Christopher L. Nelson, Ph.D., DABR
Department of Radiation Physics, Division of Radiation Oncology
Present Title & Affiliation
Primary Appointment
Assistant Professor, Department of Radiation Physics - Patient Care, Division of Radiation Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Education & Training
Degree-Granting Education
| 2007 | The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston - Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Houston, TX, USA, PHD, Medical Physics |
| 2003 | East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, USA, MS, Medical Physics |
| 2001 | East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, USA, BA, Chemistry/Physics |
Postgraduate Training
| 2015-2015 | The Physics of Elekta Linear Accelerators, Elekta, Atlanta, GA |
| 2015-2015 | Pinnacle Physics Modeling, Philips Medical Systems, Cleveland, OH |
| 2012-2012 | The Physics of Truebeam Linear Accelerators, Varian Medical Systems, Las Vegas, NV |
| 2008-2008 | Oncentra Brachytherapy Physics Course, Nucletron, Columbia, MD |
| 2004-2004 | Dosimetry of High Energy Electron and X-ray Therapy Machines Short Course, The University of Texas, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX |
| 2004-2004 | External Beam Dosimetry, Short Course, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX |
| 2004-2004 | Introduction to Radiotherapy Physics Principles and Calibrations, Short Course, The University of Texas, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX |
| 2004-2004 | Interstitial and Intracavitary Dosimetry: Basic Methods and Calculations Short Course, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX |
Board Certifications
| 2021 | American Board of Radiology |
Experience & Service
Academic Appointments
Associate Professor, Department of Radiation Physics - Patient Care, Division of Radiation Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 2017 - Present
Associate Professor, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, GSBS, Houston, TX, 2017 - 2022
Assistant Professor, Department of Radiation Physics - Patient Care, Division of Radiation Oncology, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, GSBS, Houston, TX, 2015 - 2017
Instructor, Department of Radiation Physics - Patient Care, Division of Radiation Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 2007 - 2010
Institutional Committee Activities
Committee Member, Radiation Oncology Cancer Network Steering Committee, 2020 - Present
Co Chair, Technology Workgroup: Breast Treatment Standardization, 2020 - 2021
Member, Technology Workstream: RadOnc Technology Workstream, 2020 - 2021
Member, Review Panel, ROSI, Advanced Imaging 2020, 2020 - 2020
Member, UTMB/HAL Integration working group, 2020 - Present
Committee Member, Burnout Committee, 2018 - 2019
Member, RO-Clinical Research, 2017 - Present
Committee Member, Patient Transfer Committee, 2017 - Present
Committee Member, RCC-TMC RO Expansion Committee (CNS), 2015 - Present
Committee Member, Medical Physics Residency Rotation Supervisory Committee, 2015 - Present
Committee Member, Radiation Safety Committee, 2013 - Present
Honors & Awards
| 2006 | UT-H Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences Travel Award |
| 2005 | LAP Award of Excellence for the JACMP Best Radiation Oncology Article |
| 2005 | UT-H Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences Travel Award |
| 2004 | UT-H Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences Travel Award |
| 2003 | UT-H Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences Travel Award |
Professional Memberships
Selected Publications
Peer-Reviewed Articles
- Stecklein SR, Shaitelman SF, Babiera GV, Bedrosian I, Black DM, Ballo MT, Arzu I, Strom EA, Reed VK, Dvorak T, Smith BD, Woodward WA, Hoffman KE, Schlembach PJ, Kirsner SM, Nelson CL, Yang J, Guerra W, Dibaj S, Bloom ES. Prospective Comparison of Toxicity and Cosmetic Outcome After Accelerated Partial Breast Irradiation with Conformal External Beam Radiotherapy or Single-Entry Multilumen Intracavitary Brachytherapy. Pract Radiat Oncol 9(1):e4-e13, 2019. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 30125673.
- McCarroll RE, Beadle BM, Balter PA, Burger H, Cardenas CE, Dalvie S, Followill DS, Kisling KD, Mejia M, Naidoo K, Nelson CL, Peterson CB, Vorster K, Wetter J, Zhang L, Court LE, Yang J. Retrospective Validation and Clinical Implementation of Automated Contouring of Organs at Risk in the Head and Neck: A Step Toward Automated Radiation Treatment Planning for Low- and Middle-Income Countries. J Glob Oncol 4:1-11, 2018. PMID: 30110221.
- Court LE, Kisling K, McCarroll R, Zhang L, Yang J, Simonds H, du Toit M, Trauernicht C, Burger H, Parkes J, Mejia M, Bojador M, Balter P, Branco D, Steinmann A, Baltz G, Gay S, Anderson B, Cardenas C, Jhingran A, Shaitelman S, Bogler O, Schmeller K, Followill D, Howell R, Nelson C, Peterson C, Beadle B. Radiation Planning Assistant - A Streamlined, Fully Automated Radiotherapy Treatment Planning System. J Vis Exp(134):57411, 2018. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 29708544.
- Holliday EB, Kirsner SM, Thames HD, Mason BE, Nelson CL, Bloom ES. Lower mean heart dose with deep inspiration breath hold-whole breast irradiation compared with brachytherapy-based accelerated partial breast irradiation for women with left-sided tumors. Pract Radiat Oncol 7(2):80-85, 2017. e-Pub 2016. PMID: 28274398.
- Robinson RC, Nelson CL, Bloom ES, Kisling KD, Mason BE, Fisher GD, Kirsner SM. Contralateral breast dose from partial breast brachytherapy. J Appl Clin Med Phys 16(6):17-22, 2015. e-Pub 2015. PMID: 26699549.
- Nelson CL, Mason BE, Robinson RC, Kisling KD, Kirsner SM. Commissioning results of an automated treatment planning verification system. J Appl Clin Med Phys 15(5):57-65, 2014. PMID: 25207567.
- Gifford KA, Pacha O, Herbert AA, Kirsner SM, Nelson CL, Ballow MB, Bloom ES. A new paradigm for calculating skin dose. Brachytherapy 12(2):114-9, 2013. e-Pub 2012. PMID: 22884255.
- Gifford KA, Nelson CL, Kirsner SM, Kisling KD, Ballo MT, Bloom ES. On the Feasibility of treating to 1.5 cm PTV with a commercial single-entry hybrid applicator in APBI Breast Brachytherapy. J Contemp Brachytherapy 4(1):29-33, 2012. e-Pub 2012. PMID: 23346137.
- Bloom ES, Kirsner S, Mason BE, Nelson CL, Hunt KK, Baumann DP, Gifford KA. Accelerated partial breast irradiation using the strut-adjusted volume implant single-entry hybrid catheter in brachytherapy for breast cancer in the setting of breast augmentation. Brachytherapy 10(3):178-83, 2011. e-Pub 2010. PMID: 20719576.
- Nelson C, Balter P, Morice R, Bucci K, Dong L, Tucker S, Vedam S, Chang J, Starkschall G. Evaluation of tumor position and PTV margins using image-guidance and respiratory gating. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 76(5):1578-85, 2010. e-Pub 2010. PMID: 20137865.
- Briere TM, Beddar S, Balter P, Murthy R, Gupta S, Nelson C, Starkschall G, Gillin MT, Krishnan S.. Respiratory gating with EPID-based verification: the MDACC experience. Phys Med Biol 54(11):3379-91, 2009. e-Pub 2009. PMID: 19436104.
- Nelson, CL, Kirsner SM, Gifford KA. SU‐FF‐T‐68: On the Dosimetric Differences Between Single Dwell and Multiple‐Dwell Accelerated Partial Breast Brachytherapy Plans Delivered with a Single Catheter Spherical Balloon. Med Phys 36(6,Part 9):2535, 2009.
- Nelson C, Balter P, Morice R, Choi B, Kudchadker R, Bucci K, Chang J, Dong L, Tucker S, Vedam S, Briere T, Starkschall G. A technique for reducing patient setup uncertanties by aligning and verifying daily position of a moving tumor using implanted fudicials. J Appl Clin Med Phys 9(4):110-22, 2008. PMID: 19020478.
- Britton K, Starkschall G, Tucker S, Pan T, Nelson C, Chang J, Cox J, Mohan R, Komaki R. Assessment of gross tumor volume regression and motion changes during radiotherapy for non-small-cell lung cancer as measured by four-dimensional computed tomography. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 68(4):1036-46, 2007. e-Pub 2007. PMID: 17379442.
- Nelson C, Starkschall G, Balter P, Morice RC, Stevens CW, Chang JY. Assessment of lung tumor motion and setup uncertanties using implanted fiducials. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 67(3):915-23, 2007. PMID: 17293241.
- Nelson C, Starkschall G, Chang JY. The potential for dose escalation in lung cancer as a result of systematically reducing margins used to generate planning target volume. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 65(2):573-86, 2006. PMID: 16690439.
- Cody DD, Nelson CL, Bradley WM, Wislez M, Juroske D, Price RE, Zhou X, Bekele BN, Kurie JM. Murine lung tumor measurement using respiratory-gated micro-computer tomography. Invest Radiol 40(5):263-9, 2005. PMID: 15829823.
- Nelson C, Starkschall G, Balter P, Fitzpatrick MJ, Antolak JA, Tolani N, Prado K. Respiration-correlated treatment delivery using feedback-guided breath hold: a technical study. Med Phys 32(1):175-81, 2005. PMID: 15719968.
- Fitzpatrick MJ, Starkschall G, Balter P, Antola JA, Guerrero T, Nelson C, Keall P, Mohan R. A novel platform simulating irregular motion to enhance assessment of respiration-correlated raditation therapy procedures. J Appl Clin Med Phys 6(1):13-21, 2005. e-Pub 2005. PMID: 15770194.
Abstracts
- Nelson C, Nguyen C, Amirmazaheri M, Court L, Martel M, Cardenas C, Yang J. SU-K-302-04 Implementation of a real-time contouring feedback tool to reduce contouring variability. Med Phys 46(6):e178, 2019.
- Nelson C, Garcia M, Calderon E, Kirsner S. SU‐F‐T‐306: Validation of Mobius 3D and FX for Elekta Linear Accelerators. Med Phys 43(6,Part17):3533, 2016. e-Pub 2016.
- Nelson C, Garcia M, Mason B, Kirsner S. SU-F-T-487: On-Site Beam Matching of An Elekta Infinity with Agility MLC with An Elekta Versa HD. Med Phys 43(6,Part20):3575, 2016. e-Pub 2016.
- McCarrol R, Beadle B, Yang J, Zhang L, Meija M, Kisling K, Balter P, Stingo F, Nelson C, Followill D, Court L. TU-H-CAMPUS-JeP1-02: Fully Automatic Verification of Automatically Contoured Normal Tissues in the Head and Neck. Med Phys 43(6):3778, 2016.
- Holliday EB, Kirsner SM, Thames HD, Mason BE, Nelson CL, Bloom ES. Higher mean heart dose with brachytherapy-based accelerated partial breast irradiation. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 93(3):S60-S61, 2015.
- K Kisling, L Court, S Kirsner, C Nelson. SU‐E‐T‐276: Dose calculation accuracy with a standard beam model for extended SSD treatments. Med Phys 42(6,Part16):3396, 2015.
- C Nelson, J Ohrt, B Mason, S Kirsner. SU-E-T-392: Evaluation of Ion Chamber/Film and Log File Based QA to Detect Delivery Errors. Med Phys 42(6,Part18):3424, 2015.
- K. Kisling, C. Nelson, G. Chronowski, B. Mason, S. Kirsner. Evaluation of a System for Independent Treatment Plan and Delivery Verification. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 90(1):S736, 2014.
- R. Robinson, C. Nelson, K. Kisling, G. Fisher, S. Kirsner. APBI Contralateral Breast Dose. Med Phys 16(6):17, 2013.
- C. Nelson, S. Davidson, B Mason, S. Kirsner. Commissioning of a Commercial Treatment Planning System Verification Software Package. Med Phys 40(6,Part 14):263-4, 2013.
- C Nelson, K Gifford, P Balter, K Kisling, S Kirsner. A Technique for Treating Patients Outside the Mosaiq R&V System for TrueBeam Users (or 4DTC). Med Phys 39(6,Part 13):3752-3, 2012. PMID: 28517332.
- C Nelson, K Gifford, K Kisling, E Bloom, S Kirsner. An Automated Quality Assurance Tool for HDR Treatment Planning. Med Phys 39(6,Part 12):3745, 2012. PMID: 28517816.
- E. Bloom, T. Whitsell, S. Kirsner, C. Nelson, B. Mason, M. Ballo, K. Gifford. Can PTV_EVAL be used as surrogate for normal breast tissue in the determination of V150 and V200. Radiotherapy and Oncology 103(2S):S50, 2012.
- Bloom ES, Gifford K, Kirsner S, Nelson C, Mason B, Munsell M, Bejarano M, Hoover S, Hunt K, Bedrosian I, Babiera G. The importance of Multidisciplinary Collaboration Between Surgeon and Radiation Oncologist for Optimal Choice and Placement of Single-entry Brachytherapy Catheters for Accelerated Partial Breast irradiation. Ann Surg Oncol 19, 2012.
- Nelson C, Gifford K, Kirsner S, Shah S, Bloom E, Mason B, Arzu I. SU‐E‐J‐144: Analysis of Intra-Fraction Chest Wall Motion During Breath Hold Treatment for Left Sided Breast Cancer. Med Phys 38(6,Part 9):3476, 2011.
- Gifford K, Hunter L, Ballo M, Kirsner S, Mason B, Nelson C. Verification of the Accuracy of a Commercial Pre-Treatment IMRT QA Software. Med Phys 38(6,Part 17):3586, 2011.
- Gifford KA, Nelson CL, Kirsner SM, Bloom ES. On the Feasibility of Treating to a 1.5 cm PTV for Accelerated Partial Breast Brachytherapy With a Commercial Single Entry Hybrid Applicator. Brachytherapy 10(Suppl 1):S43, 2011.
- Pollard JM, Kirsner SM, Mason BE, Nelson CL, Bloom ES, Gifford KA. Evaluation of Two Brachytherapy Planning Methods for Accelerated Partial Breast Irradiation using MammoSite. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 78(3,Suppl):S840, 2010.
- Balter P, Lindsay P, Kudchadker R, Nelson C, Briere T, Vedam S, Komaki R, Mohan R. A comparison of a point based tool with an image overlay tool for fiducial based setup. Med Phys 34(6,Part 5):2372, 2007.
- Britton K, Starkschall G, Liu H, Nelson C, Chang J; Kantor M; Cox J; Komaki R, Mohan R. Impact of anatomical changes on dose distributions during three-dimensional radiotherapy (3D-CRT) of lung cancer: preliminary study using multiple 4-DCT. Med Phys 34(6,Part 6):2392, 2007.
- Nelson C, Balter P, Choi B, Vedam S, Lindsay P, Kudchadker R, Briere T, Chang J, Morice R, Starkschall G. Improvement in the daily alignment of mobile lung tumors using implanted fiducials. Med Phys 34(6,Part 1):2328, 2007.
- Choi B, Nelson C, Tsunashima Y, Balter P. Open Source, ImageJ Based, web accessible tool for treatment plan evaluation. Med Phys 34(6):2477, 2007.
- Briere T, Krishnan S, Dong L, Balter P, Nelson C, Starkschall G, Beddar S. Tumor motion and the effect of gated set-up on the treatment of liver tumors. Med Phys 34(6,Part 6):2391, 2007.
- Nelson C, Balter P, Lindsay P, Briere T, Vedam S, Morice R, Komaki R, Starkschall G.. Uncertainties in respiratory gating for lung tumors. Med Phys 34(6,Part 4):2368, 2007.
- Nelson C, Starkschall G, Morice RC, Stevens CW, Britton K, Chag JY. Estimation of lung tumor setup uncertainties using bony landmarks and implanted fiducials. Med Phys 33(6,Part 5):2033, 2006.
- Bivens W, Starkschall G, Nelson C. Metrics for assessment of reproducibility of respiratory motion for four-dimensional computed tomography imaging. Med Phys 33(6):2042, 2006.
- Britton K, Starkschall G, Nelson C, Komaki R, Mohan R. The effects of radiation treatment on respiration-induced lung tumor motion. Med Phys 33(6,Part 16):2188, 2006.
- Nelson C, Stevens CW, Morice RC, Starkschall. Assessment of lung tumor motion during respiratory gating using implanted fudicials. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phy 63(Suppl 1):S203, 2005.
- Morice RC, Keus L, Jimenez CA, Eapen GA, Nelson C, Stevens CW, Starkschall G. Bronchoscopic implantantion of gold fiducials for estimating lung tumor motion during gated radiation therapy. Chest 128(4,Suppl):163S, 2005.
- Nelson C, Starkschall G, Chang JY. Dose escalation resulting from reduced margins used to generate the planning target volume. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phy 32(6,Part 6):1946, 2005.
- Tolani N, Nelson C, Balter P, Hunjan S, Fitzpatrick MJ, Antolak JA, Starkschall G, Prado K. Respiratory trace characterization: a precursor to feedback-guided breath hold treatment delivery. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 60(1,Suppl):S608, 2004.
Book Chapters
- Nelson CL, Kirsner SM, Saglam Y, Alpan V. Quality Assurance of Modern Radiotherapy techniques in thoracic malignancies. In: Principles and Practice of Radiotherapy Techniques in Thoracic Malignancies. Springer International Publishing: Switzerland, 507-517, 2016.
Grant & Contract Support
| Title: | Travel grant for SWAAPM conference |
| Funding Source: | Mobius Medical Systems |
| Role: | Investigator |
| Title: | Travel Grant for ESTRO Conference |
| Funding Source: | Mobius Medical Systems |
| Role: | Investigator |
| Title: | Consensus contouring software with real-time feedback for radiation oncology training |
| Funding Source: | Department of Radiation Physics Internal Grant |
| Role: | Principal Investigator |
Patient Reviews
CV information above last modified July 03, 2024