This training program prepares predoctoral graduate students and postdoctoral researchers for careers in the application of physics to the medical diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Available research specializations encompass broad areas of physics as applied to disease diagnosis, patient-specific treatment and assessment of treatment efficacy, and basic physics research applied to cancer. Mentors and collaborators in the Departments of Medical Physics, Radiology, Human Oncology (Radiation Oncology), Oncology, Engineering Physics, and Biomedical Engineering maintain a broad spectrum of research collaborations with other clinical and basic science researchers. Translational, team-driven research includes radiation therapy and radiation biology with the Department of Oncology, traditional x-ray, digital, CT, MRI, ultrasound, and PET imaging with the Department of Radiology, and radiation physics with the Departments of Physics and Nuclear Engineering and Human Oncology. Trainees are intimate participants in these research programs as collaborators, publishing joint research articles, and performing as investigators in extramurally funded grants and contracts. Extensive faculty contact provides leadership and supervision. Beyond research activities and minor subject requirements, predoctoral trainees as graduate students in Medical Physics take at least twenty-seven credits supportive of medical physics training and oriented towards their research specialization. Postdoctoral trainees are encouraged to broaden and deepen their academic training by auditing appropriate courses. Both predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees must take or audit additional cancer-specific courses, must attend relevant grand round presentations, and must participate in intensive workshops on manuscript writing and grant writing. Trainees give seminars, attend colloquia, present research results at local, national, and international meetings, and co-author articles and reports. An annual Training Grant Symposium provides additional opportunity for trainees to present research results to the Medical Physics and collaborating faculty. In this way trainees in this program are well prepared to assume leadership positions as researchers and academicians in the application of physics to cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.
This training program prepares graduate students and postdoctoral trainees in radiological sciences for careers in cancer research. Researchers in this field continue to have a high impact on the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, leading to major advances particularly in the areas of medical imaging, image guided intervention and radiation therapy.
Showing the most recent 10 out of 331 publications
