Is a Postgraduate Degree in Medical Imaging Necessary for a Career in the Field?

[eXorikos]

By this time next year I will have earned myself a masters degree in nuclear physics. My plan up till now was to do a second master in nuclear engineering, but the current climate in Europe and here in Belgium have put me off of that idea. This year I followed a course with the engineers on medical imaging. I immediately realized that this is something I would like to do. As a physicist it seems realistic that I could find a job in this. However my university offers a one-year postgraduate in medical imaging. Will this increase my chances to find a job in medical imaging or is it unnecessary if I already have a degree in physics?

My degrees will be:
Bachelor in physics, minor medical radiation physics
Master in physics, specialization nuclear physics

 

[Choppy]

Generally speaking, the more you know about medical imaging, the better your job prospects in the field will be. I don't know how the system works in Belgium. In North America you would ideally want a graduate degree and even more ideally a PhD in imaging if you wanted to do some serious scientific work in the field.

It might also be worth your while to look up the requirements to work as a diagnostic imaging medical physicist in your country as this can be a very rewarding career.

 

[eXorikos]

The system here is: three year bachelor, two year master, if grades are good enough you will be offered a position as PhD student.

The programme I was considering apparently is not valid to get recognition for clinical practice. This is not what I had in mind. I got it into my head that I want to help developing imaging modalities. I had never even heard of a position as diagnostic imaging medical physicist. What is his or her task? I always presumed that a diagnosis must be made by a certified doctor.

Due to my minor in medical radiation physics I would only have to follow one semester of classes and a thesis to receive a degree in post-initial master in medical radiation physics. This is however a secondary option, because I like research more than actual clinical practice. However it does seem a very rewarding career indeed.