Dr. Christopher Tien

Biography

Christopher J. Tien is an Associate Professor in the Department of Therapeutic Radiology at Yale School of Medicine and serves as the Lead Physicist in Brachytherapy. He completed his PhD in Medical Physics at the University of Florida at the age of 25, following an accelerated five-year combined Master's and Bachelor's degree in Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences from the University of Michigan, graduating summa cum laude. Dr. Tien is a board-certified therapeutic medical physicist affiliated with Yale-New Haven Hospital. His clinical responsibilities are heavily focused on brachytherapy applications for gynecological, prostate, ocular, and skin cancers, emphasizing translational research to improve patient care and health equity. He is a full member of several professional organizations, including the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) and the American Brachytherapy Society (ABS). His research interests include pioneering automated treatment planning systems using zero-shot learning for brachytherapy, developing patient-specific treatment devices informed by Monte Carlo radiation transport calculations, and understanding the mechanisms underlying radiobiological models specific to prostate cancer care. Heis also involved in studying the outcomes of Gamma Knife radiosurgery and enhancing imaging techniques for improved treatment planning.

Research Interests