John D. Hazle, Ph.D. is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Imaging Physics at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX. He holds the Bernard W. Biedenharn Chair in Cancer Research and has a joint appointment as Professor in the Department of Radiation Physics. He obtained undergraduate and Master degrees in Physics and Medical Physics from the University of Kentucky and his Ph.D. in Biophysics (with specialization in Medical Physics) from The University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBS). He is ABR certified in Diagnostic Medical Physics and Therapy Medical Physics, and ABMP certified in Magnetic Resonance Physics (inaugural Board member).
Dr. Hazle started his career in radiation oncology physics, working for the NCI funded Radiological Physics Center at MD Anderson where he rose to Associate Director. In 1992, he was recruited by Dr. Gerry Dodd in Diagnostic Imaging to start a research program in magnetic resonance imaging. During the development of this program he rose to Section Chief of Diagnostic Imaging Physics in the Department of Diagnostic Radiology and eventually became the inaugural Chair of the Department of Imaging Physics in the Division of Diagnostic Imaging, a position he has held since 2002. Besides his broad clinical expertise, he has practiced with special emphasis in MR physics his entire career. John has also maintained an active research program in image-guided therapy and pre-clinical imaging. He established and continues to serve as Director of the NCI Cancer Center Support Grant funded Small Animal Imaging Facility (SAIF) at MD Anderson that has a capital base of over $15M in small animal imaging equipment and an annual operating budget of almost $1M. John has also been actively involved in education through the GSBS graduate program in Medical Physics and was the founding Director of the Residency Program in Imaging Physics, the first to be accredited by CAMPEP. With John’s support, this program has now evolved into a three-year program where all the residents participate in a year of research, preparing the next generation of leaders in academic medical physics.
Dr. Hazle’s professional activities have been extensive as well. He is active in the Radiological Society of North America, the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, the World Molecular Imaging Society, in NIH/NCI roles, and in several leadership roles at MDACC. He also served as President of the Commission for Accreditation of Medical Physics Education Programs. But he has been most active in the American Association of Physicists in Medicine where he has served as President and Chairman of the Board. During his time in leadership he led initiatives to partner with the RSNA in developing new imaging physics residency programs to meet manpower needs, led the organization through the purchase of a headquarters building in Alexandria, VA that resulted in significant financial benefit to the organization and led a group that moved the AAPM journals to a new publisher with much better distribution metrics and a significantly better financial return. He continues to be active in AAPM as a member of Science Council, co-chair of the Technology Assessment Committee and he recently accepted the chair role of a Presidential Ad hoc Committee to develop a strategy for estimating imaging physics clinical workforce needs and aligning training programs to meet these needs. Finally, he is also now serving as the AAPM representative to the Academy of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging Research.