September 2015 NUI Galway MSc in Medical Physics Awarded CAMPEP Accreditation

NUI Galway’s MSc in Medical Physics is the first European MSc programme to be awarded accreditation by CAMPEP and the second worldwide

NUI Galway’s MSc in Medical Physics is the first European MSc programme to be awarded accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Physics Education Programmes (CAMPEP) and the second programme worldwide.

To progress in a career in medical physics, having graduated from a CAMPEP accredited MSc programme is now becoming essential, and the MSc in Medical Physics has been accredited by CAMPEP for an initial period of three years. The MSc in Medical Physics enrolled its first students in 2002 and has since then graduated over 130 students. Of the graduates, in excess of 70% are currently employed in health care as medical physicists.

The requirement for medical physicists to have appropriate training is increasingly recognised worldwide. Both the European Commission and professional bodies worldwide have issued guidelines on this training. One such body is CAMPEP, which is supported by the American Association of Physicists in Medicine, American College of Radiology, American Society for Radiation Oncology, Canadian Organisation of Medical Physics and the Radiological Society of North America.

Being awarded a degree from a CAMPEP accredited MSc is a condition of entry into CAMPEP Residency training programmes in the USA and Canada and is also an indication of the quality of the programme. The MSc in Medical Physics at NUI Galway is the first European MSc programme to be accredited by CAMPEP and the second programme worldwide outside of North America.

Professor Wil van der Putten, Adjunct Professor of Medical Physics, NUI Galway and Head of Medical Physics at Galway University Hospital commented, “The MSc in NUI Galway is the second such degree programme awarded worldwide and the first in Europe. Graduates from the Galway programme can be found in all public hospitals in Ireland, are employed in the National Health Service (NHS) and can be found as far as the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand.”

Professor Andrew Shearer, Head of School of Physics, NUI Galway said, “US accreditation of our flagship MSc in Medical Physics programme shows the quality of our courses and enhances our international reputation. Medical Physics is a good example of the impact Physics can have on our everyday lives and is a wonderful career path for Physics undergraduates."

Dr. Mark Foley, Academic Director of the MSc in Medical Physics, NUI Galway added, “This MSc programme is an excellent example of a multidisciplinary and multi-institutional effort. The success of the programme has been driven predominately by the tremendous efforts of the hospital physicists supplemented by University staff.”

The MSc in Medical Physics programme is designed to meet the demand for qualified medical physicists. It is primarily geared toward training for physicists in the application of radiation physics in medicine but maintains a reasonable exposure to key aspects of clinical engineering so that students receive a comprehensive knowledge of the application of physical sciences and engineering to medicine.

Information on CAMPEP can be found at www.campep.org and course information at http://www.nuigalway.ie/courses/taught-postgraduate-courses/medical-physics.html

For more information contact Dr. Mark Foley, MSc in Medical Physics, School of Physics, College of Science, NUI Galway at 091 495383 or mark.foley@nuigalway.ie

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