Dr. Smathers is nationally and internationally recognized and respected in Medical Radiation Physics, and is an expert in the conception, design, fabrication and operation of high energy cyclotrons for the generation of heavy particles for medical use. He has more than 35 years of experience with heavy particle shielding design. Dr. Smathers was recruited to UCLA in 1980 and was instrumental in the development of UCLA’s fast neutron research program, one of three in the U.S. sponsored by the NCI. From 1980 to 2001, he served as Director of Biomedical Physics in the Department of Radiation Oncology, building the UCLA Medical Physics Division into one of the foremost clinical and scientific groups in the nation. He currently is professor emeritus for the David Geffen school of medicine at UCLA.