Radiation Oncology Physics Residency - Program Faculty
Michelle Wells, M.S., DABR - Program Director
Contact: [email protected]
Michelle Wells joined Piedmont Healthcare in 2003. Michelle leads the technical operations and staffing of Piedmont’s radiation oncology departments in the Metro Atlanta region. She is passionate about continuous process improvement to advance patient outcomes and increase the staff's technical expertise. Under her leadership, Piedmont successfully obtained both ACR and ASTRO Apex accreditation certifications.
Board-certified in Therapeutic Medical Physics, Michelle was elected as a Fellow of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine in July 2021. She graduated from Francis Marion University in Florence, SC, with a dual bachelor’s degree in physics and mathematics and earned a Master of Science degree in Health Physics as a Presidential Fellow at Georgia Institute of Technology.
A native of Latta, SC, Michelle is an avid community volunteer with Atlanta organizations that promote leadership and STEM education. She and her husband (William) love attending the theater, watching football and traveling.
Luis Vazquez, Ph.D., DABR
Contact: [email protected]
Luis Vazquez received his Ph.D. in Medical Physics degree from The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio in 2012. From 2012-2015, he joined Alyzen Medical Physics (Formerly Mid-South Radiation Physics) as a Clinical Medical Physics consultant and part of the linear accelerator Commissioning team. From 2015-2019, he joined Baylor Scott and White Health Medical Physicist team and also served as a Clinical Assistant professor at Texas A&M and as faculty for the Medical Physics residency at BSWH.
In 2019, he joined Piedmont Health Care at the Henry Stockbridge location as a Clinical Medical Physicist; in 2020, he joined the Medical Physics residency faculty.
Luis is an active American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) member, working on the Medical Physics Leadership Progress Assessment Subcommittee and the Professional Mentorship Working Group. His main interests in Medical Physics are but not limited to new technologies and methods in Medical Physics, Linear Accelerator Commissioning, novel IMRT and VMAT patient-specific Quality Assurance methods, SRS-SBRT techniques and Monte Carlo dose calculations.
Carl Weaver, M.S., DABR
Contact: [email protected]
Carl Weaver, M.S, DABR, joined Piedmont Healthcare in 2011. As a staff physicist, Carl is responsible for the clinical prostate brachytherapy physics program at Piedmont Atlanta Hospital. He serves as one of the Gamma Knife radiosurgery physicists and oversees a variety of SRS and SBRT treatments as well as treatment planning for these various treatment methods. He has personally planned hundreds of patient special procedures.
Carl’s interests in clinical medical physics intersect with his passion for quality and safety. This has brought him to an interest in creating enhancements for SBRT motion management at Piedmont Atlanta Hospital. Quality improvement in the area of SRS/SBRT is a goal of his. He has studied the literature for event reporting and created presentations for the radiation oncology department on how to avoid reproducing specific errors that have been reported.
A native of Indianapolis, Carl graduated from Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN, with a dual bachelor’s degree in physics and secondary education. For six years post-graduation, Carl served as a physics teacher in Fulton County Schools in the Atlanta area, in which Carl’s personal interest in physics grew. During the subsequent years, Carl studied medical physics at the Georgia Institute of Technology and obtained a Master of Science in Medical Physics. Carl is board-certified in Therapeutic Medical Physics by the American Board of Radiology and participates in the Maintenance of Certification.
Carl and his family enjoy playing games and hiking together. He spends his free time reading, cycling and studying physics and astronomy for fun.
Nazanin Nayebi, M.S., DABR
Contact: [email protected]
Nazanin Nayebi received her M.S. degree in medical physics from Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada, in 2008. She served as a clinical research associate at Princess Margaret Hospital, Toronto, Canada, from 2008 to 2010. She was part of a team working on frameless fractionated stereotactic radiotherapy and image guidance on GammaKnife, now commercially available as the Extend™ and GammaKnife ® Icon™.
Nazanin joined Piedmont Healthcare in June 2012 as a medical physicist following the completion of her residency at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center, San Antonio.
Her clinical responsibilities include a broad range of routine medical physics services in QA, treatment planning and overseeing external-beam therapy, brachytherapy and GammaKnife treatments.
Nazanin’s clinical focus is in radiosurgery planning, with a specialization in brain and spine cases.
Kevin Sukumar, M.S.
Contact: [email protected]
Kevin Sukumar joined Piedmont Healthcare in July 2020 after being matched to its radiation oncology physics residency program. He completed his undergraduate degree in physics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Then, he enrolled at Purdue University and graduated with a CAMPEP Accredited Master of Science in Medical Physics. Kevin accepted a staff physicist position at Piedmont Atlanta Hospital upon completion of his residency in 2022, before becoming ABR board certified in 2023.
Currently, he supervises clinical procedures such as radiosurgery (LINAC and Gamma Knife), LDR (Gamma Tile), and HDR treatments. In addition to clinical duties, Kevin is interested in continuous quality improvement projects involving workflow optimization and strategic planning that benefit both peers and patients. More importantly, he enjoys mentoring residents by providing guidance stemming from his personal experience at Piedmont.
Kevin spends his free time engaging in outdoor activities such as archery, pick-up soccer, and cycling. At home, he is an avid reader and enjoys working on complex puzzles. He also catches up with Formula 1 races and badminton tournaments during the weekends.