Abstract: Dr. Franklin will discuss his transitioning from an academic physics department (and mindset) to a non-academic and non-physics career. He will then focus on his career change to radiation oncology; a sub-specialty within medicine which is most-directly related to a physics mindset and application. The outline of the talk will start with his journey from physics to physician, transition to what the day-to-day life of a radiation oncologist entails and what they do, and will end with a brief focus on another critical support staff within the radiation oncology department; the medical physicist.
Bio: Dr. Franklin is a board-certified radiation oncologist and has been working at the New Mexico Cancer Center since 2005. He is currently the Clinical Director of Radiation Oncology where he treats many forms of adult cancer with various radiation therapy modalities. He is also a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of New Mexico where he is involved with the training of medical students with clerkships/internships in Radiation Oncology. Prior to his current employment, he completed his residency at Washington University/Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, MO and prior to his MD degree, Dr. Franklin earned a Ph.D. in condensed matter physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Between these degrees, from 1992 through 1996, he was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University and a temporary staff scientist with Sandia National Laboratory in Albuquerque, NM. He is a fellow with the American College of Radiology, American Society for Radiation Oncology, and with the American College of Radiation Oncology.
The Zoom link will be forwarded to the Illinois Physics Grad Student email list. For a copy of the link, please contact Lance Cooper (slcooper@illinois.edu).