M.S. in Medical Physics
Overview
The Department of Physics at the University of Rhode Island in partnership with the Radiation Oncology Department at the Rhode Island Hospital Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and RI Nuclear Science Center offers M.S. in Medical Physics through the 2-year program.
Students with B.S. in Physics or an equivalent degree with advanced physics courses can enter the program. Applicants follow the same procedures as other graduate physics applicants: they apply online and identify the M.S. program as their desired major.
To become certified, students will then need to apply to an accredited residency program in a hospital. Rhode Island Hospital plays a vital role in the program, providing a residency program on a competitive basis for students upon graduation. Many of the graduate courses in medical physics are taught at the hospital by practicing Medical Physicists. The facilities at the hospital are also made available as teaching aids and research tools.
The URI medical physics program requires that admitted students have a bachelor’s degree in medical physics, physics, or a closely related field. We require students to have taken advanced undergraduate physics courses in quantum mechanics, electricity and magnetism, thermodynamics and classical mechanics, as well as mathematics courses up to and including differential equations.
Why Medical Physics?
The field of medicine is facing significant shortage of well-trained and qualified medical physicists. With each passing year, this shortage expands because of the increasing use of complex technology in the field of radiation oncology and medical imaging. There is a growing demand for well-trained professionals in medical physics.
Certified medical physicists often work with medical imaging, radiation therapy/diagnosis, and nuclear medicine.
According to the American Association of Physics in Medicine, medical physicists are concerned with three areas of activity: clinical service and consultation, research and development, and teaching. While most focus on cancer-related topics, medical physicists work in many other disciplines of medicine including those concerned with heart disease and mental illness.