A medical physicist is a health-care professional who applies medical physics to a wide range of fields and services in the medical field. Medical physics is a branch of physics that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of diseases.
Radiotherapy and medical imaging are two of the most common applications of medical physics. Patients’ safety, as well as the proper functioning and development of treatments, are ensured health physicists. Bioengineering, medical electronics, and health physics are all fields that can be used in conjunction with health physics.
A background in general physics is required for becoming a medical physicist, followed a master’s or doctoral program in medical physics. Practical experience, such as a residency or a hospital postdoctoral program, is also required. This occupation also necessitates electronic and computer skills.
Given that the profession primarily exists within three major areas of concentration, the medical physicist can work in a variety of settings. The first, clinical service and consultation, is usually provided an oncology or other radiation department in a hospital. Planning radiation therapy services and treatments, calculating the amount of radiation required for an exam, and quality and hazard control are all included in this category.
A team of medical researchers could be led a health physicist who works in research and development. They could collaborate on a variety of research projects, such as testing various computer and other technological programs, developing new radiation measurement techniques, and studying how the body reacts to radiation treatment, among other things. These activities could take place in a hospital, a research lab, or another medical facility.
A medical physicist’s third main area of concentration is teaching, which can be done at either a college or university. A medical physicist can teach future technologists, medical students, resident physicians, and fellow medical physicists about radiation processes at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. He or she might also teach radiobiology and biophysics courses.
Salary for medical physicists varies depending on a number of factors, including experience and location. The highest-paid medical physicists usually work for a private practice or firm. Government-employed medical physicists, on the other hand, typically earn less than their private-sector counterparts.