Louisiana’s First Medical Physics Residency Program Earns National Accreditation

First in State to Establish Such a Program

  (Baton Rouge, La.) The Commission on Medical Physics Education Programs (CAMPEP) has granted full accreditation to the Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center Medical Physics Residency Program. Mary Bird Perkins is the first center in Louisiana to establish such a program, helping provide highly specialized professionals to the workforce and enhanced care for cancer patients. “Medical physicists are an essential part of the cancer-fighting team and by training residents, we are contributing to delivery of high quality cancer care for patients,” said Todd Stevens, CEO and president, Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center. Using a collaborative approach, Mary Bird Perkins formed a medical physics consortium with multiple affiliate sites, including Willis-Knighton Cancer Center in Shreveport, the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, MS and e+ Louisiana in Lafayette. This allowed for the expansion of residency training opportunities and resources. In conjunction with its affiliates, Mary Bird Perkins now has the largest radiation oncology physics residency training program in the United States. By establishing the first accredited group model with respected affiliate Centers in Louisiana and Mississippi, the program is creating more openings for graduates of CAMPEP-accredited medical physics graduate programs, like the Mary Bird Perkins-LSU Medical Physics Graduate Program.  “We wanted to provide a leading-edge residency program that would provide best in class training and help alleviate the current shortage of physics residency programs in the U.S.,” explained Mary Bird Perkins Residency Program Director and Chief of Clinical Physics, John Gibbons, Ph.D.  “It has been a great experience to innovatively work with other centers to help meet this important need.” In an effort to address the need for well-trained medical physicists, the American Board of Radiology announced in early 2009 that by 2014 it would require medical physicists to have graduated from or be enrolled in a CAMPEP-accredited residency training program prior to sitting for board certification exams. A medical physicist brings a unique perspective to the clinical team in a radiation oncology program: that of a scientist trained in physics, including radiological physics; and also in clinical, basic medical, and radiobiological sciences. The physicist performs an important role working along with the radiation oncologist to assure the accurate delivery of all aspects of a treatment prescription. For additional information about Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center’s medical physics residency program please visit www.marybird.org/medphys.   Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center is a regional cancer care organization that has been fighting cancer for more than 40 years. With five centers in Baton Rouge, Covington, Hammond, Houma and Gonzales, its service area encompasses 18 parishes across southeast Louisiana.  For more information, please visit www.marybird.org.