Radiation Oncology Physics Residency Training Program
Overview
Our clinical partner in medical physics education, Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center (MBPCC), established a medical physics residency training program in 2009 to ensure that all graduates of the LSU medical physics degree programs would have access to residency training opportunities. MBPCC is a community-owned not-for-profit cancer treatment facility located in Baton Rouge about six miles from the LSU campus. With its breadth of technology, MBPCC comprises an ideal environment for the clinical training of medical physicists, providing the practical experience necessary to successfully complete examinations for professional board certification. Additional information is available below and at the MBPCC residency website.
Curriculum
The Program follows the recommendations of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine, as described in Report 249, “Essentials and Guidelines for Clinical Medical Physics Residency Training Programs” (2013). The program may be completed in two years and consists of parallel tracks of clinical rotations and independent projects. Since 2012, the Program has been continuously accredited by the Commission on the Accreditation of Medical Physics Education Programs (CAMPEP).
During clinical rotations, residents are assigned to regular duties within the clinic under the supervision of staff medical physicists. These rotations provide the resident with experience in the activities of clinical medical physicists in radiation oncology.
Independent projects provide the resident with additional experience in clinical topics, especially those that may not be encountered on a daily basis. Example projects include linac acceptance testing and commissioning, external-beam treatment planning system commissioning, and high-dose-rate brachytherapy system commissioning.
The Program operates as a consortium comprising MBPCC and two affiliate institutions (University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, MS and Willis Knighton Cancer Center in Shreveport, LA). The Program provides each resident with training on a wide variety of special procedures and advanced technologies across the consortium, e.g., proton therapy and Gamma Knife radiosurgery.
Eligibility
To enter the Program, applicants must hold a CAMPEP-accredited M.S. or Ph.D. degrees or a post-doctoral certificate training program. Typically, four resident positions become available each year, two at MBPCC, and one at each of the affiliate institutions. LSU medical physics graduates are guaranteed interviews at each institution in the consortium.