Physics and Astronomy

Physics and Astronomy

Courses

Students can earn a Postgraduate Diploma (PGDipSc) in Medical Physics, a Masters of Science (MSc) in Medical Physics and a Doctorate (PhD) in Medical Physics at the University of Canterbury. The accredited graduate degrees can be earned with or without a clinical component. The former can only be enrolled in by students who have been accepted as registrars by an accredited hospital and who are accepted by the Australasian College of Physical Sciences and Engineers in Medicine (ACPSEM). Entrance requirements for the PGDipSc and MSc are a completed Bachelors degree in physics or a Bachelors degree in Engineering in a related discipline. Applicants who want to enrol for the PGDipSc, BSc (Hons) or MSc should generally have a minimum grade average of B-, B+ and B, respectively. Note that as of 2009 the course weight for the MDPH papers has changed (due to the introduction of common 15 point course weight) requiring the students to take additional papers with regards to previous years.

Goals of the programmes

The goal of the degrees is to educate qualified graduates in the knowledge and skills required of a physicist practising in a hospital or other relevant institution.
  • The PGDipSc programme will nominally consist of one year of study. In this year there will be eight courses.
  • The MSc programme will nominally consist of two years of study. In the first year there will be eight courses. In the second year, students will complete a thesis on a medical physics topic.
  • The PhD programme will be consistent with the guidelines given in the University Calendar.


Degrees

The following degrees are available:
1Note on thesis proposal and progress reports can be found here
2Only for students accepted as registrars by the ACPSEM

General information regarding postgraduate studies in the College of Science and also enrolment procedures can be found here. Regulations and policies can be found in the UC's Calendar. The enrolment handbook is available here. The key dates for the Academic Year can be found here. Past exam papers are available online from the library. Note: All postgraduate students from Australia pay domestic tuition fees. International students click here for more details.

 

Course Details

MDPH401: Anatomy and Physiology for Medical Physicists

Purpose:

  • To educate medical physicists in the basic physiology, anatomy and biology relevant to their profession.
Syllabus:
  • Human anatomy including cross-sectional anatomy, organ systems, skeleton
  • Physiology - nervous system, endocrine system, EEG, EMG, ECG, etc
  • Pathophysiology
  • Cell biology including embryology
  • Cancer including tumour pathology, cell proliferation, carcinogenesis
  • Physiological measurement - EEG, EMG, ECG, blood pressure etc
  • Medical terminology

MDPH402: Nuclear Medicine

Purpose:
  • To educate medical physicists in Nuclear Medicine. Note that the course also covers "professional matters" relevant to medical physicists.
Syllabus :
  • Nuclear medicine - theory, radionuclide generators, radiopharmaceuticals, dilution measurement & pool volume assessment, gamma camera, SPECT, PET, QA
  • Quality assurance, commissioning and acceptance testing of medical equipment
  • Communication skills
  • Professional awareness
  • Medical ethics

MDPH403: Radiation Physics

Purpose:
  • To educate medical physicists in the radiation physics relevant to their profession.
Syllabus:
  • Types of ionising radiation - alpha, beta, gamma etc
  • Interactions and energy deposition, exponential absorption vs. attenuation, coefficients, HVLs, absorption and scattering cross sections, photoelectric effect, Compton effect, pair production, Auger effect, coherent and other types of scattering, energy absorption, broad vs. narrow beam, KERMA, energy losses, LET
  • Nuclear models, half-lives, branching ratios, binding energies, radioactive series, radioactive growth and decay
  • Radiation units - fluence (m-1), energy fluence (J m-2), Kerma and absorbed dose (Gy), exposure (C kg-1) dose equivalent (Sv)
  • Radiation generation
  • Isotope production

MDPH404: Radiation Biology and Radiation Protection

Purpose:
  • To educate medical physicists in radiation biology and protection relevant to their profession.
Syllabus:
  • Radiation measurement - scintillators, GM, TLD, gel, diodes, film, semiconductors ion chambers and other detectors
  • Radiation biology - modes of radiation cell kill, cell survival, mutagenicity, time-dose relationships, linear quadratic approach to fractionation, hyperfractionation and accelerated radiotherapy, combined radiotherapy and chemotherapy, mathematical modelling
  • Radiation and carcinogenesis - current models, risks
  • ICRP system of radiation protection - principles, effective dose, dose constraints, reference doses
  • Radiation safety, protection and legislation - isotope storage, transportation, handling, shielding (including room design for diagnostic radiology, teletherapy and brachytherapy), personnel protection, disposal

MDPH405: Radiation Therapy

Purpose:
  • To educate medical physicists in radiotherapy principles, practice and technology relevant to their profession.
Syllabus:
  • Radiotherapy equipment - electron and photon production, linear accelerator etc
  • Calibration of therapeutic X-ray machines, linear accelerators and cobalt units.
  • Radiotherapy dosimetry including calculating dose distributions, machine settings etc
  • Beam data - % dose, peak scatter factor, tissue-air ratio, tissue phantom ratio, tissue-maximum ratio, scatter derivatives, equivalent squares and circles, beam profiles, isodose curves, beam energy, electron range
  • Treatment planning - planning systems, algorithms, single beam, multiple beam, isocentric and SSD techniques, conformal radiotherapy, IMRT
  • Beam modifiers - shielding, wedges, asymmetric collimators, multileaf collimators, bolus, compensating filters
  • Patient positioning, immobilization, simulators, simulation, portal imaging
  • Brachytherapy physics - LDR, HDR, implants, sealed and unsealed sources, activity measurement, manual and computer dose calculation

MDPH406: Medical Imaging

Purpose:
  • To educate medical physicists in radiological imaging principles, practice and technology relevant to their profession.
Syllabus:
  • Radiographic practice and terminology
  • Image perception - theory of vision, information theory, psychophysics of image perception, design of display systems, contrast, noise, resolution, MTF, image viewing, ocular response
  • X-ray - theory, generation, technology, screens, contrast agents, QA
  • Fluoroscopy - design, theory, QA
  • CT - theory, multislice, spiral, image reconstruction (Fourier, ART, convolution, back projection), artefacts, QA
  • MRI - theory, technology, sequences, flow-sensitive measurement, contrast agents, chemical shift, spectroscopy, artefacts, QA
  • Ultrasound -theory (inc. Doppler), technology, contrast agents, bio effects and limits, QA, therapy
  • Digital radiographic image measurement -image specs, DICOM, image compression & storage, networking & data security
  • Radiation protection for diagnostic X-rays
  • Patient dosimetry (radiography, fluoro, CT, mammography)
  • Occupational radiation dose factors and considerations

MDPH407: Research Tools

Purpose:
  • To prepare students for research and to provide them with transferable skills. Note that the course consists of a core part (including the first 3 items) and a second part consisting of two 2 streams: one for physics students and one for medical physics students.
Syllabus:
  • Matlab - GUI, image & signal processing, image reconstruction
  • Scientific writing
  • Contextual statistics using R
  • Practical treatment planning (medical physics students only)
  • Practical Monte Carlo modelling


Suggestions for 8th paper: