Medical physics
Please see our medical physics for health professionals pages here.
What is medical physics?
Medical physics applies physics, engineering and computing principles to a variety of medical technologies. The medical physics department works alongside clinical teams to provide information about diseases (for example diagnostics), plan effective treatment and ensure that this happens in a safe and optimal way - playing a key role in the patient's journey.
Medical physics involves understanding and applying the science behind diagnostic applications of ionising radiation (for example x-ray physics and nuclear medicine). We enable the safe and effective use of radiation to provide accurate diagnoses while optimising radiation dose to the patient. We use our insight into the physics behind imaging techniques to develop new imaging approaches and image analysis methods, as well as assuring image quality, safety and the appropriate interpretation of the data.
Therapeutic radiation physics involves expert understanding of high energy x-rays and electron beam radiotherapy, brachytherapy and therapeutic nuclear medicine including molecular radiotherapy. Medical physicists and dosimetrists ensure that the radiation dose to the disease target area is maximised and the dose to other parts of the body is minimised.
We also use our knowledge of non-ionising radiation, such as MRI, ultrasound, UV and lasers, to develop new imaging approaches and image analysis methods, or treatments/surgeries, while assuring image quality and safety.
Medical physics also works closely with medical engineers to develop new physiological measurements, such as measuring cerebral blood flow regulation and pressure on the brain.
All this work takes place within a scientific and legislative framework that includes a quality assurance programme for each piece of equipment, including comprehensive commissioning tests and continuous safety oversight.
What is our role?
The role of the medical physics department in Southampton is to provide specialist expertise in all these areas to enable safe, effective, and appropriate delivery of our associated clinical services; for example in radiology and cancer care. Direct clinical service support is also provided in some areas. Our role also includes providing expert advice relating to equipment procurement and selection, the planning of new installations and the associated safety issues.
Our work also extends to enabling, supporting, and leading research and development in these respective areas, and to eventually translate this research into clinical practice to benefit patients.
Who are we?
Our department employs medical physicists, clinical technologists, engineers, computer scientists, software engineers, administrators and training content creators, providing a diverse range of skills. Our advanced scientific and technical knowledge means that we are a unique source of expertise within the Trust. We are involved in teaching and training, within our department, across the Trust and externally with other universities and hospitals.
We are a clinical department and much of our work impacts on care at the point of delivery for individual patients, as part of multi-disciplinary teams. This also means that we are in an excellent position to both support and direct a wide range of clinical research areas, utilizing our highly specialist expertise. We work in close collaboration with a large variety of professional groups within the Trust, including clinicians (such as radiologists, oncologists, neurosurgeons), radiographers, clinical service managers and researchers.