Program Information

Science of Clinical Medical Physics

D Jaffray

E Roelofs

T Purdie

T Bortfeld

D Jaffray¹*, E Roelofs²*, T Purdie¹*, T Bortfeld³*, (1) Princess Margaret Hospital, Toronto, ON, (2) Maastricht Radiation Oncology, Maastricht, (3) Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA

TU-G-500-1 Tuesday 4:30PM - 6:00PM Room: 500 Ballroom

Medical physicists have a unique role in the clinical setting. In many medical centers, they are often the only individuals with formal research training. The rapid advance in technological innovation within the radiation oncology community has resulted in medical physicists being immersed in the role of technology manager with activities dominated by implementation. When combined with the rising challenges with respect to access to peer-reviewed funding and changes in the pathway to professional certification, this situation has created open debate in the medical physics community regarding the role of medical physicists as a scientist. In parallel, the emerging trends of personalized cancer medicine, medical informatics, automation, and the drive to establish evidence to support innovative treatments are all highlighting the need for greater scientific engagement in the advancement of medicine. Medical physicists could be positioned to play a key role in the progression of these trends, however, this requires us to take a broader perspective on our talents and unique environment within medicine. In this session, these concepts and issues will be expanded upon and speakers will highlight examples of medical physics research that push the conventional domain. A lively discussion should emerge that will facilitate the further engagement of medical physicists in clinical science.

Learning Objectives:
1. Understand the challenges related to medical physicists contributing to the science of medicine
2. Learn of new frontiers where clinical medical physicists are making important contributions
3. Learn of the emerging opportunities for clinical science for medical physicists
4. Become aware of the efforts within the medical physics community to facilitate greater engagement

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