Alisa Walz-Flannigan PhD

The inaugural chief of the Section of Clinical Imaging Physics and member of the Section of Informatics, Alisa Walz-Flannigan, PhD earned her doctorate in applied physics from the University of Michigan. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship in nuclear medicine at The Johns Hopkins University, and a residency in diagnostic medical physics at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science. She also serves as the Imaging Physics Residency program director in the Department of Medical Physics.

Prior to joining the University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty in 2025, Dr. Walz-Flannigan was a consultant medical physicist with the Department of Radiology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. She also served as section head of Medical Physics and Radiation Safety for the Marshfield Clinic Health System in Marshfield, Wisconsin.

Dr. Walz-Flannigan brings experience in providing clinical medical physics leadership and support across all modality areas. She has developped and lead work in informatics operations, radiographic image quality, CT protocol optimization, MR-safety and breast imaging. She taught courses for radiology, cardiology and medical physics residents and fellows, as well as radiologic technologists. In addition to teaching, Dr. Walz-Flannigan mentored medical physics residents and medical physics staff. An active member of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM), Dr. Walz-Flannigan participated with and lead efforts in standards development with the American College of Radiology (ACR), task groups and subcommittees.

As a dedicated advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion, she led the Mayo Clinic’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex Mayo Employee Resource Group (LGBTI MERG) and worked with the Mayo LGBT Health Care Task Force. Dr. Walz-Flannigan also supported DEI initiatives while serving at the Marshfield Clinic Health System.