Medical Physicist Job Description
Medical physicists play an important role in treating patients with cancer. They work with radiation imaging technologies, aiming for constant improvement in radiology treatments for patients. Most medical physicists fall into one of four categories: Therapeutic Radiological Physics, Diagnostic Radiological Physics, Medical Nuclear Physics and Medical Health Physics. Even though there are different career directions, the job description for a medical physicist in any of these subfields is relatively similar.
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Clinic and Consultations
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Diagnosis and treatment of patients is one responsibility of medical physicists. Frequently, medical physicists collaborate with radiation oncology physicians to determine plans for radiation treatments for patients. During the course of treatments, a medical physicist might be consulted to solve physiological problems, such as the patient's metabolism, and how this might relate to the patient's condition and overall treatment plan.
Research
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Medical physicists also spend considerable time working toward improving equipment and treatments for diseases including cancer and heart disease. They look at the role computers and technology have in treating patients and how improving technology can help with imaging for improved diagnosis of conditions. Medical physicists also look at the biological functions of the body, working with this information and technological advances to discover new treatments or improve treatments already in use.
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Teaching
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Universities that offer studies in medical physics will usually appoint a medical physicist as faculty to teach and train medical students and physicists of the future. Faculty may teach courses in biophysics and radiobiology, as well as teaching students how to use equipment for research, diagnosing and treating.
Education Requirements
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Some universities offer master's and doctorate degrees in medical physics. If you are considering a career as a medical physicist, you should concentrate heavily in general physics during your undergraduate education, though, in addition to physics, you may want to also study computer science and electronics. Once the doctoral program is complete, you should gain clinic experience through a medical residency program.
Credentials
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Education background is important in pursuing a career as a medical physicist since, in order to receive credentialing, according to the American Medical Association of Physicists in Medicine, medical physicists must have a Master of Science or Ph.D. in "medical physics, physics, radiation biology, or a related discipline, and [have] training in clinical medical physics."
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit medicina_nuclear-15 image by Paco Ayala from Fotolia.com
