Rachel M. Barbee, Ph.D., DABR

Dr. Rachel Barbee (née Bartlett) is an ABR certified Nuclear Medical Physicist and Associate Professor in the Department of Imaging Physics at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. She obtained her PhD in Medical Physics from the University of Wisconsin – Madison studying environmental neurotoxins in utero using PET imaging of novel radiotracers. After defending her thesis, she joined the Nuclear Medicine group at Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York City as a post-doctoral fellow. Her work at MSKCC shifted her research focus from neurological conditions to the study of hypoxia in cancer. In 2012 she joined NYU Langone Health as the clinical nuclear medicine physicist and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Radiology, where in addition to providing clinical support she provided administrative support sitting on the IRB, IACUC, RDRC, and radiation safety committee in addition to educational roles for medical residents and clinical staff. In 2022 Dr. Barbee moved to Houston to join the Nuclear Medicine Physics group in the Department of Imaging Physics at MD Anderson Cancer Center where she provides daily support of clinical diagnostic and therapeutic nuclear medicine procedures.

Dr Barbee’s interest focuses on the practical implementation of radionuclide therapy, particularly theranostics, and personalized dosimetry. She is passionate about educating and improving the nuclear medicine community as an active member of the SNMMI MIRD (medical internal radiation dosimetry) committee and quality standards as a member of the nuclear medicine subcommittee of the ACR. In addition to the training of medical physicists and radiology residents, Dr. Barbee supports the education and certification of fellows serving on multiple committees of the ABR.