Jennifer Pursley
Department of Radiation Oncology, Harvard University
Research Focus
Research Interests
About Jennifer
I received my PhD in experimental particle physics working on the Collider Detector at Fermilab on B-baryon searches and high-mass Higgs searches. Then I switched to medical physics and did a residency program in Radiation Oncology physics. Now I’m an academic clinical physicist at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard University focusing on radiation therapy planning. My research goals are to bring machine learning-assisted contouring and treatment planning into the clinic to reduce the time to patient treatments. I’m also working to bring real-time adaptive therapy to our clinic, where a new treatment plan is developed for the patient each day based on the imaging scan they receive at the beginning of treatment. These are exciting developments for the field with great potential to improve patient treatments! I also really enjoy being outside and I spend my leisure time running, hiking, biking, and swimming outdoors as much as I can.
Education
Postdoc
Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard University, 07/2010 - 06/2011
High energy physics, University of Wisconsin–Madison, 07/2007 - 06/2010
Ph.D.
Physics, Johns Hopkins University, 05/2008
Master's
Physics, Johns Hopkins University, 05/2005
Bachelor's
Physics, minors in English and Math, Gonzaga University, 05/2002
