Our professionals
Dr. Diego Azcona
Physicist
Specialist in Hospital Radiophysics
Primary focus: commissioning and calibration of linear accelerators, image-guided radiotherapy, intensity-modulated radiotherapy, and volumetric modulated arc therapy.
Professional career
Degree in Physics from the University of Valladolid (1995), specializing in Fundamental Physics. PhD in Physics with Extraordinary Award from the University of Navarra (2009). Specialist in Hospital Radiophysics (2003).
Joined the Clínica Universidad de Navarra in 1996.
From 2011 to 2013, worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University (Palo Alto, California), focusing on image-guided and adaptive radiotherapy, and on evaluating the dosimetric impact of patient motion in highly conformal radiotherapy techniques.
RESEARCH AREAS
His doctoral thesis focused on dosimetric calculation methods applicable to new highly conformal techniques used in radiotherapy. As a result of this work, he patented an algorithm for calculating absorbed dose in intensity-modulated radiotherapy.
He later broadened his research to patient motion management during treatment with new radiotherapy techniques (volumetric modulated arc therapy), its dosimetric impact, and the development of tools for adaptive radiotherapy.
He has developed a tumor motion “tracking” system for use during radiotherapy treatment.
AREAS OF INTEREST
Commissioning and calibration of linear accelerators, small-field radiation dosimetry, image-guided and time-adaptive radiotherapy, volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT), motion management during treatment and assessment of its dosimetric impact, and deformable image registration.
Activity
In teaching
Accredited by ANECA as Associate Professor (Profesor Contratado Doctor).
Lead instructor for the course “Radioactivity” (taught in English) offered in the Environmental Sciences, Chemistry, Biology, and Biochemistry degree programs at the School of Sciences, University of Navarra.
Adjunct Professor of Biophysics for first-year medical students at the University of Navarra.
Instructor for the module “Major Diagnostic and Therapeutic Equipment in Medicine” in the Master’s in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Navarra, as well as for various training courses for radioactive-facility operators.
In research
Lead author of eight research articles published in high-impact journals in the field. Co-author of four additional articles and three book chapters with national and international reach.
Has participated in seven research projects, including three funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) and two by Spain’s National R&D&I Plan.
Currently the principal investigator of a project on adaptive lung radiotherapy funded by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through the Health Research Fund (Instituto de Salud Carlos III), with participation from scientists at CIEMAT. As part of this project, he is supervising a doctoral thesis.
Has taken part in numerous national and international conferences, with more than fifty contributions in the form of invited lectures, oral communications, and posters.
Scientific Organizations
- Spanish Society of Medical Physics.
- American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM).
- American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO).
- Working Group on Intensity-Modulated Radiotherapy of the Spanish Society of Medical Physics.