Todd Atwood, PhD | California

Todd Atwood, PhD
Professor of Medical Physics at UCSD

In high school, from his vantage point growing up in the Appalachian Mountain region of North Carolina, Todd Atwood had a perfect plan for his life. He would go to college, major in computer science, get an MBA, and then lead a big tech company. Oh, and become a Californian. He didn’t exactly know what that would involve, but to him it meant beaches and maybe surfing.

He was on track for this outcome all the way through about three days of college. He was sitting in his very first computer science class, and the teacher was going around the room asking the students what their goals were. Everyone else had what sounded like dreamy aspirations. When it was his turn, he laid out his roadmap for the future, and the person next to him leaned over and said, “Oh, so you’re not a real nerd.” A very hurtful barb at the time, but it prompted him to rethink his career goals, broaden his horizons.

Fast forward to graduate school in Biomedical Engineering at Wake Forest, where serendipitously there was a medical physics track. Suddenly, clarity. A field in which computer science and physics can be used in lots of interesting ways, plus the human element of patient care at the heart of it all. It took a bit more training, but eventually he found himself on the West Coast as a Professor of Medical Physics at UCSD. For the record, he does now own a surfboard.

For those of Dr. Atwood’s generation, there has been head-spinning technology evolution in the field since their first exposure to radiation oncology. So much automation, so much more sophisticated treatment delivery, stereotactic everything, AI…it just keeps coming. Which is part of the reason that Dr. Atwood and some of his colleagues at UCSD have asked the question in recent years of whether physicists in particular should have a more patient-facing role.

Sure, there is still lots of work to do to optimize workflows and maximize the value of all the new software and hardware. But Dr. Atwood feels that we are on the cusp of seeing more and more decision support tools fundamentally change the way things are done. As he puts it, “I think it’s reasonable to say that as medical physicists, a big part of our role will be to manage these models, understand the inputs and outputs and how they can impact patient care. So I think it’s an opportunity for us to cultivate new relationships or new collaborations with radiation oncologists to really advance patient care as a whole.”

A day in the life for Todd Atwood, PhD, is a high energy experience. The workday is busy — at the main campus where he works, four linacs are kept buzzing 12 hours a day. As you would imagine, there is much medical physics to do. But as the father of four children under the age of 12, he needs to sustain a high level of stamina for the rest of his daily responsibilities: “When I hit home, I can’t be tired from work.”

He used to do his own individual gym workouts to keep in shape, but in the last year or so, his wife coaxed him into trying to do a group fitness class of one sort or another a few times a week. While he was reluctant at first, he has come to appreciate that the communal experience payoff has been an improved level of well-being that benefits him personally and professionally. And despite the fact that many evenings are busy shuttling the kids to their numerous sporting and other events, these activities help him recharge for the next day’s challenges. As he puts it, “Hanging out with the family is actually very refreshing.”