Physics Research Ideas for Medical Physics Position?

[Quantum_Cthulhu]

Backstory: I am a newly qualified and hired MRI medical physicist. Throughout my residency, I became depressed as I seen the lack of physics and math's involved. Senior physicists would shun me from trying to involve more advanced math/physics into my work.

I am unable to change my situation currently, so I am trying to steer away from bitterness and resentment and make the most out of my position.

Question: My hospital is attached to a university, of which I will become an honorary lecturer soon. I want to work on a project (that is a lot more math and physics involved) with the hopes of using my position to reach out at someone in the university to collaborate on research. I was hoping to get some ideas? (Yes I have looked at what the university staff in medical physics is researching, but it is all assisting medical doctors in clinical studies or building novel MRI scanners, aka a lot of engineering).

The most math/physics-y thing I could find would be PINN's (physics informed neural networks) applied to MRI in some way.

Any help, advice, guidance (even on how to approach someone at the university to try and collab) would be GREATLY appreciated.

 

[gleem]

Yes I have looked at what the university staff in medical physics is researching, but it is all assisting medical doctors in clinical studies or building novel MRI scanners, aka a lot of engineering

That is what medical physics was instituted to do: help physicians apply physics to their problems. That said, what do you mean by lack of physics and math? Does this research fit the bill as far as you are concerned?
https://news.rice.edu/news/2025/sharper-mri-scans-may-be-horizon-thanks-new-physics-based-model

 

[Quantum_Cthulhu]

That is what medical physics was instituted to do: help physicians apply physics to their problems. That said, what do you mean by lack of physics and math? Does this research fit the bill as far as you are concerned?
https://news.rice.edu/news/2025/sharper-mri-scans-may-be-horizon-thanks-new-physics-based-model

I think it should be possible to do our own innovative work without the need for Physicians or things that are physician related. I'm happy to help them with clinical trials, but I don't want my identity to be a Physicians research lackey.

I've made the very "mature" and "sound" decision to talk about my work on the Internet and had backlash from physicists that medical physicists are not 'real' physicist unless you research and try to publish within physics. I've then made the "sound emotional" decision to actually let online strangers thoughts get to me.

I then also actually enjoy maths and physics and want to apply some of what I've learned. Yes I understand now this field is not for me, but I'm stuck here for now and want to make the most out of it/tolerate it. I want to use the privlage of an attached university to the fullest.

I mean no physicist around me does basic calculus, differential equations or anything more than addition, subtraction and percentages and then discourages me when I think, hey the Bloch equations are a set differential equations, what if I model it and try to apply it to a problem, say for instance add in a diffusion factor and use this as a loss function in a neural network to try produce better ADC maps for diffusion weighted imaging.

I hate the culture of QA, admin, health and safety and go home. Idk if its the same in the rest of Europe or Northern America or elsewhere (I'm from the UK). I've literally seen someone else get scolded while in residency for trying to learn the proper theory behind particle interactions and not just surface level Compton scattering, pair productions, photoelectric effect... Describing it as a waste of time.

The article you have sent fits the bill exactly... It's just hard coming from a culture that steers clear of advanced maths or physics (advanced meaning above high school level) into trying to be taken seriously and creating something tabgible that would get me a research collaboration... I don't even know where to start, or how to find out where to start. Or even how to approach it? Do I build something, cold email someone at my university in the physics department (I doubt the medical physics department would be interested) and show them what I've got?