Additional Information
John Schreiner is president of a college of medical physicists. He says
medical physicists need to have a graduate degree in physics. Increasingly,
they are required to have a PhD in medical physics.
Most medical physicists have a master's or PhD in medical physics, physics,
radiation biology or a related discipline. They also have training in clinical
medical physics.
Clinical training of one or two years in a hospital may be obtained through
a residency or a post-doctoral program.
Applicants at most American universities must possess a bachelor's degree
in physics, chemistry or engineering. Or they could have a degree in the biological
sciences with a strong background in physics and mathematics.
The mathematics background should include competence with differential
equations and differentiation and integration of functions of several variables.
Knowledge of computer programming and electronics is also recommended.
"In the last 10 years, the move has been toward more precision in targeting,"
Schreiner says.
"Computers have helped us to deliver doses more specifically to targets
and to spare normal tissue. The trick is to get the dose to the tumor and
spare the healthy tissue. With all these tools, we are better armed to do
that."
Many people still don't know about the field, Schreiner says. And that
opens up a lot of opportunity for interested students.
James C.H. Chu is chair of a medical physics department at a medical center
in Chicago. He says that in his center, the medical physicist visits universities
and gives workshops related to nuclear medicine and radiology.
"The future is very good," Chu says. "This is a technologically developed
field that tends to utilize new technology much earlier than other medical
fields."