A prestigious award at the 51st Annual Meeting of the German Society for Medical Physics – held virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic – went to Dr. Kilian Baumann, who received second place in the Behnken-Berger Prize, which comes with a €10,000 award. The prize, awarded by the foundation of the same name, recognizes young scientists who have made outstanding contributions to the research fields of radiation protection, radiotherapy, treatment of radiation damage, and the application of physical methods in radiology. The jury deemed Baumann's doctoral thesis, "Investigation of the Modulation Properties of Lung Tissue in Proton Radiotherapy," worthy of the prize.
This work is a cooperative doctoral project between Philipps University of Marburg and the Technical University of Central Hesse (THM). Baumann, a native of Munich, had already completed his Master's degree in Medical Physics with distinction in 2015 at THM in the research group of Prof. Dr. Klemens Zink from the Department of Life Science Engineering, who is also the scientific and technical director of the Marburg Ion Beam Therapy Center (MIT). After completing a Master's degree in Physics at LMU Munich, he returned to Central Hesse in 2016 to conduct research at the Department of Medicine at Philipps University and to pursue his doctorate under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Rita Engenhart-Cabillic and Prof. Dr. Klemens Zink .
His dissertation deals with the irradiation of lung tumors with protons as a promising alternative to existing treatment concepts. Until now, the specific characteristics of lung tissue have hampered the safety of the applied radiation dose. Baumann developed a method to estimate these dose uncertainties based on clinical imaging data. Furthermore, concepts were developed to compensate for underdosing of the tumor volume caused by the lung tissue and thus for a reduction in treatment success.
Baumann's dissertation lays the scientific foundation for more targeted proton therapy of lung tumors in the future. "I am delighted that my work is receiving such recognition," says the award recipient, who has worked as a medical physicist at MIT since completing his dissertation. "But above all, I am pleased if my work improves the treatment options for cancer patients."