Medical physics (also called biomedical physics, medical biophysics, applied physics in medicine, physics applications in medical science, radiological physics or hospital radio-physics) is, in general, the application of physics concepts, theories, and methods to medicine and healthcare. Medical physics departments may be found in hospitals or universities.
In the case of clinical work, "medical physicist" is the title of a specific healthcare profession, usually working within a hospital or other clinic. Traditionally, medical physicists are found in the following healthcare specialties: radiation oncology (also known as radiotherapy or radiation therapy), diagnostic and interventional radiology (also known as medical imaging), nuclear medicine, and radiation protection. Medical physics of radiation therapy can involve work such as dosimetry, linac quality assurance, and brachytherapy. Medical physics of diagnostic and interventional radiology involves medical imaging techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging, ultrasound, computed tomography and x-ray. Nuclear medicine will include positron emission tomography and radionuclide therapy. However one can find Medical Physicists in many other areas such as physiological monitoring, audiology, neurology, neurophysiology, cardiology and others.
University departments are of two types. The first type are mainly concerned with preparing students for a career as a hospital Medical Physicist and research focuses on improving the practice of the profession. A second type (increasingly called 'biomedical physics') has a much wider scope and may include research in any applications of physics to medicine from the study of biomolecular structure to microscopy and nanomedicine.
I'm only a high school junior, but I am debating on whether to take AP Chemistry in senior year or wait till the first/second year of college (it's required either way).
However, I have a pretty odd situation since I took pre-AP Chemistry over the summer (not my own school's) and everyone...
Hi
I started thinking about Medical Physics the other day as one of the options for me. I have not taken any biology classes so far, but took some intensive biology classes in high school that is equivalent to freshmen and a part of sophomore biology classes. I started looking at graduate...
Hi
I started thinking about Medical Physics the other day as one of the options for me. I have not taken any biology classes so far, but took some intensive biology classes in high school that is equivalent to freshmen and a part of sophomore biology classes. I started looking at graduate...
Thank you in advance to anyone who actually manages to read this :)
I left school at 16 (I live in the UK) and wanted to go to college to get some A-levels. Everything went direly wrong for me and I ended up homeless and unable to afford to live and go to college.
Fast forward 6 years and...
Hey guys,
I tried to find a thread related to medical physics, but have not yet suceeeded. I was looking online out of curiosity about medical physics. I used to always want to grow up, be a doctor, or at least something medical related. After being in high school until my senior year, i have...
Hello,
I'm entering the final year of a B.ScH in physics, and am very interesting in pursuing a grad degree in Medical Physics next year. Coming from a rural town, I haven't had much exposure to the field, so figured I'd try my luck asking here.
I'm wondering what the future outlook for...
Hi everyone. I currently graduated with a BS in Physics, and one area that really intrigues me is medical physics. My question is, how does someone like me go about breaking into the field of medical physics? Ideally, I would like to get some work experience and then apply to grad school. I...
I've just got a 2:1 MSci in Physics and I weighing up my options. I'm seriously considering going into Medical physics for various reasons; although I've only done one medical physics module in my course. I've looked into it and I'd obviously have to do an additional training on a programme...
Hello everyone,
I am looking for some advice today on whether or not I stand a chance at being admitted to an accredited medical physics program here in the United States. My stats are as follows:
GPA: 3.67
On track for a B.S. in Physics with an edge in experimental physics.
1 course in...
Master of Medical Physics, need a help please?
Hi,
Actually, a friend of mine wants to continue his postgraduate study in the filed
of Medical physics(Master degree), he finds difficulties in finding the proper
web links using the search engines as well as me:)
Could you please post...
I'm almost done with my junior year as a physics major at Rice university, and I am planning on going to graduate school in medical physics after graduation. But all of my research on the field and the application process has been done online, and no other classmates or professors are interested...
I need some opinions... I am really struggling on deciding what type of education I would like to pursue next year (my undergrad is in physics):
I have offers from two schools (waiting on hearing back from 3 others; so let's assume these are the only two offers I am going to get).
One...
Greetings,
I have a PhD in Biomedical Physics, research in radiation biology and now a faculty position in cell and molecular biology. I want to return to medical physics but I lack the clinical courses needed, what is the best route to get this experience? Thanks.
Hi all. Thank you in advance for your advice. Long time lurker, first-time poster.
It seems I have the ideal resume for going into medical physics for grad school but I look at the grad programs and see nothing physics-intensive at all. As a matter of fact, I've used almost every text already...
Hi,
I'm doing a project for my medical physics course on on-line tutorials and freeware for medical physics. There is a huge amount of freeware available online, so I'm looking for information on what is used frequently in hospital settings, research, and teaching of medical physics. I'd...
Hello all! I am a fourth year undergraduate physics/math major and I've had my eyes on graduate work in medical physics for about 3 years now. In a few weeks I'm going to be meeting with the radiation sciences director at our health sciences school here at my university about applying to the...
Hello everybody. I graduated a few years ago with an MS in pharmacology. However, after two jobs where I did not get positions doing what I wanted to do, I am looking at what options I have for graduate school. For those of you who do not know the drug industry that well, you need to have a...
I just graduated recently with a 2:1 in Mathematics and am thinking of studying a Masters course in Medical Physics in 2008. I got a welcoming response from Aberdeen University (http://www.biomed.abdn.ac.uk/Courses/medphys.html) and am thinking of studying there.
However, I'm trying to think...
hi could someone please tell me about salaries and future job trends in this field? say if you graduate from the 2yr residency after your m.s. degree, should you be able to get a $150k/yr job in a city like san diego? or at least in some coastal carolina city? also once you get a job do you just...
Med school or Medical physics??
Hey all, I have an interest in neuroscience, and I was wondering if it would be better to go to med school, or go to graduate school for medical physics. I was also wondering which areas of physics are more hands on. Thank you in advance, fizikx.
I am about to finish my final year of under graduation course (Bachelor of Science) in Physics. In order to attain a Doctorate in Medical Physics is it necessary to have a post graduation in Medical Physics?
Hey all,
Just wondering if anyone happens to know whether long hair on a man (tied neatly in a ponytail) is acceptable to hospitals and clinics if you are going to be working there as a clinical medical physicist. I myself have long hair and I knew it wouldn't be an issue while I was planning...
Sorry if this post appears twice; I couldn't figure out if it actually posted the first time.
I'd really like some career advice about medical physics. I've just finished an M.S. (with thesis) in accelerator physics, my research was about radiation and superconducting magnets.
I'm very...
Hi, could someone tell me about Vanderbilt, Duke, Georgia Tech MS programs. How hard is it to get in, if you're not a physics major? Should you take physics gre for any of these programs(would it help if your gpa sucks)? How about mcat? Can any of these programs be completed in 1year? If you...
I am considering medical physics for a career. I got a two year degree in business about 10 years ago, and I have looked around at programs on the internet. Some masters programs recommend taking organic chemistry as an undergrad student. Others just say you have to take a certain number of...
Hey people,
I'm currently finished junior, and now looking for grad schools in medbio physics (preferably medical imaging, i.e. MR, X-ray). Can anyone suggest the best schools for this to apply? Thanks!
Are there really any jobs that you can get doing medical physics with only a bachelors in physics with a concentration in medical physics?
Maybe like a technician/assistant to a medical physicist...
I will be going to grad school for medical physics eventually after I get my bachelors, but...
I am almost done with my junior year at a top 15 liberal arts college. I'm majoring in physics with an overall gpa of 3.5 which I hope to pull to a 3.6 by graduation. My physics gpa is about 3.85. I am interested in attending a top school to do medical physics. Duke, UChicago,UW-Madison, and...
I am very interested in becoming a medical physicist but I have no idea where to look for information.I have Google and Ask Jeeves but most of the hits have nothing to do with it.
If anybody knows where I can look for information on medical physics I would appreciate you sharing.Thanks.
Having been an occasional member of this forum for a while, I find myself dissapointed by the lack of discussion about medical physics. It really is an exciting field (I would say that...) and is usually totally shadowed by all of the other applications to physics. Space science and astronomy...