ "We Are Scientists".
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