Christopher Peeler, Ph.D.
Department of Radiation Physics, Division of Radiation Oncology
Present Title & Affiliation
Primary Appointment
Associate Professor, Radiation Physics, Radiation Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas
Education & Training
Degree-Granting Education
| 2016 | The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Houston, Texas, US, Medical Physics, Ph.D |
| 2010 | Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, US, Medical Physics, BS |
Postgraduate Training
| 2016-2020 | Advanced Fellowship in Medical Physics, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas |
Licenses & Certifications
| 2021 | American Board of Radiology Certificate in Therapeutic Medical Physics |
| 2021 | Texas Medical Physicist License, Therapeutic Radiological Physics |
Experience & Service
Faculty Academic Appointments
Assistant Professor, Radiation Physics, Radiation Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, 2020 - 2025
Intramural Institutional Committee Activities
Member, Spatially Fractionated Radiotherapy Working Group, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2025 - Present
Member, Technology Assessment Working Group - EmpNia Motion Management Tool, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2025
Member, New Technology Committee, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2025
Member, Medical Physics Graduate Program Steering Committee, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2024 - Present
Member, Medical Physics Graduate Program Admissions Committee, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2023 - Present
Member and Subgroup Co-lead, Simulation Workflow Working Group, Division of Radiation Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2023 - 2025
Member, DVH Data Integration Work Group, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2022
Thoracic Physics Liaison, Radiation Oncology Clinical Research Council, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2021 - Present
Co-lead, Electronic Medical Device Policy Update Work Group, Division of Radiation Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2021 - 2023
Member, Abdominal Compression Belt Workflow Development Group, Division of Radiation Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2021
Honors & Awards
| 2026 | Outstanding Residency Education Teaching Award, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center |
| 2018 | Aaron Blanchard Research Award in Medical Physics, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences |
| 2015 | Science Council Associates Mentorship Program Fellow, American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) |
| 2010 | Phi Kappa Phi Outstanding Junior Award, Louisiana State University |
| 2010 | Sigma Pi Sigma, Louisiana State University |
| 2010 | Keen-Morris Prize, Louisiana State University, Department of Physics and Astronomy |
| 2010 | Translational Cancer Diagnostics and Therapeutics Research Program Fellow, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Med Into Grad |
| 2009 | Summer Undergraduate Fellowship Program, American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) |
| 2008 | Honors College Sophomore Honors Distinction, Louisiana State University |
| 2006 | LA-STEM (Louisiana - Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) Research Scholars Program, Louisiana State University |
| 2006 | Top 100 Scholarship, Louisiana State University Alumni Association |
Professional Memberships
Selected Presentations & Talks
Local Presentations
- 2025. Management of Implanted Electronic Devices in Radiotherapy. Invited. Medical Physics Seminar. Houston, TX, US.
Regional Presentations
- 2026. Management of Electronic Medical Devices in Radiotherapy. Invited. American Association of Physicists in Medicine Southwest Chapter Annual Meeting 2026. College Park, Maryland, US.
National Presentations
- 2026. Seventeen Years Later: My Experience and Trajectory As a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow. Invited. 2026 Joint AAPM | COMP Meeting. College Park, Maryland, US.
- 2026. Management of Patients with Implanted Electronic Devices Other Than CIEDs. Invited. 2026 Joint AAPM | COMP Meeting. College Park, Maryland, US.
- 2024. Comparison of two detector array phantoms for patient-specific quality assurance of stereotactic body radiation therapy plans with flattening filter-free beams. Poster. AAPM 66th Annual Meeting and Exhibition. Los Angeles, CA, US.
- 2024. Clinical Implementation of TG 203: MD Anderson Experience. Invited. AAPM 66th Annual Meeting and Exhibition. Los Angeles, CA, US.
- 2024. How to Build a Successful Lung SBRT Program: The MD Anderson Experience. Invited. The Radiosurgery Society Webinar Series, US.
- 2022. Respiratory Motion Management Systems. Invited. AAPM 64th Annual Meeting and Exhibition. Washington, DC, US.
- 2019. Tumor control probability for non-small cell lung cancer treated with proton therapy: constant vs. variable RBE-weighted dose. Poster. AAPM 61st Annual Meeting and Exhibition. San Antonio, TX, US.
- 2018. Analysis of radiation-induced visual toxicity in meningioma treatment: protons vs. photons. Conference. AAPM 60th Annual Meeting and Exhibition. Nashville, TN, US.
- 2018. SCAMP Mentee’s Experience I. Session: Mentoring Within AAPM: Lessons and Opportunities – SCAMP Update. Invited. AAPM 60th Annual Meeting and Exhibition. Nashville, TN, US.
- 2017. Evaluating a model to predict post-treatment imaging changes in patients treated for brain tumors with proton therapy. Conference. 15th Acta Oncologica conference on Biology-Guided Adaptive Radiotherapy (BiGART2017). Aarhus, DK.
- 2017. Analysis of differences in tumor control probability calculated from Monte Carlo and treatment planning system dose distributions for proton therapy. Conference. AAPM 59th Annual Meeting and Exhibition. Denver, CO, US.
- 2017. An introduction to NIH research career development awards. Invited. AAPM 59th Annual Meeting and Exhibition. Denver, CO, US.
- 2017. Evaluation of a model to predict post-treatment mr imaging changes in patients treated for brain tumors with proton therapy. Conference. 56th Annual Conference of the Particle Therapy Cooperative Group. Yokohama, JP.
- 2016. Voxel-level analysis of adverse treatment response in pediatric patients treated for epedymoma with passive scattering proton therapy. Conference. AAPM 58th Annual Meeting and Exhibition. Washington, DC, US.
- 2015. Relative biological effectiveness of double-strand break induction for modeling cell survival in pristine proton beams of different dose-averaged linear energy transfers. Conference. AAPM 57th Annual Meeting and Exhibition. Anaheim, CA, US.
- 2014. Radiobiological modeling of high-throughput proton irradiation cell survival experiments. Invited. 23rd Conference on Applications of Accelerators in Research and Industry. San Antonio, TX, US.
- 2014. Application of the repair-misrepair-fixation RBE model to describe the results of high-resolution proton irradiation cell survival experiments. Poster. AAPM 56th Annual Meeting and Exhibition. Austin, TX, US.
- 2013. Comparison of results for RBE-weighted dose from two RBE models for proton therapy treatment plans. Conference. AAPM 55th Annual Meeting and Exhibition. Indianapolis, IN, US.
- 2012. Correlating areas of radiation toxicity with relative biological effectiveness-weighted dose distributions in proton radiotherapy. Conference. AAPM 54th Annual Meeting and Exhibition. Charlotte, NC, US.
International Presentations
- 2017. Evaluating a model to predict post-treatment imaging changes in patients treated for brain tumors with proton therapy. Conference. 15th Acta Oncologica conference on Biology-Guided Adaptive Radiotherapy (BiGART2017). Aarhus, DK.
- 2017. Evaluation of a model to predict post-treatment mr imaging changes in patients treated for brain tumors with proton therapy. Conference. 56th Annual Conference of the Particle Therapy Cooperative Group. Yokohama, JP.
Formal Peers
- 2026. Interactions of Radiation with Matter. Houston, Texas, US.
- 2024. Particulate Radiotherapy. Houston, Texas, US.
Grant & Contract Support
| Date: | 2022 - 2023 |
| Title: | Safety and Feasibility of Stereotactic MRI-Guided Adaptive Radiation Therapy for Central Lung Tumors |
| Funding Source: | American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO) |
| Role: | Significant Contributor |
| ID: | FP00015924 |
| Date: | 2022 - 2023 |
| Title: | Safety and Feasibility of Stereotactic MRI-Guided Adaptive Radiation Therapy for Central Lung Tumors |
| Funding Source: | Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) |
| Role: | Other Significant Contributor |
| ID: | FP00015665 |
| Date: | 2022 - Present |
| Title: | Safety and Feasibility of Stereotactic MRI-Guided Adaptive Radiation Therapy for Central Lung Tumors |
| Funding Source: | ROSI Seed award |
| Role: | Collaborator |
Selected Publications
Peer-Reviewed Articles
- Gearhardt A, Pollard-Larkin J, Peeler C, Taylor P, Sanjay S, Best C, Kry S. Current Practice for Electronic Medical Device Management in Radiation Therapy. Clinical Oncology, 2026.
- DeCunha JM, Peeler C, Mirkovic D, Titt U, Yepes P, Newpower M, Grosshans D, Mohan R. Pseudoreplication can lead to apparent association of increasing proton-LET with radiation associated image changes in cohorts where no such relationship exists. Advances in Radiation Oncology, 2026.
- Karimzad K, Shah S, Kry SF, Peeler C, Pollard-Larkin J, Koduri A, Portillo MC, Siddharth C, 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 JB, Dougherty AH, Kantharia B, Deswal A. Safety of contemporary radiation therapy in patients with cardiac implantable electronic devices: implications for clinical practice. J Am Heart Assoc 14(17), 2025. e-Pub 2025.
- Sadagopan R, Martin-Paulpeter R, Peeler C, Wang X, Nitsch P, Pollard-Larkin J. Reduced Computed Tomography Scan Speed Improves Alignment Errors for Patients Undergoing Thoracic Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy. Cancers 17(16), 2025. e-Pub 2025. PMID: 40867275.
- Taylor PA, Mirandola A, C, Hartzell S, Magro G, Alvarez P, Peterson CB, Peeler C, Koay EJ, Howell RM, Kry SF. Characterization of LiF TLD-100 in Carbon ion beams for remote audits. Med Phys, 2025. e-Pub 2025. PMID: 39718203.
- Cao W, Gronberg M, Bilton S, Baroudi H, Gay S, Peeler C, Liao Z, Whitaker T, Hoffman K, Court L. Dose prediction via deep learning to enhance treatment planning of lung radiotherapy including simultaneous integrated boost techniques. Med Phys, 2025. e-Pub 2025. PMID: 39967020.
- Taylor PA, Mirandola A, Ciocca M, Hartzell S, Vai A, Alvarez P, Howell RM, Koay EJ, Peeler CR, Peterson CB, Kry SF. OSLD nanoDot characterization for carbon radiotherapy dosimetry. Phys Med Biol, 2024. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 38663410.
- Taylor PA, Mirandola A, Ciocca M, Hartzell S, Vai A, Alvarez P, Howell RM, Koay EJ, Peeler CR, Peterson CB, Kry SF. Radiological clinical equivalence for phantom materials in carbon ion therapy. Med Phys, 2024. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 38598230.
- Skaarup M, Lundemann MJ, Darkner S, Jørgensen M, Marner L, Mirkovic D, Grosshans D, Peeler C, Mohan R, Vogelius IR, Appelt A. A framework for voxel-based assessment of biological effect after proton radiotherapy in pediatric brain cancer patients using multi-modal imaging. Med Phys 48(7):4110-4121, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 34021597.
- Abolfath R, Peeler C, Mirkovic D, Mohan R, Grosshans D. A DNA damage multiscale model for NTCP in proton and hadron therapy. Med Phys 47(4):2005-2012, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 31955444.
- Kamal M, Peeler CR, Yepes P, Mohamed ASR, Blanchard P, Frank S, Chen L, Jethanandani A, Kuruvilla R, Greiner B, Harp J, Granberry R, Mehta V, Rock C, Hutcheson K, Cardenas C, Gunn GB, Fuller C, Mirkovic D. Radiation-Induced Hypothyroidism After Radical Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy for Oropharyngeal Carcinoma. Adv Radiat Oncol 5(1):111-119, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32051897.
- Patel D, Bronk L, Guan F, Peeler CR, Brons S, Dokic I, Abdollahi A, Rittmüller C, Jäkel O, Grosshans D, Mohan R, Titt U. Optimization of Monte Carlo particle transport parameters and validation of a novel high throughput experimental setup to measure the biological effects of particle beams. Med Phys 44(11):6061-6073, 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 28880368.
- Abolfath R, Peeler CR, Newpower M, Bronk L, Grosshans D, Mohan R. A model for relative biological effectiveness of therapeutic proton beams based on a global fit of cell survival data. Sci Rep 7(1):8340, 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 28827691.
- Peeler CR, Mirkovic D, Titt U, Blanchard P, Gunther JR, Mahajan A, Mohan R, Grosshans DR. Clinical evidence of variable proton biological effectiveness in pediatric patients treated for ependymoma. Radiother Oncol 121(3):395-401, 2016. e-Pub 2016. PMID: 27863964.
- Taleei R, Guan F, Peeler C, Bronk L, Patel D, Mirkovic D, Grosshans DR, Mohan R, Titt U. Monte Carlo simulations of ³He ion physical characteristics in a water phantom and evaluation of radiobiological effectiveness. Med Phys 43(2):761-76, 2016. e-Pub 2016. PMID: 26843239.
- Guan F, Peeler C, Bronk L, Geng C, Taleei R, Randeniya S, Ge S, Mirkovic D, Grosshans D, Mohan R, Titt U. Analysis of the track- and dose-averaged LET and LET spectra in proton therapy using the geant4 Monte Carlo code. Med Phys 42(11):6234-47, 2015. e-Pub 2015. PMID: 26520716.
- Guan F, Bronk L, Titt U, Lin SH, Mirkovic D, Kerr MD, Zhu XR, Dinh J, Sobieski M, Stephan C, Peeler CR, Taleei R, Mohan R, Grosshans DR. Spatial mapping of the biologic effectiveness of scanned particle beams: towards biologically optimized particle therapy. Sci Rep 5:9850, 2015. e-Pub 2015. PMID: 25984967.
- Peeler CR, Titt U. Monte Carlo study of radial energy deposition from primary and secondary particles for narrow and large proton beamlet source models. Phys Med Biol 57(12):3785-92, 2012. e-Pub 2012. PMID: 22617113.
Review Articles
- Mohan R, Peeler CR, Guan F, Bronk L, Cao W, Grosshans DR. Radiobiological issues in proton therapy. Acta Oncol 56(11):1367-1373, 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 28826292.
Other Articles
- Taleei R, Guan F, Peeler C, Bronk L, Patel D, Mirkovic D, Grosshans DR, Mohan R, Titt U Erratum: "Monte Carlo simulations of 3 He ion physical characteristics in a water phantom and evaluation of radiobiological effectiveness" [Med. Phys. 43 (2), page range 761-776(2016)]. Med Phys 45(3):1301, 2018. PMID: 29527699.
- Guan F, Peeler C, Bronk L, Geng C, Taleei R, Randeniya S, Ge S, Mirkovic D, Grosshans D, Mohan R, Titt U Erratum: "Analysis of the track- and dose-averaged LET and LET spectra in proton therapy using the geant4 Monte Carlo code" [Med. Phys. 42 (11), page range 6234-6247(2015)]. Med Phys 45(3):1302, 2018. PMID: 29527697.
Abstracts
- Taleei R, Peeler C, Qin N, Jiang S, Jia X. Evaluation of a GPU-Based Fast Monte Carlo Code for Proton Therapy Biological Optimization. AAPM 58th Annual Meeting and Exhibition, 2016. e-Pub 2016.
- Taleei R, Peeler C, Qin N, Jiang S, Jia X. Accuracy Evaluation of GPU-Based OpenCL Carbon Monte Carlo Package (goCMC) in Biological Dose and Microdosimetry in Comparison to FLUKA Simulations. AAPM 58th Annual Meeting and Exhibition, 2016. e-Pub 2016.
- Kerr M, Bronk L, Guan F, Patel D, Li Y, Wang X, Sahoo N, Peeler C, Titt U, Mirkovic D, Grosshans D. Spatial Mapping of Scanned Proton Biologic Effect Using the High-Throughput Technique, Continued. AAPM 58th Annual Meeting and Exhibition, 2016. e-Pub 2016.
- Peeler C, Mirkovic D, Titt U, Grosshans D, Mohan R. Voxel-Level Analysis of Adverse Treatment Response in Pediatric Patients Treated for Ependymoma with Passive Scattering Proton Therapy. AAPM 58th Annual Meeting and Exhibition, 2016. e-Pub 2016.
- Titt U, Mirkovic D, Yepes P, Liu A, Peeler C, Randenyia S, Mohan R. 4Dand 5D Proton Dose Evaluation with Monte Carlo. AAPM 58th Annual Meeting and Exhibition, 2016. e-Pub 2016.
- Peeler C, Mohan R. Fostering a Successful Career in Research. AAPM 58th Annual Meeting and Exhibition, 2016. e-Pub 2016.
- Guan F, Bronk L, Kerr M, Wang X, Li Y, Peeler C, Sahoo N, Patel D, Mirkovic D, Titt U, Grosshans D, Mohan R. Investigation of LET Spectral Dependence of the Biological Effects of Therapeutic Protons. AAPM 58th Annual Meeting and Exhibition, 2016. e-Pub 2016.
- Peeler C, Taleei R, Guan F, Bronk L, Patel D, Titt U, Mirkovic D, Stewart R, Grosshans D, Mohan R. Relative Biological Effectiveness of Double-Strand Break Induction for Modeling Cell Survival in Pristine Proton Beams of Different Dose-Averaged Linear Energy Transfers. AAPM 57th Annual Meeting and Exhibition, 2015. e-Pub 2015.
- Tanny S, Roth A, Peeler C, Rodrigues A. Assessment of Medical Physics Students and Trainees Interest and Awareness of Non-Clinical Careers. AAPM 57th Annual Meeting and Exhibition, 2015. e-Pub 2015.
- Mirkovic D, Peeler C, Grosshans D, Titt U, Taleei R, Mohan R. Modeling Relative Biological Effectiveness of Protons for Radiation Induced Brain Necrosis. AAPM 57th Annual Meeting and Exhibition, 2015. e-Pub 2015.
- Taleei R, Peeler C, Guan F, Patel D, Titt U, Mirkovic D, Grosshans D, Mohan R. Modeling Biological Response to Proton Irradiation and Evaluating Its Potential Clinical Consequences. AAPM 57th Annual Meeting and Exhibition, 2015. e-Pub 2015.
- Guan F, Titt U, Patel D, Bronk L, Taleei R, Peeler C, Mirkovic D, Grosshans D, Jakel O, Mohan R. Experimental Design for High-Throughput In-Vitro RBE Measurements Using Protons, Helium and Carbon Ions. AAPM 57th Annual Meeting and Exhibition, 2015. e-Pub 2015.
- Guan F, Bronk L, Kerr M, Titt U, Wang X, Taleei R, Peeler C, Patel D, Mirkovic D, Grosshans D, Mohan R. Quantifying the Biological Effects of Therapeutic Protons by LET Spectrum Analysis. AAPM 57th Annual Meeting and Exhibition, 2015. e-Pub 2015.
- Taleei R, Titt U, Peeler C, Guan F, Mirkovic D, Grosshans D, Mohan R. Modeling Physics Properties and Biologic Effects Induced by Proton and Helium Ions. AAPM 56th Annual Meeting and Exhibition, 2014. e-Pub 2014.
- Peeler C, Taleei R, Guan F, Bronk L, Grosshans D, Mirkovic D, Titt U, Mohan R. Application of the Repair-Misrepair-Fixation RBE Model to Describe the Results of High Resolution Proton Irradiation Cell Survival Experiments. AAPM 56th Annual Meeting and Exhibition, 2014. e-Pub 2014.
- Peeler C, Mirkovic D, Perles L, Titt U, Grosshans D, Mohan R. Comparison of Results for RBE-Weighted Dose From Two RBE Models for Proton Therapy Treatment Plans. AAPM 55th Annual Meeting and Exhibition, 2013. e-Pub 2013.
- Mirkovic D, Titt U, Peeler C, Perles L, Liao Z, Mohan R. Variable RBE and Incidence of Radiation Pneumonitis in Lung Patients Treated with Proton Therapy. AAPM 55th Annual Meeting and Exhibition, 2013. e-Pub 2013.
- Peeler C, Mirkovic D, Grosshans D, Titt U, Mohan R. Correlating Areas of Radiation Toxicity with Relative Biological Effectiveness-Weighted Dose Distributions in Proton Radiotherapy. AAPM 54th Annual Meeting and Exhibition, 2012. e-Pub 2012.
- Titt U, Mirkovic D, Perles L, Sell M, Peeler C, Liu A, Mohan R. Monte Carlo Phase Space Production to Model Magnetically Scanned Proton Beams for IMPT. AAPM 54th Annual Meeting and Exhibition 39(6Part17):3814, 2012. e-Pub 2012. PMID: 28517438.
Patient Reviews
CV information above last modified August 17, 2026