Jonas Fontenot, Ph.D., named Chief of Physics

Jonas Fontenot, Ph.D., named Chief of Physics for Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center. Dr. Fontenot has responsibility for the overall management and oversight of the Cancer Center’s physics and dosimetry teams.

 

(Baton Rouge, La.) Jonas Fontenot, Ph.D., has been named chief of physics for Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center. In this role, Dr. Fontenot has responsibility for the overall management and oversight of the Cancer Center’s physics and dosimetry teams, in support of clinical, research, and educational activities.

“Our ability to provide the most precise, effective and safe radiation treatments is highly dependent on our physics and dosimetry staff,” said Vickie Hall, vice president of patient care operations at Mary Bird Perkins. “We have world-renowned experts as a part of this team and Dr. Fontenot has been key in making Mary Bird Perkins the Gulf South destination for clinical cancer treatment, placing Baton Rouge in very select company in terms of patients seeking advanced cancer care. We are confident that as chief of physics, he will continue making tremendous contributions to the quality of cancer treatments we provide.”

Since joining Mary Bird Perkins in 2008, Dr. Fontenot has served in a number of capacities, including as an academic medical physicist and associate director of academic physics. He also currently serves as an assistant professor for the School of Medicine at LSU Health Science Center in New Orleans, a research affiliate for the Mary Bird Perkins – LSU Medical Physics graduate program, and adjunct assistant professor for LSU’s Department of Physics and Astronomy in Baton Rouge.

He has published more than 60 research articles and abstracts, given more than 24 oral presentations, and has received several research grants from industry and federal sponsors. Dr. Fontenot is certified in Therapeutic Medical Physics by the America Board of Radiology and a member of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine, and the American Board of Radiology and American Society for Therapeutic Radiation Oncology. He has been appointed to service positions on the American Board of Radiology, the Commission on the Accreditation of Medical Physics Educational Programs (CAMPEP), and the editorial board of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology-Biology-Physics, the premier periodical in radiation oncology. Along with another physicist at Mary Bird Perkins, he has patented a special device for the insertion of a radioactive source into a body cavity, allowing for the delivery of a higher dose of radiation to a smaller area than might be possible with external radiation treatment.

Dr. Fontenot holds a Bachelor of Science in Physics from the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, and both a Master of Science and Doctorate in Medical Physics from the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, University of Texas-Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.

Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center and its physics department have been actively involved in medical physics education and training for over 25 years through the training of medical physics students at LSU. In 2004, the Cancer Center formally partnered into a formal agreement with LSU to form an integrated academic-community cancer center model for Medical Physics education and research. The CAMPEP-accredited Mary Bird Perkins – LSU Medical Physics Program has set international research precedents for improved cancer treatment. The joint venture is the only one of its kind in Louisiana and among elite programs nationwide.

 

Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center is a regional cancer care organization that has been fighting cancer for more than 40 years. With five centers in Baton Rouge, Covington, Hammond, Houma and Gonzales, its service area encompasses 18 parishes across southeast Louisiana. For more information, please visit www.marybird.org.