Xinhui Duan, Ph.D.

Xinhui Duan, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Radiology at UT Southwestern Medical Center and a member of its Medical Physics section. He provides clinical diagnostic medical physics services to Parkland Health and Hospital System, Children’s Medical Center, and Clements University Hospital and its associated clinics.

The Radiology department provides me opportunities to educate our future leaders in radiology and medical physics. I am honored and thrilled.

Originally from China, Dr. Duan received a bachelor's degree in nuclear engineering and nuclear science, as well as a doctoral degree in nuclear technology and applications from Tsinghua University in Beijing. He then received clinical training in computed tomography (CT) imaging through a fellowship program at the Mayo Graduate School in Rochester, Minnesota.

Prior to joining the Radiology faculty in 2014, Dr. Duan completed additional training in clinical CT imaging as a Senior Research Fellow at the Mayo Clinic.

He is certified by the American Board of Radiology in Diagnostic Medical Physics.

In his current role, Dr. Duan is the lead physicist responsible for diagnostic medical physics support for Clements University Hospital and its associated clinics. He oversees more than 160 pieces of diagnostic imaging equipment to ensure the acquisition of high-quality images while providing appropriate radiation protection to patients and staff.

Research activities and interests

At UT Southwestern, Dr. Duan has continued research into spectral CT imaging that he began while at the Mayo Clinic. This research and other scholarly activities have allowed him to author more than 45 peer-reviewed publications and to have had his research work presented in talks and posters at scientific conferences. Dr. Duan has also been invited to share up-to-date information on spectral CT with his physicist peers at national professional conferences.

A commitment to service

Dr. Duan is actively engaged in service and citizenship activities at the national, institutional and departmental levels. He is a voting member of the Computed Tomography (CT) subcommittee and Alliance for Quality Computed Tomography Working Group (WGCTNP) of American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM). He also works as a member of several AAPM task groups.

Since 2009, he has served as guest associate editor of Medical Physics, the scientific journal of the AAPM. He also serves as a reviewer for Radiology, the Journal of Computed Assisted Tomography, American Journal of Roentgenology, American Chemical Society: Applied Materials & Interfaces, Quantitative Imaging in Medicine and Surgery, Biomed Research International, Journal of Applied Clinical Medical Physics, Physics in Medicine and Biology, Radiology-AI, Scientific Reports, Saudi Medical Journal, PLOS ONE, Frontiers in Physics, European Radiology, and Radiation Protection Dosimetry.

At UT Southwestern, Dr. Duan is an active member of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) and the Subcommittee for the Human Use of Radiation (SHUR). He also serves on the Radiology CT Operations Committee and the UTSW Radiation Protocol Committee for CT. As a key member of the Spectral CT Technical and Steering Committees in the Department of Radiology, he has made significant contributions to the development of the spectral CT clinical application and research programs, which translate cutting-edge spectral CT technology into clinical practice.

An innovating educator 

As a dedicated educator, Dr. Duan gives high-quality medical physics lectures to radiology residents, fellows, graduate students and radiologists, and receives high evaluation scores. Although physics is a challenging topic for physicians, one resident commented in the evaluation, “Dr. Duan gave a really excellent lecture. He understood how to make slides, particularly the slides with less words, more images, and videos to illustrate his points. This kept us engaged more throughout the lecture. His speaking style was also excellent with great projection and pacing.” Dr. Duan is also an innovator of radiology resident education. He is one of the first adopters in UT Southwestern of web-based learning tools for graduate medical education. He led the online-education program for radiology residents, opening the door to a new format for medical physics education in radiology.