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Title
Medical Physicist, Associate Professor
Area of Study/Expertise
Brachytherapy, equipment calibration, QA, external beam treatment planning/delivery, linac-based SRS & Gamma Knife.
Email
irinav@cinj.rutgers.edu

Irina Vergalasova, PhD

Division of Radiation Physics

Dr. Vergalasova completed her undergraduate degree in Physics at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey followed by her doctoral degree in Medical Physics at Duke University, after which she also completed her therapeutic physics residency at Duke University Medical Center. Dr. Vergalasova serves as the Director of Brachytherapy Physics, the Director of the Medical Physics Certificate Program and the Associate Director of the Medical Physics Residency Program. She also serves on a number of national AAPM and SDAMPP committees and is committed to giving back to the medical physics community as well as leaving a lasting impact on the education of future medical physicists. Dr. Vergalasova’s research interests include HDR brachytherapy, quantitative imaging, and stereotactic radiosurgery. Her educational research interests are focused on developing formalized professionalism training for medical physics residency programs. In her free time, Dr. Vergalasova enjoys traveling with family and friends, reading, and staying active.

 

Publications
  1. Gardner U, Sherwani Z, Prajapati S, Vergalasova I, Zhang H, Roumeliotis M, Patel P, Kamrava M, Hathout L, Song D.American Brachytherapy Society Education Committee Technical Report: A Resident’s Guide to Evaluation of Prostate Low-Dose-Rate Brachytherapy Treatment Plans, Practical Radiation Oncology, 2025, ISSN 1879-8500, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.prro.2025.07.010.
  2. Rodrigues A, Schubert L, Padilla L, Hendrickson K, Al-Hallaq H, Vergalasova I. Professionalism skills education in medical physics residency: Current state and perceived importance. J Appl Clin Med Phys. 2025;e70096. https://doi.org/10.1002/acm2.70096
  3. Nye JA, Dugas JP, Erwin WD, Gierga DP, Kaurin DG, Leon SM, Liu HA, Lu ZF, Magri AW, Rill LN, Schubert LK, Schueler BA, Vergalasova I, Vetter J, Wichman BD, Yu AS, Zheng D. AAPM Task Group No. 249.B-Essentials and guidelines for clinical medical physics residency training program. J Appl Clin Med Phys. 2025 May 19:e70111. doi: 10.1002/acm2.70111
  4. Sherwani Z, Gardner U, Vergalasova I, Zhang H, Song S, Prajapati S, Patel P, Kamrava M, Hathout L; A Resident’s Guide to Evaluation of Prostate High Dose Rate Brachytherapy Treatment Plans: An American Brachytherapy Society Technical Report, Practical Radiation Oncology, 2025, ISSN 1879-8500,
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.prro.2025.04.010
  5. Duggar, WN, Wang D, Vergalasova I, Stambaugh C, Kim, L; AAPM MPLA Case: Betrayal versus disillusionment. J Appl Clin Med Phys. 2024;e14554. https://doi.org/10.1002/acm2.14554
  6. Parikh S, Zhang Y, Sherwani Z, Kumar R, Ohri N, Jan I, Vergalasova I, Jabbour S, Hathout L. Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on brachytherapy and cancer patient outcomes: A systematic review. Brachytherapy. 2024 Feb 1:S1538-4721(23)01684-7. doi: 10.1016/j.brachy.2023.11.002. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 38307787.
  7. Kumar R, Sherwani Z, Lopez M, Vergalasova I, Zhang X, Eckroate B, Hollingsworth J, Girda E, Hathout L. Disparities in brachytherapy utilization in cervical cancer in the United States: A comprehensive literature review. Gynecol Oncol. 2023 Dec;179:79-84. doi: 10.1016/j.ygyno.2023.10.020. Epub 2023 Nov 8. PMID: 37944329.
  8. Sayan M, Jan I, Vergalasova I, Kilic SS, Kumar S, Haffty B, Ohri N; Incidence of clinical lymphedema in breast cancer patients treated with adjuvant proton-based radiotherapy; Rep Pract Oncol Radiother. 2022 Jul 29;27(3):474-478. doi: 10.5603/RPOR.a2022.0053. PMID: 36186685; PMCID: PMC9518780.
  9. Sayan M, Kilic S, Vergalasova I, Jan I, Eladoumikdachi F, Haffty BG, Kumar S, Ohri N; Risk Factors for the Development of Clinical and Subclinical Lymphedema Detected by Bioimpedance Spectroscopy; Clinical Breast Cancer, April  2022, ISSN 1526-8209; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clbc.2022.04.003.
  10. Cui T, Nie K, Zhu H, Danish S, Weiner, J, Chundury A, Ohri N, Zhang Y, Vergalasova I, Yue NJ, Wang X; Clinical evaluation of the inverse planning system utilized in Gamma Knife Lightning; Front Oncol. 2022 Feb 23;12:832656. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2022.832656. PMID: 35280733; PMCID: PMC8904397.
Courses
  • RWMJS Medical Physics Certificate Program Courses:
  • Radiological physics and dosimetry (Radiation Interaction): MPHY 5020S
  • Radiation Therapy Physics: MPHY 5010S