Medical Physics Resident

US-OR-Portland

Requisition ID: 2026-38850
Position Category: Student
Job Type: Unclassified Administrative
Position Type: Regular Full-Time
Posting Department: Radiation Medicine
Posting FTE: 1.00
HR Mission: Healthcare
Drug Testable: Yes

Department Overview

The job of Clinical Medical Physics Trainee requires a Master's of Science or PhD in Medical Physics from a CAMPEP accredited program. ABR part 1 eligibility is required, successful completion of ABR part 1 is preferred. Trainee works under the direct supervision of a medical physicist certified by one of the following: the American Board of Radiology, the American Board of Medical Physics or the Canadian College of Physicists in Medicine. Trainee is assigned on a rotating basis during the first year to the following areas of radiation oncology physics service: machine commissioning, treatment planning commissioning and data entry, treatment planning, simulation and virtual simulation, special treatment device fabrication, patient treatment, and quality assurance. During the second year, additional requirements include patient chart checks and reviews, and a twenty hour assignment at the OHSU Radiation Safety Office. During rotations Trainee will learn to operate equipment properly and safely and will perform clinical work under the supervision of his/her rotation mentor.

Function/Duties of Position

MACHINE OPERATIONS

• Can perform machine warm-up and shut-down.
• Can operate all machine functions from consoles, pendant and table panels
• Knows the use of the computer controls for clinical, service and physics modes.

MACHINE QUALITY ASSURANCE (under supervision)

• Can check the mechanical stability of all machine motions.
• Can check all machine interlocks that ensure accurate and safe patient treatment.
• Routinely tests emergency stop buttons and machine restarts.

MACHINE OUTPUT CALIBRATION AND CHECKS (under supervision)

• Understands and can appropriately use the ionization chambers and electrometers for machine output calibration.
• Performs analysis of the daily Profiler measurements for stability, flatness and symmetry in beam output.

MACHINE AND PATIENT DATA MEASUREMENTS (under supervision)

• Can operate and take data with the water scanning phantom as needed for beam dosimetry and check measurements.
• Can utilize dosimeters for in vivo patient dose measurements and beam dosimetry.
• Can operate and take data with Delta4, Octavius, Mapcheck or other phantoms as needed for patient specific VMAT or IMRT QA.
• Can use radiographic film for beam dosimetry, alignment checks, etc.
• Generates machine data in hard copy form for hand calculations.

TREATMENT PLANNING COMPUTERS (under supervision)

• Has a basic understanding of the underlying algorithms used by the computer for dose calculations.
• Can transfer the measured data to the treatment planning computer.
• Tests the data used by the computer for accuracy
• Can use the computer for any complexity of treatment planning within the computer’s limitations. (Knows the limitations of the computer in treatment planning.)

DOSIMETRY (under supervision)

• Can accurately perform hand calculations and computer generated treatment plans.
• Performs double-checks of all patient calculations.
• Performs weekly patient chart checks for chart completeness, consistency and understandability.
• Participates in the logging and analysis of the CQI indicators.

RADIATION SAFETY (under supervision)

• Remains current on radiation regulations.
• Performs area surveys with patient brachytherapy implants, new source or equipment installations in Radiation Oncology.
• Properly posts radiation areas, emergency procedures and other notices as required.

RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS HANDLING (under supervision)

• For brachytherapy implants, can accurately determine necessary source strength.
• Follows appropriate procedures upon arrival of radioactive shipments.
• Can perform calibration verification of brachytherapy sources.
• Keeps appropriate records of source inventory, disposals and hot lab surveys.
• Posts radioactive materials signs and emergency procedures.
• Maintains source utilization and patient and room surveys.

MISCELLANEOUS

• Can accurately assist in performing shielding design for new therapy rooms or facilities.
• The above accountabilities represent work performed by this position and are not all-inclusive. The omission of a specific accountability will not preclude it from the position if the work is similar, related, or a logical extension of the position.

Required Qualifications

• Master’s of Science or PhD in medical physics from a CAMPEP accredited program.

• Able to use spreadsheets, word processors, UNIX computers

• ABR part 1 eligible

• Ability to perform the job duties with or without accommodation.

Preferred Qualifications

• Able to use treatment planning computers and operate linear accelerators.
• ABR part 1 successfully completed.