Medical physics deals with the application of the concepts and methods of physics to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of human diseases with a specific goal of improving human health and well-being. Since 2008, medical physics has been included as a health profession according to International Standard Classification of Occupation of the International Labour Organization.
A radiation therapist, therapeutic radiographer or radiotherapist is an allied health professional who works in the field of radiation oncology. Radiation therapists plan and administer radiation treatments to cancer patients in most Western countries including the United Kingdom, Australia, most European countries, and Canada, where the minimum education requirement is often a baccalaureate degree or postgraduate degrees in radiation therapy. Radiation therapists can also prescribe medications and radiation, interpret tests results, perform follow ups, reviews, and provide consultations to cancer patients in the United Kingdom and Ontario, Canada . In the United States, radiation therapists have a lower educational requirement and often require postgraduate education and certification in order to plan treatments.
Certified Health Physicist is an official title granted by the American Board of Health Physics, the certification board for health physicists in the United States. A Certified Health Physicist is designated by the letters CHP or DABHP after his or her name.
A medical physicist is a health professional with specialist education and training in the concepts and techniques of applying physics in medicine and competent to practice independently in one or more of the subfields (specialties) of medical physics. A medical physicist plays a fundamental role in applying physics to medicine, but particularly in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. The scientific and technological progress in medical physics has led to a variety of skills that must be integrated into the role of a medical physicist in order for them to perform their job. The "medical services" provided to patients undergoing diagnostic and therapeutic treatments must, therefore, be the result of different but complementary skills. In general, the medical physicist is responsible for all scientific and technical aspects of imaging, radiation treatment, and radiation safety. It is their occupational role to ensure that medical modalities offered to patients are met with the utmost quality assurance. It is the medical physicist that manage and supervise the efforts of dosimetrists, therapists and technologists in that capacity.
John Carroll Taschner was a radiation biophysicist. He was a member of the technical staff in the Environment, Safety and Health Division of Los Alamos National Laboratory where he was involved in radiological transportation accident exercise planning.
The American Society of Radiologic Technologists (ASRT) is a professional membership association that serves medical imaging technologists, radiation therapists, and radiologic science students. The organization, located in Albuquerque, New Mexico provides its members with ongoing education and professional development opportunities.
Established in 1934, the American Board of Radiology (ABR) is an independent, not-for-profit professional association with headquarters in Tucson, Arizona. It oversees the certification and ongoing professional development of physician specialists in diagnostic radiology, interventional radiology, and radiation oncology, as well as medical physicists in diagnostic, nuclear, and therapy medical physics.
The Australasian College of Physical Scientists and Engineers in Medicine (ACPSEM) is a professional organisation for medical physicists, biomedical engineers and allied professionals in Australia and New Zealand. The ACPSEM was first incorporated in 1977 as the Australasian College of Physical Scientists in Medicine. The college was formed from the earlier Australian Regional Group of the Hospital Physicists Association (UK), Biophysics Group of the Australian Institute of Physics and New Zealand Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering Association. The college was admitted to membership of the International Organization for Medical Physics in 1986.
The Health Physics Society (HPS) is a nonprofit scientific professional organization whose mission is excellence in the science and practice of radiation safety. It is based in the United States and the specific purposes of the society's activities include encouraging research in radiation science, developing standards, and disseminating radiation safety information. Society members are involved in understanding, evaluating, and controlling potential risks from radiation relative to the benefits.
David A. Schauer, ScD, CHP, is Executive Director Emeritus of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP). During his tenure a number of updated and new publications were issued by the Council.
Xie George Xu was the Edward E. Hood Chair Professor of Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), Troy, New York, United States, before he relocated in 2020 to China and joined the faculty of the University of Science and Technology of China.
John Dunning Boice Jr. is an American radiation epidemiologist and health physicist.
James Newell Stannard is a radiobiologist, pharmacologist and physiologist at the National Institutes of Health.
G. William Morgan, also known as George William Morgan, health physicist and founding member of the Health Physics Society. Morgan held key health physics positions at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Manhattan Project and the Atomic Energy Commission. Morgan was instrumental in developing the regulations that we know today as I0 CFR 20, the Standards for Protection against Radiation.
Madan M. Rehani is an Indian-born medical physicist.
Francis J. Bradley was an American health physicist, writer and founding member of the Health Physics Society.
Dade Moeller was an internationally known expert in radiation safety and environmental protection.
The American Board of Science in Nuclear Medicine, founded in 1976, also known as the ABSNM is an organization in North America that offers certification to specialty areas of advanced nuclear medicine.
Caridad Borrás is a Spanish medical physicist. Her career started in 1964 at the Santa Creu i Sant Pau Hospital in Barcelona. From 1988 to 2000, she was Regional Advisor of the Radiological Health Program and, from 2000 to 2002, Coordinator of Essential Drugs and Technology at the Pan American Health Organization in Washington D.C.
A clinical technologist, also known as a healthcare science practitioner, is a medical professional involved in the practical delivery of medical physics and clinical engineering services. In some locations there is considerable overlap in closely related terms, for example in many countries technologist and radiographer are synonyms, while in the United Kingdom they are considered separate professions. Clinical technologists can be found in nuclear medicine, radiotherapy, radiation protection, and rehabilitation engineering departments, and they are often described by their scope of practice.
