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Program Information

Professional Council Symposium: Alternative Career Opportunities for Medical Physicists


R Jeraj

E Angel


R Jeraj1*, E Angel2*, (1) University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, (2) Toshiba America Medical Systems, Inc, Tustin, CA

Presentations

SU-A-213-0 (Sunday, July 12, 2015) 9:30 AM - 11:00 AM Room: 213


Medical Physics is an attractive career choice for many young scientists, offering opportunities in both research and clinical activities. Very often, clinical medical physics is broadly divided into two categories: we are either therapy physicists or diagnostic physicists. Such a bifurcation, while capturing much of what we have historically done, does not reflect the breadth of the applications of physics in medicine. Further, the second bifurcation - that between research and clinical medical physics - also does not reflect the breadth of professional opportunities. As health care changes and more bright candidates enter the field, recognizing the broader opportunities for medical physicists is becoming increasingly important.

This symposium will explore just two aspects of non-traditional medical physics careers. The first speaker will first focus on the enormous opportunities in quantitative imaging in cancer care, which is linked with treatment response assessment, Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST), and advanced image analysis. Second, biological data analysis, including analysis of big data in images and other biomarkers will be discussed. Finally, opportunities for physicists in the pharmaceutical industry, such as in pharmacokinetics and modeling) will be presented.

The second speaker will discuss some of the many opportunities for medical physicists in imaging and therapeutic equipment industry. Both large corporations and small companies offer alternative career paths for physicists outside of the typical research and clinical realms. Research and clinical medical physics are still vital in these companies, but are implemented differently.

Learning Objectives:
1. Become familiar with career opportunities in quantitative imaging, biological data analysis, pharmaceutical industry, and equipment industry.
2. Learn the activities associated with these opportunities
3. Learn the education and experience expected to be successful in these realms.


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