Medical physics degree to be offered

Students seeking their master of science degree in medical physics can now apply for the new graduate program at IU.

The College of Arts and Sciences and the Department of Physics have started recruiting students for the new professional master’s degree. Classes will begin in fall 2012.

“We hope to offer students a career rather than simply more graduate school,” said Susan Klein, director of the IU Medical Physics program. “A master’s degree in medical physics is sufficient in getting a very high-paying job.”

As medical technology becomes more complex, advanced specializations require people to have a strong background in science, Associate Dean for Graduate Education in the COAS Catherine Pilachowski said in an email.

“Specialists in medical physics are required to understand, develop and operate the advanced equipment used in medical treatments and diagnoses, including techniques in radiation physics, imaging physics and radiation protection,” Pilachowski said. “With the facilities and faculty at IUB, we’re delighted to be able to support this new direction in physics research and education.”

In addition to the new master’s students in the program, applied physics majors can complete the master’s degree in one year after their four-year undergraduate degree. New master’s students can expect to complete the degree in about five semesters, Klein said.

“Students in the accelerated applied physics program can take medical physics courses as their undergraduate electives as an undergraduate and complete their master’s degree in one additional year,” Klein said.

The new program will provide curriculum in physics, mathematics, chemistry and biomedical sciences and courses in the four primary areas of medical physics: radiation therapy physics, diagnostic imaging physics, nuclear medicine and radiation protection physics, Klein said.

The idea for the program came 12 years ago in an effort to help support the IU Health Proton Therapy Center, a center using physics to perform cancer treatments, Klein said.

“It was envisioned to be a partnership between Purdue University, IU-Bloomington and IU-Purdue University Indianapolis,” Klein said. “We are still partnering with Purdue, but Indianapolis is still trying to figure it out.”

The program will enhance the University’s graduate education program as a whole, Pilachowski said.

“The new degree provides new options for students and also represents the increasing role the College plays in preparing students for new careers in fields at the forefront of human knowledge,” Pilachowski said. “The new degree program broadens our  offerings into new areas and provides new opportunities to students. It also fills an important need in the state.”

The Department of Physics began with one medical physics course a few years ago, which has evolved into a medical physics master’s degree, Pilachowski said.

“It’s exciting to see the program grow to offer a new advance degree,” Pilachowski said. “This new program gives our students an opportunity to use their undergraduate training in physics as it applies to new technologies. These technologies will be increasingly important in health care in the future.”