Internationally recognized for leadership and contributions in applied physics

Ning Jeff Yue
Ning Jeff Yue, professor, vice chair and chief of physics at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.
Photo: Nick Romanenko

The Board of Governors today awarded the Donald H. Jacobs Chair in Applied Physics to Ning Jeff Yue, who leads the radiation physics team at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey and is a professor, vice chair and chief of physics at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

Internationally recognized for his scholarly contributions and leadership in applied physics, Yue is credited with building a robust team, which provides medical physics services to Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, University Hospital and several RWJBarnabas Health hospitals. His contributions include research in image registration, image-based tracking, radiation dose optimization, brachytherapy and informatics.

“Since his arrival to Rutgers Cancer Institute in 2006, Dr. Ning Jeff Yue has made significant contributions to our clinical research and educational missions, bringing our physics division to a world-class level,” said Bruce Haffty, professor and chair of the department of radiation oncology at RWJMS, RNJMS and Rutgers Cancer Institute, as well as chief of staff at Rutgers Cancer Institute. “In addition to running a highly efficient applied clinical division with outstanding applied physics research, he created the state’s only physics residency program to train the next generation of medical physicists. He is most deserving of this prestigious honor.”

The chair, established in 1990 with a gift from the estate of alumnus Donald H. Jacobs, is awarded to a different faculty member every three years. It recognizes senior faculty in a variety of fields who have made distinguished accomplishments in applied physics, the branch of physics that forms the basis for modern technology.

Yue has been a Rutgers professor since 2006.  He received his doctoral degree in physics from the University of Pennsylvania and did his medical physics residency at Thomas Jefferson University. Before joining the staff at RWJMS and Rutgers Cancer Institute, he was the associate director of medical physics at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Prior to that, he was on the faculty at Yale University.

A highly respected leader, Yue has been recognized for mentoring undergraduates, graduate students, doctoral candidates, medical school students and medical physics residents. In 2006, he received the Teacher of the Year Award from the Association of Residents in Radiation Oncology.

For six years, Yue served as a scientific reviewer for the U.S. Department of Defense medical research programs in prostate, breast and ovarian cancers.

Yue is a member of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine, the largest national organization of medical physics; a senior member who oversees the certifying exam for medical physicists for the American Board of Radiology; and is on the Board of Commission on Accreditation of Medical Physics Education.  He also chairs the Board of Sino-American Network of Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology and is involved in a number of other professional organizations.