Emily Draeger, PhD, DABR

Dr. Draeger's research interests span a wide range of topics, including prompt gamma-based proton range verification, dosimetry in radiobiology, brachytherapy applications, stereotactic radiosurgery, advancements in portal dosimetry, and Monte Carlo modeling.

As a postoctoral fellow at the University of Maryland, Dr. Draeger investigated the use of an industrial gamma camera for prompt gamma-based proton range verification. This work resulted in several awards, including the Abell Foundation Award for Top Biotechnology Innovation and the AAMP Science Council Award for Top Abstract, as well as conference presentations, publications, and a patent for the image processing techniques created using this technology.

After completing her postdoctoral fellowship, Dr. Draeger took a position as a research scientist in the Division of Translational Radiation Sciences at the University of Maryland. During this time, she worked with her colleagues in the division to report on the quality of dosimetric reporting in radiobiology publications over a 20 year period. This work highlighted shortcoming in how dosimetric details are reported in radiobiology publications, including how lack of reporting can lead to difficulties in reproducing previous experiments. This work lead to a publication in the Red Journal, a Best Oral Presentation Award from COMP/CARO/CAMRT, and an invitation to speak at the 2021 Radiation Research Society Annual Meeting.

At Yale University and Yale-New Haven Hospital, Dr. Draeger's research has focused on brachytherapy applications, stereotactic radiosurgery, portal dosimetry, and Monte Carlo modeling. Her work in brachytherapy includes investigating the use of multiple dwell positions within Leipzig-style applicators to increase the viable treatment area for these applicators, as well as Monte Carlo modeling of various brachytherapy applicators using TOPAS. Her work with Leipzig-style applicators has lead to a publication, presentations at AAPM, ABS, and ASTRO conferences, and an invitation to speak at the 2022 AAPM Spring Clinical Meeting. Her work in stereotactic radiosurgery mainly focuses on the Gamma Knife, and includes investigating the use of inverse planning for Gamma Knife and a dosimetric comparison of a novel rotating gamma source system to the Gamma Knife Icon. She is also investigating portal dosimetry, and is focused on determining more accurate ways to perform portal dose verification that conform to AAPM TG-218.