Exploring Career Options in Medical Physics and Beyond: What You Need to Know

[Lawrencel2]

I have recently posted about trying to enter a masters/phd program for Medical Physics (Going to try for SDSU and LSU).

Before this week i was quite hopeful and naive i suppose.
I was not aware of how tough the job market was and the bottlenecking in the residency programs. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't be against going to one I'm just worried i wouldn't get into one and be left not being able to start my life.
I am very interested in all fields of physics and i thought that medical physics was a way to still be intellectually stimulated but still help people while making good money...

I am getting antsy and want to start a career or Maybe its also because i am just finishing up my Bs and starting to feel a bit burned out!
Ideally i want to live in california (preferably Bay area) and not wait until I'm 30 to start my career..

So I'm asking, What are career options for medical physics ms without going to a residency?
And what are some interdisaplinary areas that have a good job market?
Is Medical Physics a high risk field as far as Career opportunities?
I do truly want to help my family out when i get a career so money is important.. i just feel kinda discouraged.

 

[caldweab]

As said before Health Physics. Read the first paragraph of this page. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_physics. You can still work in the medical field and a whole host of other industries like nuclear power plants and government agencies. It does not require residency, the pay is very good and there are a good bit of decent health physics programs around. Why even bother going medical physics if you see the market is hard to breach with a residency and you think it's somehow a way to breach it without one. Why is it in medical physics you want to do exactly

 

[Lawrencel2]

I wanted to help people. It seems very rewarding to be more directly involved with cancer patients. I always felt as though Medical physics was a good way to use my physics background and still help people.

Health physics does sounds pretty interesting too. Ill have to read into that

 

[Lawrencel2]

Also seems as though a lot of programs off gradschoolshopper are trying to put medical physics in the same category as health physics. I am sure there is a differentiation with the two and separate job opportunities?

 

[Choppy]

I'm asking, What are career options for medical physics ms without going to a residency?

This was recently asked by another poster in this thread:
https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=718328

In summary...
- medical physics positions that don't require certification
- positions with private companies doing R&D, technical sales, technical support, technical investigations, or training
- consulting work
- entrepreneurial ventures
- heath physics positions

Other options are likely to depend on the skills that you pick up during your studies. Its possible to go on into medical dosimetry, for example. In some instances you could pick up enough programming experience that programming jobs may be an option, or even computer networking.

Is Medical Physics a high risk field as far as Career opportunities?
I do truly want to help my family out when i get a career so money is important.. i just feel kinda discouraged.

I certainly would not call it "high risk," but that's not the same as "no risk." Every career path has some element of risk associated with it these days and medical physics is no exception. What I've seen from the programs that I've been associated with over the past few years is that just about all graduates are finding work in the field of medical physics. (The "just about" is there because there are a few graduates I just don't know about.) I know that a couple of people have struggled for several months to find something, and they didn't always end up with their first choice.

If your goal is to stay in a specific state, for example, that might be tough. There may not be that many opportunities available there when you graduate.

 

[Lawrencel2]

This was recently asked by another poster in this thread:
https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=718328

In summary...
- medical physics positions that don't require certification
- positions with private companies doing R&D, technical sales, technical support, technical investigations, or training
- consulting work
- entrepreneurial ventures
- heath physics positions

Other options are likely to depend on the skills that you pick up during your studies. Its possible to go on into medical dosimetry, for example. In some instances you could pick up enough programming experience that programming jobs may be an option, or even computer networking.


I certainly would not call it "high risk," but that's not the same as "no risk." Every career path has some element of risk associated with it these days and medical physics is no exception. What I've seen from the programs that I've been associated with over the past few years is that just about all graduates are finding work in the field of medical physics. (The "just about" is there because there are a few graduates I just don't know about.) I know that a couple of people have struggled for several months to find something, and they didn't always end up with their first choice.

If your goal is to stay in a specific state, for example, that might be tough. There may not be that many opportunities available there when you graduate.

I hear that Health physics is another good field (as mentioned earlier)

I would like to ultimately live in california, but i know that my first few years may involve me taking my first job somewhere else.
This post made me feel quite a bit better.

I think I'm going to go through with getting my MS is medical physics and really give it an effort for a residency upon graduation, and if I get stalled out i still have the health physics options to continue on a career path (which seems pretty cool as well)..