Paige L. Nitsch, M.S., D.A.B.R.
Department of Radiation Physics, Division of Radiation Oncology - Clinical
Present Title & Affiliation
Primary Appointment
Patient Safety & Quality Officer, Department of Radiation Physics, Division of Radiation Oncology - Clinical, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Senior Medical Physicist, Department of Radiation Physics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Dual/Joint/Adjunct Appointment
Associate Member, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Houston, TX
Senior Medical Physicist, Department of Radiation Physics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Education & Training
Degree-Granting Education
| 2007 | University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Houston, Texas, US, Medical Physics, M.S |
| 2005 | Texas A & M University, College Station, Texas, US, Radiological Health Engineering, BS |
Licenses & Certifications
| 2011 | Medical Physicist License awarded by the Texas Medical Board |
| 2011 | American Board of Radiology |
Experience & Service
Faculty Academic Appointments
Medical Physicist, Department of Radiation Physics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 2014 - 2015
Administrative Appointments/Responsibilities
Patient Safety & Quality Officer, Department of Radiation Physics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 2019 - Present
Director of Safety, Department of Radiation Physics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 2018 - 2019
Other Professional Positions
Academic Medical Physicist, Houston Methodist Hospital, Houston, TX, 2010 - 2014
Junior Medical Physicist, Brigham & Women's Hospital - Dana Farber Cancer Center, Boston, MA, 2007 - 2009
Extramural Institutional Committee Activities
Member, Radiation Oncology Infrastructure Committee, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2021 - Present
Co-Chair, Quality & Safety Committee for Division of Radiation Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2020 - Present
Member, Quality Assessment and Performance Improvement for Division of Radiation Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2019 - Present
Member, OneRO Clinical Operations Committee, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2018 - Present
Honors & Awards
| 2023 | MDACC Faculty Excellence Award in Quality Improvement and Patient Safety |
| 2010 | JACMP Best Paper Award |
| 2007 | GSBS Student Travel Award, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center |
| 2005 - 2006 | Robert J. Shalek Fellowship |
Professional Memberships
Selected Presentations & Talks
Regional Presentations
- 2023. Radiation Oncology Workflows for Patients of Child Bearing Potential & Pregnant Patients. Conference. Radiation Oncology Workflows for Patients of Child Bearing Potential & Pregnant Patients. Galveston, TX, US.
National Presentations
- 2023. Radiation Oncology Workflows for Patients of Child Bearing Potential & Pregnant Patients. Conference. AAPM. Houston, TX, US.
International Presentations
- 2015. SBRT Planning Techniques. Conference. SBRT Planning Techniques, TH.
Selected Publications
Peer-Reviewed Articles
- Abana CO, Carriere PP, Damen PJ, van Rossum PSN, Yoder AK, Bravo PL, Wei X, Pollard-Larkin JM, Nitsch PL, Murphy MB, Hofstetter WL, Liao Z, Lin SH. 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. Clin Oncol (R Coll Radiol) 38:103668, 2025. e-Pub 2025. PMID: 39706143.
- Abana CO, Damen PJ, van Rossum PS, Bravo PL, Wei X, Pollard-Larkin JM, Nitsch PL, Murphy MB, Hofstetter WL, Liao Z, Lin SH. Esophageal Cancer Outcomes After Definitive Chemotherapy With Intensity Modulated Proton Therapy. Int J Part Ther 11:100009, 2024. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 38757075.
- Corrigan KL, Kry S, Howell RM, Kouzy R, Jaoude JA, Patel RR, Jhingran A, Taniguchi C, Koong AC, McAleer MF, Nitsch P, Rödel C, Fokas E, Minsky BD, Das P, Fuller CD, Ludmir EB. The radiotherapy quality assurance gap among phase III cancer clinical trials. Radiother Oncol 166:51-57, 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 34838891.
- Nealon KA, Balter PA, Douglas RJ, Fullen DK, Nitsch PL, Olanrewaju AM, Soliman M, Court LE. Using Failure Mode and Effects Analysis to Evaluate Risk in the Clinical Adoption of Automated Contouring and Treatment Planning Tools. Pract Radiat Oncol 12(4):e344-e353, 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 35305941.
- Ning MS, Das P, Rosenthal DI, Dabaja BS, Liao Z, Chang JY, Gomez DR, Klopp AH, Gunn GB, Allen PK, Nitsch PL, Natter RB, Briere TM, Herman JM, Wells R, Koong AC, McAleer MF. Early and Midtreatment Mortality in Palliative Radiotherapy: Emphasizing Patient Selection in High-Quality End-of-Life Care. J Natl Compr Canc Netw 19(7):805-813, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 33878727.
- Samson P, Ning MS, Shaverdian N, Shepherd AF, Gomez DR, McGinnis GJ, Nitsch PL, Chmura S, O'Reilly MS, Lee P, Chang JY, Robinson C, Lin SH. Clinical and Radiographic Presentations of COVID-19 Among Patients Receiving Radiation Therapy for Thoracic Malignancies. Adv Radiat Oncol 5(4):700-704, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32395673.
- Ning MS, McAleer MF, Jeter MD, Minsky BD, Ghafar RA, Robinson IJ, Nitsch PL, Zaebst DJ, Todd SE, Nguyen J, Lin SH, Liao Z, Lee P, Gunn GB, Klopp AH, Dabaja BS, Nguyen QN, Chronowski GM, Bloom ES, Koong AC, Das P. Mitigating the impact of COVID-19 on oncology: Clinical and operational lessons from a prospective radiation oncology cohort tested for COVID-19. Radiother Oncol 148:252-257, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32474129.
- McGinnis GJ, Ning MS, Nitsch PL, O'Reilly MS, McAleer MF, Koong AC, Chang JY. Rapid Detection of Asymptomatic Coronavirus Disease 2019 by Computed Tomography Image Guidance for Stereotactic Ablative Radiotherapy. J Thorac Oncol 15(6):1085-1087, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32311499.
- Kisling KD, Ger RB, Netherton TJ, Cardenas CE, Owens CA, Anderson BM, Lee J, Rhee DJ, Edward SS, Gay SS, He Y, David SD, Yang J, Nitsch PL, Balter PA, Urbauer DL, Peterson CB, Court LE, Dube S. A snapshot of medical physics practice patterns. J Appl Clin Med Phys 19(6):306-315, 2018. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 30272385.
- Li Y, Netherton T, Nitsch PL, Gao S, Klopp AH, Balter PA, Court LE. Independent validation of machine performance check for the Halcyon and TrueBeam linacs for daily quality assurance. J Appl Clin Med Phys 19(5):375-382, 2018. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 30016578.
- Balter P, Nitsch P. Consider Re-simulation or Evaluate With and Without Density Overrides. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 101(5):1028, 2018. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 30012523.
- Netherton T, Li Y, Nitsch P, Shaitelman S, Balter P, Gao S, Klopp A, Muruganandham M, Court L. Interplay effect on a 6-MV flattening-filter-free linear accelerator with high dose rate and fast multi-leaf collimator motion treating breast and lung phantoms. Med Phys 45(6):2369-2376, 2018. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 29611210.
- Li Y, Netherton T, Nitsch PL, Balter PA, Gao S, Klopp AH, Court LE. Normal tissue doses from MV image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT) using orthogonal MV and MV-CBCT. J Appl Clin Med Phys 19(3):52-57, 2018. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 29500856.
- Cardenas CE, Nitsch PL, Kudchadker RJ, Howell RM, Kry SF. Out-of-field doses and neutron dose equivalents for electron beams from modern Varian and Elekta linear accelerators. J Appl Clin Med Phys 17(4):6216, 2016. e-Pub 2016. PMID: 27455499.
- Akhtari M, Nitsch PL, Bass BL, Teh BS. Long-term outcome of accelerated partial breast irradiation using a multilumen balloon applicator in a patient with existing breast implants. Brachytherapy 14(2):289-292, 2015. e-Pub 2015. PMID: 25443529.
- He T, Xue Z, Yu N, Nitsch PL, Teh BS, Wong ST. Estimating dynamic lung images from high-dimension chest surface motion using 4D statistical model. Med Image Comput Comput Assist Interv 17(Pt 2):138-45, 2014. e-Pub 2014. PMID: 25485372.
- Abboud M, Nitsch P, Weidman-Johnson M, Schwartz M, Desai S, Lim S, Miltenburg D, Bass B, Teh B. Patients with bilateral breast ductal carcinoma in situ treated with accelerated partial breast irradiation-initial experience. J Radiat Onocl 3(3):293-298, 2014. e-Pub 2014.
- He T, Xue Z, Nitsch PL, Teh BS, Wong ST. Helical mode lung 4D-CT reconstruction using Bayesian model. Med Image Comput Comput Assist Interv 16(Pt 3):33-40, 2013. e-Pub 2013. PMID: 24505741.
- Abboud M, Nitsch P, Paullino A, Blanco A, Bass BL, Shadle KM, Teh BS. Clinical outcomes of patients with tumor bed-to-skin distance (TBS),= 7 mm treated with accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI) using multilumen catheter. Journal of Clinical Oncology 30(27), 2012. e-Pub 2012.
- Wolfsberger LD, Wagar M, Nitsch P, Bhagwat MS, Zygmanski P. Angular dose dependence of Matrixx TM and its calibration. J Appl Clin Med Phys 11(1):3057, 2010. e-Pub 2010. PMID: 20160692.
Review Articles
- Pollard-Larkin JM, Briere TM, Kudchadker RJ, Sadagopan R, Nitsch PL, Wang XA, Salehpour M, Wang J, Vedam S, Nelson CL, Sahoo N, Zhu XR, Court LE, Balter PA, Robinson IJ, Yang J, Howell RM, Followill DS, Kry S, Beddar SA, Martel MK. Our Experience Leading a Large Medical Physics Practice During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Adv Radiat Oncol 6(4):100683, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 33824935.
Other Articles
- Nitsch PL, Grant W 3rd, Mcgary J, Rosen I, Davidson S SU-E-T-210: Surviving a Visit by the Radiological Physics Center, 2023. PMID: 28517340.
Abstracts
- Nitsch PL, Sadagopan R,, Martin-Paulpeter RM, Peeler CR, Wang X,, Pollard-Larkin JM. Reduced Computed Tomography Scan Speed Improves Alignment Errors for Patients Undergoing Thoracic Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy, 2025. e-Pub 2025. PMID: 40867275.
- Nitsch P, Natter R, McAleer M. Tools for Growing and Measuring a Safety Culture in Radiation Oncology. AAPM|COMP 2020 Virtual Meeting, 2020. e-Pub 2020.
- Nitsch P, Li Y, Netherton T, Balter P, Gao S, Muruganandham N, Shaitelman S, Frank S, Hahn S, Klopp A, Court L. Radiotherapy treatments using a prototype MCL design, ESTRO 2017 Vienna, Austria. Radiother Oncol 123(1):S835, 2017. e-Pub 2017.
- Balter P, Netherton T, Le Y, Nitsch P, Gao S, Muruganandham N, Shaitelman S, Frank S, Hanh S, Klopp A, Court L. Dose considerations of IGRT using MV projection and MV CBCT on a prototype linear accelerator, ESTRO 2017 Vienna, Austria. Radiother Oncol 123(1):S505, 2017. e-Pub 2017.
- Pollard J, Prajapati S, Gao S, Nitsch P, Sadagopan R, Wang X, Balter P. Is the Reproducibility with Respect to Bone of Tumor Position at Simulation for Breath Hold CT Scans Correlated to the Reproducibility for Multiple Breath Hold CBCTs at Treatment in SBRT Thoracic Patients?, AAPM 2016 Washington, DC. Med Phys 43(6):3673, 2016. e-Pub 2016. PMID: 28046884.
- Cardenas C, Nitsch P, Kudchadker R, Howell R, Kry S. Characterization of Electron Beam Out-Of-Field Doses and Neutron Contamination from Modern Varian and Elekta Linear Accelerators, AAPM 2016 Washington, DC. Med Phys 43(6):3849-3850, 2016. e-Pub 2016. PMID: 28047224.
- Juneja B, Gao S, Balter P, Nitsch P. Evaluation of the Role of Varian Machine Performance Check (MPC) in Our Daily QA Routine, AAPM 2016 Washington, DC. Med Phys 43(6):3573, 2016. e-Pub 2016. PMID: 28046488.
- Nitsch P, Robertson D, Balter P. A Comparison of a 2.5 MV Imaging Beam to KV and 6MV Imaging Beams, AAPM 2015 Anaheim, California. Med Phys 42:3266, 2015. e-Pub 2015.
- Lewis D, Wang X, Gao S, Nitsch P, Pollard J, Sadagopan R, Balter P. A Dosimetric Comparison of Two Treatment Setups for Lung Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT) Patients, AAPM 2015 Anaheim, California. Med Phys 42:3336, 2015. e-Pub 2015.
- Cardenas C, Nitsch P, Kudchadker R, Howell R, Kry S. An Evaluation of Out-Of-Field Doses for Electron Beams From Modern Varian and Elekta Linear Accelerators, AAPM 2015. Med Phys 42:3637, 2015. e-Pub 2015.
- Han Z, Nitsch P, Lyatskaya Y, Makrigiorgos M, Marcus K, Zymanski P. Assessing the Accuracy of Treatment Planning System Calculated Out-of-Target Doses in IMRT and VMAT Plans through 2D Measurements, AAPM 2011 Vancouver, Canada. Med Phys 38:3589, 2011. e-Pub 2011.
- Abboud M, Nitsch P, Paulino A, Blanco A, Bass B, Shadle K, Teh B. Clinical outcomes of patients with tumor bed-to-skin distance (TBS) < 7 mm treated with accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI) using multilumen catheter. J Clin Oncol 30(27):182, 2010. e-Pub 2010.
- Han Z, Nitsch P, Lyatskaya Y, Zygmanski P. Comparison of RapidArc and IMRT Peripheral Doses for Pediatric Patients Based on Measure and TPS Doses, AAPM 2010 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Med Phys 37:3235, 2010. e-Pub 2010.
- Pino R, Jones J, Nitsch P, Teh B. Contura Balloon Rotations and its impact on Patient Dosimetry for APBI, AAPM 2010 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Med Phys 37:3329, 2010. e-Pub 2010.
- Nitsch P, Zygmanski P, Marcus K. Comparison of RapidArc and IMRT for Pediatric Patients, AAPM 2009 Anaheim, California. Med Phys 36:2677, 2009. e-Pub 2009.
- Wagar M, Wolfsberger L, Nitsch P, Bhagwat M, Zygmanski P. Correction of Angular Dependence of the MatriXX Evolution Ionization Chamber Array, AAPM 2009 Anaheim, California. Med Phys 36:2604, 2009. e-Pub 2009.
- Nitsch P, Ibbott G, Dieterich S, Followill D. Assessment of CyberKnife's Heterogeneity Dose Calculation Algorithm and Respiratory Tracking System Using A Anthropomorphic Thorax Phantom, AAPM 2007 Minneapolis, Minnesota. Med Phys 34:2641, 2007. e-Pub 2007.
Patient Reviews
CV information above last modified March 24, 2026