Update Your ProfileAcademic Title:
Associate Professor
Primary Appointment:
Radiation Oncology
Additional Title:
PhD, DABR, MBA (mini_Healthcare)
Location:
Department of Radiation Oncology School of Medicine University of Maryland 850 West Baltimore St Baltimore, MD 21201
Phone (Primary):
(410) 369-5318
Fax:
(410) 347-0870
Education and Training
Ph.D., Quantum Information Devices, Osaka University, Japan
Medical Physics Certificate, University of Chicago
Residency, Medical Physics, University of Miami
Mini-MBA in Healthcare, University of Arizona
Biosketch
Dr. Robabeh Rahimi is an Associate Professor of Medical Physics in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and a clinical medical physicist at the Maryland Proton Treatment Center. She received her PhD in Quantum Information Devices from Osaka University, where her doctoral research focused on entanglement between electron and nuclear spin systems for quantum computing. She subsequently completed postdoctoral training as a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science fellow and served as a researcher at the Institute for Quantum Computing at the University of Waterloo.
After transitioning to medical physics, Dr. Rahimi earned a Certificate in Medical Physics from the University of Chicago and completed her clinical residency at the University of Miami. Her clinical practice focuses on proton therapy, with expertise in treatment planning, commissioning, and quality assurance of proton therapy systems. She has contributed to the clinical commissioning of proton therapy programs and is actively involved in advancing safe and efficient proton therapy delivery.
Dr. Rahimi’s research interests center on optimization of proton therapy workflows, development and standardization of quality assurance procedures, promotion of Good Clinical Proton Practice (GCPP), and the application of advanced computational methods—including quantum and quantum-inspired optimization—to radiation oncology. Her work aims to improve treatment robustness, efficiency, and clinical translation of emerging technologies in proton therapy.
Highlighted Publications
Rahimi R, SaiToh A, Modiri A, Nakano Y, Okada KN, Tsukano S, Zhang B, Fujii K, Kitagawa M, Sawant A. Quantum computing for radiation therapy optimization. Med Phys. 2026 Jan;53(1):e70269. doi: 10.1002/mp.70269. PMID: 41491010.
SaiToh A, Modiri A, Sawant A, Rahimi R. Quantum-inspired genetic optimization for patient scheduling in radiation oncology. 2025;arXiv:2506.04328, doi:10.48550
Rahimi R, Chen KL, Fan J, Khan R. Benchmarking Radiochromic EBT4 Film for Clinical Proton Dosimetry. Int J Part Ther. 2025 Dec 23;19:101294. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpt.2025.101294. PMID: 41568319; PMCID: PMC12818114.
Li X, Su FC, Li Q, Fan J, Chawla A, Miner A, Rahimi R. Radiation incident learning in multi-site centers. J Appl Clin Med Phys. 2025 Dec;26(12):e70369. doi: 10.1002/acm2.70369. PMID: 41253700; PMCID: PMC12626756.
Rahimi R, Taylor M, Li X, Chen KL, MacLennan G, Murdoch E, Chang L, Parniani A, Wang P, Chawla A, Fan J, Kim D. Fetal dose assessment in a pregnant patient with brain tumor: A comparative study of proton PBS and 3DCRT/VMAT radiation therapy techniques. J Appl Clin Med Phys. 2024 Aug;25(8):e14394. doi: 10.1002/acm2.14394. Epub 2024 Jun 17. PMID: 38887816; PMCID: PMC11302808.
Additional Publication Citations
Research Interests
Dr. Rahimi’s research focuses on improving the safety, quality, and efficiency of proton therapy through clinically grounded investigation, evidence-based quality assurance, and the development of advanced computational methods for radiation oncology. Her work is driven by the goal of ensuring that patients receive the highest standard of care while enabling the responsible adoption of emerging technologies in clinical practice.
A key component of her research addresses radiation safety in proton therapy, with an emphasis on careful characterization and mitigation of all sources of radiation exposure. Dr. Rahimi studies clinically relevant scenarios to better quantify, monitor, and minimize secondary radiation effects, particularly for patients with special considerations such as pregnancy or implanted medical devices.
Another major focus of Dr. Rahimi’s research is the advancement of Good Clinical Proton Practice (GCPP) through the optimization and standardization of quality assurance (QA) procedures. She works on developing QA strategies that are clinically meaningful, efficient, and scalable across proton therapy centers.
In parallel, Dr. Rahimi leads research on novel computational approaches for radiation therapy optimization, drawing on her background in quantum information science. Her work explores how quantum and quantum-inspired methods can address complex optimization challenges in treatment planning that are difficult to solve using conventional techniques alone. These efforts are particularly focused on adaptive proton therapy, where rapid decision-making and plan optimization are essential. A central theme of this research is the enhancement of adaptive radiation therapy workflows to improve clinical throughput and feasibility. Dr. Rahimi develops optimization frameworks that reformulate adaptive planning problems into computationally efficient representations, enabling rapid plan selection and modification based on a patient’s anatomy of the day. By reducing computational barriers, this work seeks to make same-day adaptive proton therapy more practical for routine clinical implementation.
Collectively, Dr. Rahimi’s research integrates clinical physics, quality assurance, and advanced computation to improve patient safety, treatment precision, and workflow efficiency in proton therapy. Her program establishes a strong foundation for translating innovative optimization technologies—including quantum-assisted methods—into clinically impactful solutions for modern radiation oncology.