Sara St. James

Sara St. James, PhD, DABR

Languages spoken: English

Academic Information

Departments Primary - Radiation Oncology

Academic Office Information

sara.stjames@hci.utah.edu

Board Certification

  • American Board of Radiology (Therapeutic Medical Physics)

Education History

Undergraduate Carleton University
 BSc
Graduate Training McGill University
 MSc
Doctoral Training University of California, Davis
 PhD
Certification Harvard Medical School
 Certificate

Selected Publications

Journal Article

  1. Zhao H, Nelson G, Sarkar V, Oare C, Szegedi M, St. James S, Kunz J, Price R, Huang Y (2025). Comprehensive Image Quality Evaluation and Motion Phantom Studies of an Ultra-Fast (6-Second) Cone-Beam Computed Tomography Imaging System on a Ring Gantry Linear Accelerator. Advances in radiation oncology, 10(2),
  2. Zoberi JE, Charara Y, Clements J, Escorcia FE, Hobbs RF, St James S, Mulugeta PG, Patel RB, Srivastava S, Phillips (2025). Quality and Safety Considerations for Radiopharmaceutical Therapy in the Radiation Oncology Environment: An ASTRO Safety White Paper. Practical radiation oncology,
  3. Hopfensperger KM, Li W, Sheldon SH, Rotondo RL, Chen RC, St. James S, Lin (2025). Estimates of cardiac implanted electronic device neutron dose for a pencil beam scanning proton therapy system. Medical physics, 52(7), e17987.
  4. Trofimov AV, Deisher AJ, Li H, Lin H, Mamalui M, Pankuch M, Saini J, Scholey J, St James S, Slopsema R (2025). Initiating proton ocular treatments on general-purpose beamlines: Challenges and trends from the survey of USA facilities. International Journal of Radiation Oncology* Biology* Physics,
  5. Zhao H, Sarkar V, St James S, Paxton A, Su FF, Price RG, Dial C, Poppe M, Gaffney D, Salter (2024). Verification of surface-guided radiation therapy (SGRT) alignment for proton breast and chest wall patients by comparison to CT-on-rails and kV-2D alignment. Journal of applied clinical medical physics, 25(2), e14263.
  6. Tranel J, Palm S, Feng FY, St James S, Hope T (2024). Technical note: Errors introduced when using Dose Voxel Kernels for estimating absorbed dose from radiopharmaceutical therapies involving alpha emitters. Medical physics,
  7. Rebolo L, Trigila C, Ellin J, Correia PMM, Silva AL, Veloso J, St James S, Roncali E, Ariño-Estrada (2024). Cherenkov Light Emission in Pure Cherenkov Emitters for Prompt Gamma Imaging. IEEE transactions on radiation and plasma medical sciences, 8(1), 15-20.
  8. Natsuaki Y , Leynes A , Wangerin K , Hamdi M, Rajagopal A , Kinahan PE , Laforest R , Larson PEZ , Hope TA, St. James (2024). Assessment of lesion insertion tool in pelvis PET/MR data with applications to attenuation correction method development. Journal of applied clinical medical physics,
  9. Heller R, Ellin J, Backfish M, Cates JW, Choong WS, Kratochwil N, Prebys E, Rebolo L, St. James S, Arino-Estrada (2024). Demonstration of LGADs and Cherenkov gamma detectors for prompt gamma timing proton therapy range verification. IEEE transactions on radiation and plasma medical sciences,
  10. Sarkar V, Paxton A, Su F, Price R, Nelson G, Szegedi M, St. James S, Salter (2023). An evaluation of the use of DirectSPR images for proton planning in the RayStation treatment planning software. Journal of applied clinical medical physics,
  11. Hopfensperger KM, Li X, Paxton A, Sarkar V, Su FF, Price RG, Salter B, St James (2023). Measurements of fetal dose with Mevion S250i proton therapy system with HYPERSCAN. Journal of applied clinical medical physics, 24(5), e13957.
  12. St. James S, Bednarz B, Benedict S, Buchsbaum JC, Dewaraja Y, Frey E, Hobbs R, Grudzinski J, Roncali E, Sgouros G, Capala J, Xiao (2021). Current Status of Radiopharmaceutical Therapy. International journal of radiation oncology, biology, physics, 109(4), 891-901.
  13. Tranel J, Feng FY, St James S, Hope T (2021). Effect of microdistribution of alpha and beta-emitters in targeted radionuclide therapies on delivered absorbed dose in a GATE model of bone marrow. Physics in medicine and biology, 66(3), 035016.
  14. Sgouros G, Dewaraja YK, Escorcia F, Graves SA, Hope TA, Iravani A, Pandit-Taskar N, Saboury B, St. James S, Zanzonico P (2021). Tumor Response to Radiopharmaceutical Therapies: The Knowns and the Unknowns. Journal of nuclear medicine, 62(Suppl 3), 12S-22S.
  15. Capala J, Graves SA, Scott A, Sgouros G, St. James S, Zanzonico P, Zimmerman B (2021). Dosimetry for Radiopharmaceutical Therapy: Current Practices and Commercial Resources. Journal of nuclear medicine, 62(Suppl 3), 3S-11S.
  16. Laforest R, Khalighi M, Natsuaki Y, Rajagopal A, Chandramohan D, Byrd D, An H, Larson P, St. James S, Sunderland JJ, Kinahan PE, Hope T (2021). Harmonization of PET image reconstruction parameters in simultaneous PET/MRI. EJNMMI physics, 8(1), 75.
  17. Roncali E, Capala J, Benedict SH, Akabani G, Bednarz B, Bhadrasain V, Bolch WE, Buchsbaum JC, Coleman NC, Dewaraja YK, Frey E, Ghaly M, Grudzinski J, Hobbs RF, Howell RW, Humm JL, Kunos CL, Larson S, Lin FI, Madsen M, Mirzadeh S, Morse D, Pryma D, Sgouros G, St. James S, Wahl RW, Xiao Y, Zanzonico P, Zukotynski (2021). Overview of the First NRG Oncology–National Cancer Institute Workshop on Dosimetry of Systemic Radiopharmaceutical Therapy. Journal of Nuclear Medicine, 62, 1133-1139.
  18. Tseng YD, Wootton L, Nyflot M, Apisarnthanarax S, Rengan R, Bloch C, Sandison G, St James (2018). 4D computed tomography scans for conformal thoracic treatment planning: is a single scan sufficient to capture thoracic tumor motion?. Physics in medicine and biology, 63(2), 02NT03.
  19. St James S, Grassberger C, Lu H (2018). Considerations when treating lung cancer with passive scatter or active scanning proton therapy. Translational lung cancer research, 7(2), 210-215.
  20. Mayo CS, Moran JM, Bosch W, Xiao Y, McNutt T, Popple R, Michalski J, Feng M, Marks LB, Fuller CD, Yorke E, Palta J, Gabriel PE, Molineu A, Matuszak MM, Covington E, Masi K, Richardson SL, Ritter T, Morgas T, Flampouri S, Santanam L, Moore JA, Purdie TG, Miller RC, Hurkmans C, Adams J, Jackie Wu QR, Fox CJ, Siochi RA, Brown NL, Verbakel W, Archambault Y, Chmura SJ, Dekker AL, Eagle DG, Fitzgerald TJ, Hong T, Kapoor R, Lansing B, Jolly S, Napolitano ME, Percy J, Rose MS, Siddiqui S, Schadt C, Simon WE, Straube WL, St James ST, Ulin K, Yom SS, Yock T (2018). American Association of Physicists in Medicine Task Group 263: Standardizing Nomenclatures in Radiation Oncology. International journal of radiation oncology, biology, physics, 100(4), 1057-1066.
  21. Shepherd A, St. James S, Rengan (2018). The practicality of ICRU and considerations for future ICRU definitions. Seminars in radiation oncology, 28(3), 201-206.
  22. Saini J, Maes D, Egan A, Bowen SR, St James S, Janson M, Wong T, Bloch (2017). Dosimetric evaluation of a commercial proton spot scanning Monte-Carlo dose algorithm: comparisons against measurements and simulations. Physics in medicine and biology, 62(19), 7659-7681.
  23. Saini J, Bowen SL, St. James S, Wong T, Bloch C (2017). Evaluation of ceramic marker for the treatment of ocular melanoma with proton therapy. Biomedical physics & engineering express, 3(2),
  24. Lee TC, Bowen SR, St. James S, Sandison GA, Kinahan PE, Nyflot M (2017). Accuracy comparison of 4D computed tomography (4DCT) and 4D cone beam computed tomography (4DCBCT). 6(3),
  25. Berman AT, St James S, Rengan (2015). Proton Beam Therapy for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Current Clinical Evidence and Future Directions. Cancers, 7(3), 1178-90.
  26. Koybasi O, Mishra P, St James S, Lewis JH, Seco (2014). Simulation of dosimetric consequences of 4D-CT-based motion margin estimation for proton radiotherapy using patient tumor motion data. Physics in medicine and biology, 59(4), 853-67.
  27. St James S, Seco J, Mishra P, Lewis J (2013). Simulations using patient data to evaluate systematic errors that may occur in 4D treatment planning: a proof of concept study. Medical physics, 40(9), 091706.
  28. Williams CL, Mishra P, Seco J, St James S, Mak RH, Berbeco RI, Lewis J (2013). A mass-conserving 4D XCAT phantom for dose calculation and accumulation. Medical physics, 40(7), 071728.
  29. Mishra P, Li R, St James S, Mak RH, Williams CL, Yue Y, Berbeco RI, Lewis J (2013). Evaluation of 3D fluoroscopic image generation from a single planar treatment image on patient data with a modified XCAT phantom. Physics in medicine and biology, 58(4), 841-58.
  30. St. James S, Mishra P, Hacker F, Berbeco RI, Lewis J (2012). Quantifying ITV instabilities arising from 4DCT: a simulation study using patient data. Physics in medicine and biology, 57(5), L1-7.
  31. Mishra P, St James S, Segars WP, Berbeco RI, Lewis J (2012). Adaptation and applications of a realistic digital phantom based on patient lung tumor trajectories. Physics in medicine and biology, 57(11), 3597-608.
  32. Yang Y,St James S, Wu Y, Du H, Qi J, Farrell R, Dokhale PA, Shah KS, Vaigneur K, Cherry S (2011). Tapered LSO arrays for small animal PET. Physics in medicine and biology, 56(1), 139-53.
  33. St James S, Yang Y, Bowen SL, Qi J, Cherry S (2010). Simulation study of spatial resolution and sensitivity for the tapered depth of interaction PET detectors for small animal imaging. Physics in medicine and biology, 55(2), N63-74.
  34. St James S, Yang Y, Wu Y, Farrell R, Dokhale P, Shah KS, Cherry S (2009). Experimental characterization and system simulations of depth of interaction PET detectors using 0.5 mm and 0.7 mm LSO arrays. Physics in medicine and biology, 54(14), 4605-19.
  35. Yang Y, Qi J, Wu Y, St James S, Farrell R, Dokhale PA, Shah KS, Cherry S (2009). Depth of interaction calibration for PET detectors with dual-ended readout by PSAPDs. Physics in medicine and biology, 54(2), 433-45.
  36. Yang Y, Wu Y, Qi J, St James S, Du H, Dokhale PA, Shah KS, Farrell R, Cherry S (2008). A prototype PET scanner with DOI-encoding detectors. Journal of nuclear medicine, 49(7), 1132-40.
  37. St James S, Thompson C (2006). Image blurring due to light-sharing in PET block detectors. Medical physics, 33(2), 405-10.
  38. Thompson CJ, St. James S, Tomic (2005). Under-sampling in PET scanners as a source of image blurring. 545(1-2), 436-445.

Editorial

  1. Xiao Y, Roncali E, Hobbs R, St James S, Bednarz B, Benedict S, Dewaraja YK, Frey E, Grudzinski J, Sgouros G, Buchsbaum JC, Capala (2021). Toward Individualized Voxel-Level Dosimetry for Radiopharmaceutical Therapy. International journal of radiation oncology, biology, physics, 109(4), 902-904.