Medical Physics

The Medical Physics Program at the University of Florida is one of eight medical physics programs accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Physics Educational Programs (CAMPEP). This graduate program is the result of a long-term collaboration of three departments that have combined their resources to produce graduates in Medical Physics that exemplify the role of the profession in clinical practice. The program is academically sponsored by the Department of Nuclear and Radiological Engineering (UF College of Engineering) with clinical components in the Department of Radiology and the Department of Radiation Oncology (UF College of Medicine). The coordinated efforts of the faculty from each department provide graduate students with a solid foundation of fundamental principles and clinical applications on which to build a career in medical physics.

The ultimate goal of the program is to educate medical physicists who will advance the practice of physics and engineering in medicine and biology through innovative research and development, and through responsible clinical practice, will promote the highest quality medical services for patients.

The UF Medical Physics Program has always been a clinically oriented program and has generated over a hundred graduates, many of whom have gone on to become recognized leaders in the field. The CAMPEP accreditation provides numerous benefits to students in the program such as enhanced board eligibility and competitive fellowships. A companion residency program in Radiation Oncology is also CAMPEP accredited and provides an complete clinical experience to individuals with advanced degrees.

Applicants to the program should have a strong background in physics, with an undergraduate degree in physics or an approriate engineering discipline. In order to be considered for admission applicants should have a minimum score of 1200 on the GRE (combined verbal and quantitative scores). The Physics subject area of the GRE exam is not required.

Applications may be requested from the Department by e-mailing the program director, or Academic Support coordinator

Applications can also be completed on-line at: http://gradschool.rgp.ufl.edu/education/toapply.html.

Students who apply on-line should send an e-mail to the program director to notify him of their application and expedite the application process.

Graduate Curriculum

The curriculum for Medical Physics at the University of Florida is designed to provide students with a strong foundation in the fundamental physical aspects of medical physics applications, the interaction of radiation with the human body, and current clinical practice of medical physics in diagnostic radiology, nuclear medicine and radiation oncology. The curriculum strives to educate students in the physical and engineering principles that may be applied to medical physics so that they may not only understand imaging and treatment techniques in current clinical applications, but so they may also readily adapt to, and understand, future developments in clinical medical physics. The program also provides clinical experience so that students can effectively contribute in the clinical environment as junior physicists upon graduation. After graduation the students have the tools and knowledge to integrate with the future clinical experience necessary to become board certified physicists capable of working independently.

Click here to view the Graduate M.Sc. Curriculum

Note that there are two parallel tracks, one for a concentration in Diagnostic Radiological Physics and one in Therapeutic Radiological Physics. The standard academic program is designed to accommodate students that receive the standard financial support of a 1/3 time graduate research assistantship. The 1/3 time assitantship includes a tuition waiver for 9 credit hours each semester. Students may wish to expedite their program by increasing their course load, and paying for the additional credit hours.

There is not a standardized curriculum for students pursuing the Ph.D. An academic plan is formulated for each Ph.D. student that takes into account the students background and previous experience. This plan is designed to expedite that student's entry to Ph.D. candidacy and satisfy the Graduate School requirements for the doctoral degree.

Participating Departments (click on one of the following link for more information)

• Department of Radiation Oncology
• Department of Radiology
• Department of Nuclear & Radiological Engineering

For additional information on the UF Medical Physics Program contact:

Dr. David Hintenlang
Medical Physics Program Director
Dept. of Nuclear & Radiological Engineering
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32611-8300
(352) 392-1401
dhinten@ufl.edu

Research Areas

• Diagnostic Radiological Physics (Pediatric dosimetry in Radiology, Clinical implementation of digital imaging modalities, Development of filmless environments in Radiology, Techniques for objective evaluation of image quality and optimization with application mammography, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI))
• Nuclear Medicine (Imaging methods and algorithms for SPECT & PET, Dynamic gating and acquisition algorithms for cardiac imaging)
• Therapeutic Oncology and Radiological Physics (IMRT applications, Image registration algorithms, Radiosurgery applications, Development of invasive and non-invasive models to study tumor physiology, Development of vascular casting techniques Response to vascular targeting agent therapies)
• Particle Transport
• NetComputing