Thomas Niklaus Hangartner PhD, FAAPM

Dr. Hangartner is a native of Switzerland. He received his doctorate in experimental physics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich in 1978. After having spent several years at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, he went to Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, in 1986, and he is now a Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Medicine and Physics as well as the Director of the Biomedical Imaging Laboratory of Wright State University and Miami Valley Hospital. In 2001 he was awarded the prestigious Brage Golding Distinguished Professorship of Research and became a Fellow of the American Association of Physics in Medicine. He is currently holding the title of Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering Research.

Dr. Hangartner’s research interests center around the non-invasive, quantitative evaluation of bone. He was involved in the early development of peripheral quantitative computed tomography, and he contributed to the field with investigations into beam-hardening and scatter effects on the quantitative evaluation of bone. More recently, he developed patented methods to analyze the geometry and den city of cortical bone at a high level of accuracy. Another research area focuses on the quality assurance and control of dual x-ray absorptiometry devices. He has developed special algorithms that, together with a dedicated phantom, promise to better correct for differences between scanners.