The Master of Medical Physics will set you on the path to becoming a clinical medical physicist. This entry-level qualification will give you the foundation knowledge to work within a clinical setting across areas of medicine including cancer treatment, diagnostic imaging, and health physics.

The Sydney Medical Physics program provides specialist postgraduate training in the application of radiation physics, dosimetry, imaging and radiobiology for a range of medical conditions including cancer, and to radiation detection and protection. The one-and-a-half-year Masters course offers you a wide variety of subjects in radiation physics, nuclear physics, radiation dosimetry, anatomy and biology, nuclear medicine, radiotherapy physics, medical imaging physics, image processing, radiation biology, health physics and research methodology.

This program is offered through the School of Physics, which will give you access to world-class teaching and research facilities. As a student of this program you will benefit from highly experienced teaching and research staff in this discipline area through the Institute of Medical Physics and affiliated teaching hospitals and research institutes.

Career Pathways

There are a number of career pathways in Medical Physics. You could work in one of many different health areas such as being involved with the commissioning, calibration, safe operation and maintenance of systems used for looking at or measuring what is happening in the body eg x-rays, ultrasound, light in various frequencies, laser Doppler blood flow measurement, magnetic resonance imaging and nuclear medicine.

Once you complete your degree you can apply for a training position (TEAP) at a clinical department in Australia or New Zealand as a Registrar in one of the following three speciality areas: nuclear medicine, radiation oncology and diagnostic imaging.

Radiation oncology medical physicists (ROMPs) are medical physicists who create, implement and monitor the procedures which allow the best treatment using radiation.

Diagnostic imaging medical physicists (DIMPs) are involved in numerous modalities for acquiring images of a patient's anatomy or physiology and play an important role in the quality assurance of equipment and ensuring optimum image quality with minimal radiation exposure.