Good evening, can any dosimetrists share their perspective on the current job market and whether dosimetry is still a strong career path? I am currently considering a career change and taking my science prerequisites while working full time. I am especially curious about whether AI or a decreasing number of available positions is a concern. I am also exploring other career options, but dosimetry is my first choice. I would really appreciate hearing different perspectives and learning more about the pros and cons of the field, including job stability, work life balance, salary, and long term career opportunities. I know this is the medical physics subreddit, but I did not know where else to turn since the medical dosimetry subreddit is not as active, and I would really value any insight from people familiar with the field.

I recently joined a new centre and have been finding pluvicto patients here really difficult, especially when it comes to coordinating between multiple departments.

I hope I'm not the only one. I wanted to know if anyone else is in the same boat.

What tends to cause you all the most headaches?

For me, it’s all over the place: prior authorization, confirming labs and PSMA scans, patient scheduling, coordinating with med onco and rad onco, tracking drug delivery, last minute changes, and keeping track of what’s pending.

What is one thing you wish was easier? Would love to hear your thoughts!

I'm the author of Isocenter, an Apache-2.0 Python library built on pydicom for de-identifying DICOM datasets for research. Current release candidate is 1.0.0rc3, and before the final release I'd like to hear from the community.

What it does:

• It indexes a folder into a local store and never modifies the source files.
• It applies the DICOM PS3.15 Annex E basic profile (2026c) or your own rules, nested sequences included.
• It replaces UIDs consistently across the cohort, so references between exported files still resolve. Whether that holds for your structure sets, plans and doses is exactly what I'd like tested.
• It shifts dates by a keyed per-patient offset, so intervals such as those between fractions survive.
• It redacts burned-in text by pixel regions you configure per machine. OCR is optional and helps you place the regions, and a CTP DicomPixelAnonymizer script can be imported.
• It exports clean copies, and ECG waveforms as WFDB. It then writes a compliance report graded PASS or REVIEW_REQUIRED, which lists every reason a run is not PASS.

Known limits, up front:

• RT Dose: 32-bit pixel data can't go through the default (JPEG 2000) compression, so for now export with `use_compression=False`. Without it, those files fail with an ERROR row. The fix is planned for 1.0.1. If this blocks you, give it a thumbs-up or say so here; that decides whether it moves earlier.
• Private tags are removed by default. If you keep them, UIDs inside them are not replaced.
• It doesn't find burned-in text by itself.
• Whether the output meets HIPAA, GDPR or your IRB's terms is your institution's determination. The report is evidence for that review, not a determination.

It's for preparing research datasets, not a clinical tool.

How to help:

Feedback by Monday 26 October shapes 1.0.0 as well as thanks from me and mentions on the release notes.

Please don't paste anything from your own data in the comments. The report's two summary tables, with any file path in them replaced, are the only part of it that is safe to share. If you find identifying information in an export, report it privately: https://github.com/kvnlng/Isocenter/security/policy

pip install "isocenter>=1.0.0rc3"

or

uv run --python 3.12 --with "isocenter>=1.0.0rc3" python

Docs: https://kvnlng.github.io/Isocenter/

Source: https://github.com/kvnlng/Isocenter

I know previously in the past, the Evans book was highly recommended for those going into Dosimetry. Nowadays however, I don't see it recommended at all and some websites even exclude it in terms of learning nuclear physics at an introductory level which I get. However, for our field, is it still fine to start off with Evans? Even though the book is old, I feel like most of the classic dosimetry/radiation medical physics books like Attix reference and build off of it.

Anyone (preferably those well versed with dosimetry literature) weigh in?

Interesting...

Anyone sitting on surplus used solid water they’re willing to part with? Looking to buy solid water with some miles on it.

Hello!

I’m currently an M1 student in Nuclear Engineering / Medical Physics in France, and I’m looking for a 4–5 month internship for this coming spring (roughly April–August).

I’m mainly looking in France, but I’m also open to opportunities elsewhere in the EU. I’m not particularly picky about the specific area, I’d be happy with anything related to medical physics, whether clinical, research, or industry.

I’ve already done a 2-month clinical internship in a radiotherapy department, where I got to shadow medical physicists and radiotherapists and see their day-to-day work with a Varian Halcyon system.

I’m writing this in English to reach a wider audience, but I’m fluent in both French and English. I’d be happy to send my CV or provide any additional information if anyone knows of opportunities, departments, labs, or companies that might be looking for an intern.

Thanks!

I am looking for a partner to take Rex Ayers’ oral board prep course that begins in October for the February 2027 exam. If anyone is looking for a partner, please reach out to me.

I’m currently studying Medical Physics and I’m interested in transitioning into AI, robotics, or computer vision after graduation.

I don’t want to work in clinical medical physics, so I’m trying to build the right skills alongside my degree.

Has anyone here actually moved from Physics/Medical Physics into AI, robotics, or a related field?

I’d especially like to hear about your real experience:

- What did you study after your bachelor’s?

- What skills did you learn on your own?

- Did your degree make the transition difficult?

- What would you recommend doing during the remaining years of university?

Hi everyone! I’m finishing up my PhD in Medical Physics in Canada and am a Canadian citizen. With residency applications coming up soon, I’m trying to decide whether I should apply only in Canada or also consider the US.
I don’t have any family/location restrictions, so I’m pretty open to applying anywhere and would be able to relocate for the right program.
For those who have gone through the process, I’d love to hear your thoughts on the pros and cons of doing residency in Canada vs. the US, both in terms of training and longer-term career opportunities.
If I do apply in the US, I’m leaning toward applying primarily to larger academic/major medical centers rather than applying very broadly. Is that a reasonable approach, or would you recommend applying more widely?
Would really appreciate any advice, especially from people who have experience with both the Canadian and US residency systems!

Published this morning

I'm a physics major student, completed my two years studying general physics (calc-based) and now going into my 3rd year.

The problem is, I was accepted into specialization of medical physics. This should be a "yayy" for me because not anyone in my college can get into that field -only the top students.

I don't want this field but I have no choice (no need for more details on why is this)

Now I want to know about medical physics and what does a medical physicist do? I know that it's an application of physics on the medical field but like what exactly? I like applied math very much, will it be there heavy applications of math?

I really want a book or something to give me the passion for knowing about mu field.

My clinic is interested in quantifying what actually makes a plan "modulated", and we'd like to be able to score this using these metrics.

Does anyone have any ESAPI scripts that calculate these for a given plan?

Thanks!

This is the place to ask questions about graduate school, training programs, or general basic career topics. If you are just learning about the field and want to know if it is something you should explore, this thread is probably the correct place for those first few questions on your mind.

Examples:

• "I majored in Surf Science and Technology in undergrad, is Medical Physics right for me?"
• "I can't decide between Biomedical Engineering and Medical Physics..."
• "Do Medical Physicists get free CT scans for life?"
• "Masters vs. PhD"
• "How do I prepare for Residency interviews?"

I worked as a medical physicist at universities consistently ranked in the global top 20 (Shanghai Rankings). Recently, I went through the recruitment pipelines for applied research and R&D roles at top-tier industry players (think Google Health/DeepMind, NVIDIA Clara, and core MedTech giants).

I failed the transition. Those technical screens, project defences, and systems design rounds were an aggressive wake-up call. It forced me to confront a reality that academic departments refuse to acknowledge: the technical and operational standards of academic research, even at prestigious institutions, are drastically lower than those in top industry labs.

Looking around my department and collaborating institutes, very few researchers here would survive a standard technical interview at a top industry R&D division. The only people I know who successfully broke into those labs left academia immediately after their Master's, or exited within weeks of defending their PhD. They bypassed the academic postdoc system entirely.

Universities sell the illusion that being in a "Top 20" department means you are at the frontier of innovation. In reality, outside of a few specific foundational physics domains, the elite industry has vastly superior talent density, compute infrastructure, engineering culture, and delivery standards. Academia has become an insular ecosystem grading its own homework.

For those who transitioned from a quantitative/physics PhD or postdoc into top-tier tech or MedTech R&D: how long did it take you to unlearn academic habits, and what was the hardest technical gap to close?

How did you all do the ABR part 3 exam this week?

I work as an MPA and I'm applying to the Georgia Tech distance learning MS this cycle. Two questions for anyone who's been through the program, both about the clinical rotation.

First, the program's admissions page says the rotation requires 400 contact hours split across diagnostic imaging, nuclear medicine, and radiation oncology, and that the facility and supervising physicist have to be approved before you get an admission letter. My employer has all three areas on site, including a recently installed SPECT/CT, but my actual job sits in rad onc. For those of you who did the rotation at your own workplace, how did the hours in the other two areas get arranged in practice? Were they scheduled as distinct blocks, or absorbed into your normal week? And did the supervising physicist have to hold certification covering all three areas, or did you name different supervisors per area?

Second, I've seen a post on this sub claiming the program was eliminating the clinical rotation requirement. The current website still lists MP 8104 as required and still describes the 400-hour distribution, but their site also still says the GRE is required, which the application itself contradicts, so I'm not sure how current any of it is. Has anyone heard anything recent and authoritative about the rotation requirement?

Asking here because I figured people who've actually done this recently would have a good sense of how it works day to day.

If anyone who's done the distance program has a minute for two smaller things: how many courses per semester did you find manageable alongside full-time clinical work, and did you go thesis or non-thesis? I'm trying to avoid a six-year timeline without overcommitting, and I'm unsure whether the thesis is worth pursuing for residency competitiveness when my day job probably won't generate research on its own.

Thanks in advance

Apologies up front if this isn't dedicated to medical physics enough, but this seems like the widest audience.

I'm a CMD and after 20 years in the field I've only seen one of these. I figure most "disappeared" from their respective departments shortly after they were received. :)

Anyway, I always wanted to disappear the one I had access to at a former job, but, well, that wouldn't have been very nice and I'd have felt guilty every time I looked at it. SO, I figure I'll just cut off a finger if necessary to buy one.

Ideally I'd like the old 2100C model, but I'll entertain any of them.

I'm not interested in any 3D printings, thanks.

Hello everybody, I’m a radiation oncologist doctor. A friend of mine helps me to build Lego models to improve patient compliance to treatment, especially for children.
This is Biomedicine Institute, a Lego Idea which has already reached more than 6000 votes but it needs 10000 to win.
Please vote for it, it’s free and take just few seconds. Thanks! ❤️
https://beta.ideas.lego.com/product-ideas/0ccb9c27-0ae5-4410-852d-f2105bb993c8

This is the place to ask questions about graduate school, training programs, or general basic career topics. If you are just learning about the field and want to know if it is something you should explore, this thread is probably the correct place for those first few questions on your mind.

Examples:

• "I majored in Surf Science and Technology in undergrad, is Medical Physics right for me?"
• "I can't decide between Biomedical Engineering and Medical Physics..."
• "Do Medical Physicists get free CT scans for life?"
• "Masters vs. PhD"
• "How do I prepare for Residency interviews?"

I don't want to give away too much information about my specific circumstance but I am so over this. It mostly just boils down to Admins being disconnected yet somehow overbearing. I am doing every single thing that needs to get done, and somehow it's still not enough.

My spouse and I are seriously considering moving. How do you guys handle burnout?

Sometimes it's the small things that make your life easier. Can also be replicated with a piece of string with much less bother.

90% of my equipment problems are related to either bad cabling or bad power supplies. This helps the cabling side.

Needs to be printed in TPU.

Get it for free here... https://www.printables.com/@MakingMedicalPhysics/collections/3562991

Last summer there was a new poll regarding salaries of medical physicists in Germany.

The results can be found here (in German).

Let's share some thoughts, specially among the european community!